McVeigh’s New Windsor Tavern

Love this place! They have a fresh daily menu, the food is traditional & amazing. They’re the oldest Irish pub in Toronto. I have rented the 2^nd floor for private parties on two occasions & it’s the only bar downtown without a huge fee to have a private party. I will always use them when I have a big birthday or anniversary party.

This is a much nicer bar than I expected it to be. It sort of feels like a timeworn club. Except when you get to the bathrooms.
They aren’t kidding when they say it’s the best Guinness in Toronto. Granted, I haven’t been to every bar in Toronto yet, but I’m working on it.

As some other reviewers have noted, this place pours a delicious Guinness. I’m no bartender, so I don’t understand the technical reasons that contribute to Guinness usually tasting sort of bad at most bars, but lucky for us McVeigh’s has the trick figured out. Come for the Guinness. Stay for another Guinness.

I was craving fish and chips last evening so I Unilocaled the closest Irish pub. I made my way here around 7:00 but unfortunately, the kitchen had already closed. I decided to have a cider at the bar and started up a delightful conversation with an older, Irish gentleman, Mike, who totally made my evening! Enjoying some lively craic in this pub made me feel like I was back in Ireland again. A most remarkable pub indeed. Big hug to you, Mike!

I am a fan of guinness! And i should say they have the best guinness I’ve ever tasted in toronto. Also, the place is to go to when you don’t like crowded places and just want to relax with friends. Awesome selection of beers and easiest area to get a cab in the city when you get really intoxicated.

The cure to my homesickness when living in toronto, the owner and his sons were always welcoming to me as were the other barmen and Danvil the chef (the jamaican who could cook my irish dinners nearly as good as my wee granny). also Celtic supporters club, and a place to watch Irish soccer and Rugby etc. Will always be a lifetime memory for me as I met my favorite comedian there (Billy Connolly) after Jimmy the owner from Belfast introduced me to him. 08′ — 09′ regular visitor when i was on a 1 year working visa.

Friendly place. Handwritten lunch menu is full of entrees (seemingly not lunch-​sized) and unpriced but they’re all $ 14.99 or something.
Just ordered fries. pretty good.
They have Granville Island Pale Ale on tap.
Ask for the Cholula hot sauce — Chipotle is good.

I’d give the food five stars, even though they have a very small menu (it’s whatever is on the chalkboard that day).
We went here for a lunch, around 1:00 p.m. Not very busy, three tables occupied including ours.
I’d give the service a zero. Not only was the waitress more interested in reading her cell phone near the register, but we practically had to beg to pay for our meal. After waiting 10 mins for her to come to our table with the bill, I walked to the register. The owner said «She’ll take care of you in a moment,» entirely complicit in her checking out her cell phone. Perhaps a parent died and the cell would have been understandably more important? Truly, she was an arrogant bi**h that made it feel like she wished we’d not come in, and it felt that way within the first 5 minutes of our entry.
It’s dirty, grimy, nasty. Our table was sticky and had some sort of sauce on it.
Fish n’ chips are obviously a house specialty, and it was terrific. The beef sandwich was also quite good.
Two tips:
— Don’t sit on the west wall, the low height of the tv makes it feel like the entire bar is staring at you.
— Don’t order any mixed drinks. They’ll suck. Order Guiness. It’s an Irish bar.

I spent some time at McVeigh’s as a Ryerson student, and though its proximity to campus means you’ll find a handful of students here on a good night, the crowd is literally random. An university buddy wanted to spend his 30^th birthday hanging out here with the boys, so here I am again.
McVeigh’s is a typical kinda divey North American kind of Irish pub, though probably much more Éire than most others in town. It has been around for a long time, and was featured in the movie The Boondock Saints II, as the aforementioned friend proudly likes to note. Think about it: Norman Reedus, the guy who plays Daryl on the Walking Dead, was in this room.
There’s a good selection of beers served here, which is much appreciated, since I’ve been to other downtown pubs where the only thing those folks have are [insert usual suspects of big bland beer brands here]. It’s always Guinness time here of course, but there are a good variety of local craft brews to be had too.
Even on a Saturday night it’s quite dead early on, with the big screen airing hockey games hardly anyone watches. But the scene picks up quickly by ten o’clock. Which conveniently enough is when the kitchen closes. WTF?! The food in general is decent but not something to rave about. Yet still, I don’t care; what if I want to pound some fries in me in between pints at midnight?
There’s a rotating series of regular acts commanding the downstairs corner stage, including a man whose name I keep forgetting, who looks like the comedian George Carlin and whom my friend describes as an institution within this joint because he’s been here a very long time. He knows how to work the crowd singing various Irish folk songs and classic rock covers, inviting others to sing their own songs and dance on stage.
McVeigh’s is a very open arms kind of bar, and a merry good time will be had here by all wherever you like it or not. Unless you are growing hungry for some bites at midnight, or get confused with where the toilets are at. Or some random angry drunk dude shows up at your table challenging everyone in your party to arm wrestling because he wanted in on the table league action.
{TTC: a short walk from Queen station or the Church/​Queen streetcar stop}

Great staff. Welcoming even though we came in late and they were winding down (1am). Encouraged us to come back for lunch later that day. We did and were very glad we took them up on their suggestion. A peameal bacon cheese melt (are you kidding me). It was unbelievable. The wife had the fish & chips which were great. Be back again for sure.

This is a pretty standard Irish pub, BUT they do poutine (not Irish). This is what I would say you need to know.
— There is always a pretty random crowd here.
— They serve Murphy’s Irish Stout which is far better than Guinness and a stout drinker’s stout.
— The poutine is good.
Good for a random pint, also, sometimes smells like farts. This is the sign that it is a true Irish pub though.

This place is a dirty bar near a giant church. Take me home, Ireland.
I had a bloody Caesar here and it was pretty nasty, but hey, I’m the fool that didn’t order a Guinness.
Tables are long and crusty, but the staff is sweet and saucy.
PEPPER POINTS for some solid, soupy poutine.

I have come here a few times for drinks and food. I have always been happy with my homemade meal. Their menu is essentially a chalkboard with 5 or 6 different options that change everyday. Everything is the same price on the menu. Both drinks and food are a bit on the expensive side. This place was newly renovated — and the furniture definitely needed it!

Nice little pub with good weekend live music.
McVeighs seems like a good, honest, blue collar sort of pub, rather than the touristy Irish-​pub-​in-​a-​box kind of place. It was clean, but not polished. Comfortable enough.
We only had pints, so can’t comment on food. But the Guinness was good. Priced at going rate, downtown.
We came in late on a Friday night as we heard the music and spotted a fiddle player through the window while were walking past, en route to our hotel. Couldn’t resist checking it out, and glad we did. The band that night played some trad music, but also a lot of folk/​country/​rock cover tunes. (Guitar, bass, fiddle, mandolin.) They had several set tunes that wove songs together across genres. If I could remember what they were called, I’d review the band, but kudos to McVeighs for having them there. It was an enjoyable time.

Came here twice, once for a birthday and the other for Patty’s day! love the atmosphere, plenty of characters who make this pub memorable. the staff are efficient and very accommodating. Definitely recommend for a small get together or any Irish related festivities. The pub isn’t the largest so space may be limited for tables if you arrive too late or with a group greater than a handful.

Super busy, super fun. 3 dollars drinks on Sundays, decent Irish ballad bands on the weekends. Eclectic crowd with a good mix of folks from Éire and the hostel down the street.
Best Moment from McVeigh’s is when a very drunk Glaswegian decided my roommate looked like Rocky Marciano the boxer, and kept asking him if he had ever been in a streetfight and then later forced my very scared roommate to dance with his fiancé… Good times

C’est un pub irlandais pas comme les autres. La différence principale découle tout simplement du fait que ce pub irlandais est bel et bien tenu par des … Irlandais. Monsieur Jimmy père est arrivé de Belfast à Toronto et il gère ce pub avec ses deux fils (Jimmy et Paul) depuis plus de 40 ans. C’est ici que vous aurez sans doute la meilleure Guinness de la ville, du moins celle qui sera versée comme il faut.
Mais le charme de ce pub, c’est son expression politique brut de décoffrage: portait de Michael Collins, tableau de signataire de l’indépendance de 1916, toute la panoplie du parfait républicain s’y trouve. Très régulièrement, des chanteurs et groupes de musique irlandaise y jouent les ballades classiques de l’Irlande du Nord et de la République d’Irlande.

Classic irish pub to get your fix of Guiness or Rickard’s red.
There is a patio that I did not get the chance to check.
Irish pub classique pour savourer sa pinte de Guiness ou Rickard’s red.
Il y a un patio que je n’ai pas eu la chance de visiter.

A place in Toronto for «east coast» style music that I’ve always had a problem finding in the city. A great bar that has a good variety of people. For whatever reason a few black and tans taste there with «Dirty Old Town» from the band just tastes better!
For some reason neither my wife nor I had ever heard of the place, despite being hitting the bars for 10 years in the city. Just walking around one night and heard the music after already walking past it. Walked inside, instant smile on my face! Sit down, grab a drink and enjoy one of the most laid back places I’ve seen downtown.

Went here for St Paddy’s 2011 with a group of seven people and we weren’t that impressed. The line took 4 hours to get into the «most authentic Irish pub in Toronto», according to BlogTO. When we got in it wasn’t that great. We all looked at each other and said «We waited 4 hours to get in here?».
There was a special St Paddy’s day menu which was hand written, photocopied and carried no prices. They carry a full bar. We ordered Guinness, Magners and Irish car bombs. The car bombs were made incorrectly.
They do have some décor covering the Easter uprising which led to Ireland becoming a Republic but this doesn’t make it an Authentic Irish pub. I wouldn’t go out of my way to go back.

This is a fun pub, with good atmosphere, reasonable prices and a pretty good wait staff.
I went here with a bunch of colleagues for a little holiday social after work. We were definitely the only suits in the place (which I appreciated). The crowd changed over the evening. It was mostly George Brown students when we arrived, but as the evening went on the crowd seemed to get a bit older, more of an after work crowd.
As I was leaving, there was a singer who started performing kind of a folk/​celtic/​rock music mix. He was pretty good, notwithstanding that he appeared to have a little liquid courage before getting onstage. The crowd definitely loved him and were singing along, which I always get a kick out of.
I ordered the «world famous» steak. It was slightly overdone and a bit tough, but for $ 15, it was well worth it. The fish and chips looked good too, and most people that ordered them seemed happy.
For Irish pubs in that the neighbourhood, I have a soft spot for PJ O’brien’s, but McVeigh’s seems more reasonably priced and is more casual.