Holy Oak

I feel like I’m on a café binge recently to find the best ones to work in. Holy Oak is definitely a contender for a top notch spot. Cute little mixed matched chairs and a warm welcoming atmosphere makes this Bloor west café one of my new favourites. Really friendly staff and really great coffee too. It seemed to be the place for people without offices to meet up and talk business because everyone around me was in a meeting or in an interview.
Also another spot that turns into a bar past 9pm. Will definitely need to check this place out for beers one day. Also whatever they were cooking while I was there smelt way too good. I can’t believe I didn’t order any food! Oh well next time!

I love the Holy Oak. I love that it’s a bit weird and shabby but the Americanos are perfect, the baristas are lovely, and it’s cozy as hell.
I need background noise to work so the music and chatter of the customers means I spend some pretty productive days here pounding coffee until my heart can no longer tolerate it.

Great supporters of local live music! Beer, coffee and good sound. Bring cash because they don’t use debit.

maybe the best establishment in toronto, except for the fact that 99% of their playlist is Dr. John.

We came here late on a Friday night to grab some drinks. This is a nice spot. There was one bartender working and they had a good variety of beers and cocktails and service was friendly. I had a couple of very tasty old fashioneds. We also had a great view of people walking around outside.
The atmosphere was comfortable and relaxed, and tables were spaced far apart for it to feel pretty intimate.
We will likely come back.

Wasn’t very impressed by the menu. Drinks were over priced & their selection was not too great. Atmosphere was nice, however, with candles and dim lighting. Laid back hipster hangout.

My favourite place to come for an afternoon pint (or 2), a snack, and a really delicious coffee. Very laid back atmosphere and free wifi. The staff are really friendly too. It’s a cozy little space so it sometimes fills up on weekends, but never gets too crazy. They seem to always have St. Ambroise on tap, but they have a fair number of beers available by the bottle, too.

Great environment. Had a Mocha. Tastes amazing. Service is good too!

Cute café cum bar in Bloordale! Decent (if small) drink and food menu, but definitely the place I’d want to work remotely. Bar service only, but that’s ok. Good tea selection and they offer some music events some nights.

I’m an east-​ender, but nice to see such a fine coffee shop in the west end. I figured out it was a west-​end place pretty quick because I was the only person there without a computer on my tabletop.
Anyway, nice to see that people who get cabin fever at home or who have small and busy apartments have a nice place to do some thinking and writing. It’s one of the important contributions of coffee shops– they allow people to live densely because they already have an office close to home. We need to find some way to support that role of coffee shops.
I and two friends dropped in yesterday afternoon after a day-​long meeting, intending to have a coffee, but instead ordered cider and beer.
It’s nice to see a little mix, as long as the liquor license doesn’t exclude young people from coming in. It’s a clever way to let a coffee house have a life after dark, when most people don’t want to drink a lot of coffee.
Given that the light meals seem to feature local and sustainable, it would have been nice to have a few more local craft beers presented.

Came here early morning to kill some time and do work before my appointment at 10am. I was an early bird at 8am, and although lots of coffee shops in Bloordale, only this was one was open this early.
Lots of tables, and wifi to use. It was a little dark, and seemed way more suited to be a bar than a working coffee shop.
I got a latte, and proceeded to do work. My only complaint was the loud loud music and choice of tunes. I was okay with the reggae, but it was so loud that I couldn’t hear myself. But then it switched to a slow electronic dubstep (I don’t know what it’s called), which started to give me a headache, I asked it to be turned down just a little.
It wasn’t really the atmosphere that I could spend a long time in, especially in the morning.

Came here to meet up with someone and just ordered some juice to drink (just under $ 4 seems like a lot for a cup of juice!). Be warned, $ 4.50 (or something like that) minimum to be able to pay with debit.
Cute little space, decent amount of seating (not comfortable). My friend tried to order a grilled cheese and they were out or something (this was at 2pm, odd that they wouldn’t have a basic item in stock around what’s still considered lunch rush).
Not a place to sit for any period of time, not exactly sure I would come back. Left much to be desired.

Holy Oak is one of my favourite daytime hangs, as well as one of my favourite evening destinations — they cover pretty much all of my needs!
Daytime: There is no cozier café than Holy Oak. The friendliest, sweetest staff. Delicious espresso. A variety of sweet and savoury treats (I developed a spanikopita addiction throughout my frequent visits). House-​made soup, several kinds of grilled cheese sandwiches (one with apple and basil — yum!). Very reasonable prices. No pretension or bullshit.
Nighttime: An intimate, candle-​lit music venue and bar, featuring some of the best musical acts in Toronto. A good selection of beers on tap (usually a couple of St Ambroise, Beau’s, Cheval Blanc, and more). Great cocktails. Not feeling like alcohol? There is also juice, tea, hot chocolate, etc.
Happy fifth birthday, Holy Oak! Bloordale wouldn’t be the same without you.

Definitely my favourite neighbourhood hangout.
I’ve had many an okcupid date here (if the staff has been paying any attention they probably think I’m a bit of a floozy) because of the laid back vibe and drink options varying from great coffee and tea to stiff drinks.
I haven’t tried the food but it looks and smells delicious. The service is always friendly and speedy.
A great place to relax or catch one if many fantastic shows at night.

Holy Smokes, Holy Oak!
This coffee shop cum bar transitions during the course of the day from a cozy place to study to an awesome spot for cocktails in the evening. One of the awesome trendy spots that is transforming Bloordale to the next hip spot.
The shop is definitely casual (think normcore fashion in a restaurant). I still wouldn’t call it a dive bar though. The dimly lit bar in the evening has a really intimate vibe to it with a just appropriate enough amount of background noise to make it feel quite pleasant. It’s homey and trendy at the same time.
The COCKTAIL list here is really pretty interesting. I enjoyed two cocktails last time:
1) A cynar sour. For those of you who don’t know, cynar is a liquor made from artichokes. It’s a bracing taste, but actually shockingly pleasant as a sour. They also had a few other cocktails with cynar in them. It takes some talent to employ this potent potable.
2) The Last Word. I ordered this drink off-​menu after spying bottles of both green chartreuse and maraschino liquor on the shelf. These libations are often absent from many pretty solid bars. The super-​friendly bartender was thrilled to give a new cocktail a try and gladly followed my directions for a general success.
I only ended up here because 3Speed has been slammed every time I tried to go there. Holy Oak is a great little serendipitous discovery for me. Perfect for a cocktail before or after your outing to The Emerson.
FYI, no laptops after 9 PM… that’s the official time for the coffee shop to bar transition.

This place is great, great drinks, super atmosphere, open early for coffee, open late for drinks and music. I’ve seen so many good shows here in this tiny little venue I’m so appreciated that it’s in my neighbourhood.
I can’t think of another venue in general where you can see experimental electronic music, folk, country, rock, hip hop, poetry readings etc etc…
Great place

This little rectangle of a joint does a great job of transforming from a sun-​drenched café during the day – that’s replete with laptop-​toting hipsters – in to a moody, candlelit bar come night fall. (Post 9 pm they ask that creative professionals close their laptops, so as to not distract from the vibe.)
Great selection of cocktails for under $ 9. Pert Vert is probably my favourite. Their food is also pretty tasty. The soups are always scrumptious and I adore their tandoori chicken-​stuffed nan. They also pull one mean espresso shot – always have had nice creamy, cremas.

What a quaint little café… and yes, the Indie Passport is the one reason that brought me here as Lansdowne and Bloor is one of intersections of the city I generally tend to skip altogether.
Don’t get me wrong, there is the odd and quaint dive bar nearby, the interesting restaurants that seems to be starting to spring up here and there and… Who can forget that strip joint adjacent to the church just west of Lansdowne? That setup is golded and definitely a one stop shop for the local sin-​ridden-​strip-​joint-​lover. However it is hard to fight the slightly soul sucking vibe you get when hanging around this hood for too long, SPECIALLY at night.
No, I am not being snobbish, in fact, this used to be my hood for a few months back in ’03 and I knew the hood well and let just say, gentrification has ways to go.
Anyway, this café is trying to go all out, and transcend being just a mere café. Oh yes, they are going for the «artistic venue» approach normally found in larger locales like the Tranzac, Victory Café and to a lesser extend The Central.
As a word of warning, The Oak’s website is a bit half-​cooked but you can see they are keeping themselves busy with ongoing live music, dj fueled nights and even a live dating game show? For real?
However this ‘dive café’ is just one room in size and cannot compete when it comes to sheer space to other venues and as such they try to make due with what they go. So, don’t be surprised if you are having a latte at 8:45pm and all of the sudden the staff beings taking adjacent tables to the back to make room.
Also they are LCBO licensed, and before I left they were setting up a DJ as it seems they stay open past at least midnight and wait for the ringing techno music to lure willing dancers to chill the night away.
Now, the place is very low key, with rickety looking tables and chairs. Heck, my chair felt as it might actually break on me, so expect for everything to have that retro, Queen Street West cheap look with some random painting/​photos hanging from the wall.
Sadly, my latte was really ‘meh,’ and although the staff seemed more than friendly, I would more likely recommend this locale as a place to hang out with a beer than with a coffee.
I do applaud them for trying to be a far more diverse venue than just a café, like El Cafecito, located just east of here and in fact, I might check them out again if there something in their calendar which sparks my interest. But fix your website though.

This update is for the cappuccino served at this place.
As part of the indie passport I came here for my Cappuccino fix.
The serving is small and they don’t have any sweetener as well (on the plus side they use organic milk which done right can balance the drink)
The Latte art was nothing special and the espresso had not much taste either and was way too mellow.
The place was busy with a younger crowd.
2 Star for the Cappuccino.

Indie Passport brought me here again to Holy Oak Café. This time cappuccino was on my mine instead of beer…
It was quite busy on a Wednesday afternoon full with locals chilling. The atmosphere was really relaxing as most of the patrons were either reading or on their laptop.
Cappuccino was average. I would just ordering a beer next time… and my Unilocal friend can just keep drinking his coffee!