Shoeless Joes

This place ruined my night, terrible service. None of the drinks showed up within thirty minutes. The place was basically empty so it’s not like they are too busy. It took around an hour for three appetisers to show up. They brought the check before any of the food showed up, and were incapable of splitting it. Honestly this place doesn’t even deserve a single star. Please don’t waste your time or money here.

Took an extremely long time despite there being very few customers. The check arrived before food and even some drinks. Not to mention, very overpriced.

I was meeting a good friend downtown, and he suggested this place, as it is his «local.» I figured personal recommendations trump all, so I was happy to oblige.
It’s a chain, but it seems to be a pretty quality chain. The service was excellent and attentive, with our server pouring our beer without us even noticing. We shared a pitcher of Rickard’s Red, my friend had some wings, and I had the Crispy Asian Chicken Bites, which were essentially an appetizer sized serving of mini boneless wings.
Food was good, I would put it above average to an American chain restaurant for sure, hence my 4 star rating. I’d certainly go back if I was in the downtown area.

I recently went here for dinner with a group after seeing a play just down the street at the JCC. We sat outside on the patio, which isn’t anything special or nice but the weather was good. Inside seems much nicer in terms of décor and atmosphere.
The drinks were fine but often took a while for refills, especially water even when asked. The food was below average. I ordered the chicken with wild mushroom risotto from the «new» menu. They had butterflied the chicken breast and then WAY over cooked it. It was very, very dry and actually hard to cut. The risotto was the only good part of the meal, it wasn’t amazing but decent. The green beans that came with it were overcooked, waterlogged, unseasoned and bland. My husband’s Havana sandwich (pulled pork) was ok, the pulled pork was good but the bread was a bit hard and the toppings were weird. The fries were way over salted but some people like that. The people with us had some hits and misses. The flatbread and truffle burger were the hits of the meal and the only people that had no complaints. We ordered coffees at the end, which were cold except for mine, because I ordered decaf I guess they had to make it fresh.
The worse part about this place was the service. Our waiter was nice enough when he served us but he was missing for long periods of time and when he reappeared wouldn’t have the water or napkins or whatever that we asked for. There was only one other table outside and it was pretty quiet inside too but when I’d go to the bathroom our waiter would be chilling behind the bar and chatting with the bartender and someone sitting at the bar (a regular perhaps?). But above and beyond the waitress, who wasn’t even ours, was the low point. She had big boobs, which you can’t help, but was wearing a serious push-​up bra and shirt with a V that went down to her belly button. I have no issues with boobs, and am in no way a prude but if I wanted hooters that’s where we would have gone. She wasn’t even working our table but helped bring things out a couple times. She was blatant in winking at my husband and touchy with my dad. I’m sure she gets great tips and I can’t fault her for flaunting what’s she’s got to make a living, but dude we’re not tipping you cause we’re not your table so it just made us ALL uncomfortable! (My 67 year old dad who is usually totally oblivious to just about everything commented on it).
Basically, you’re not going to die of food poisoning but there are so many better places around where you’ll get better food, faster and with better service for the same price (or cheaper). I have no intentions of ever going back again.

food okay for pub fare but the service suck’s! i waited twenty minutes for a beer and i was sitting at the bar??? bartender just serves who she knows and doesn’t care about anyone else! hope her boyfriend doesn’t show up because then you’ll wait even longer!

Great place to watch sports. Service was outstanding. Food was good. I have been twice, I definitely plan to be back.

I’ve been in to this Shoeless Joe’s location a couple of times now, and have had a decent experience here every time. The waitresses are attractive and scantily clad, and generally offer good service. The food is a tad on the expensive side and is your typical bar food. They do have some interesting drinks that you wouldn’t find in your typical bar, but they aren’t anything special. The wings are solid, though. I’d go with those if you are trying the place out.

«Have you been to this place, Shoeless Joes? They have AMAZING beers, as well as some of the best mussels I’ve ever had.» Me.
«Um, no… You’re thinking of SMOKELESS Joes. Shoeless Joe’s is crap.» Random Person.
So I spent more than a year in TO avoiding this place because of this slanderous individual. Last week I finally got my chance to try it out.
While I’m no expert, I thought the wings were quite good! If you take this place for what it is, it’s not bad at all. There are booths with individual screens and… well, what else is there to say? It’s a sports bar.
Someone vomited in the washroom as well.

Dear Joe: Why are you shoeless? I mean, the prices at your establishment are pretty high for what you get — you really should channel some of that profit into buying yourself some kicks. Just sayin’, Joe.
ANYWAY. I rolled into Shoeless Joe’s with my husband and couple of school chums to watch a UFC match. There are booths with individual TV screens, or if you weren’t lucky enough to snag one, there are PLENTY of screens around so you won’t have to crane your neck too far to see. Decently-​sized bar area, too. For such a crowded night, the service was pretty decent. The food is typical chain-​eatertainment fare: wings (pretty good, many sauce options), pastas, pizzas, deep fried appetizers. On the other hand, the drinks were weak and my Caesar wasn’t anything to write home about (though the pepperoni-​stick garnish was a nice touch).
Shoeless Joe’s is just A-​OK. Poor Joe. Get yourself some shoes — you’ll get tetanus running around barefoot.

I was excited that a new pub opened close to U of T, but after dining here for lunch today I surely won’t be back.
I came here with a friend for a «quicK» lunch just after 12. We ordered quickly and thought that 45 minutes would be enough time to eat and get back to school. Our drinks came quickly, but the food took longer than I’d expected, given our that what we ordered was pretty basic, and because there were maybe 2 other tables occupied in the entire restaurant. I didn’t think it would take 20 minutes to fry up some chicken wings, prepare a chicken wrap, and toss up a salad.
The food was fine — nothing bad to report but nothing to write home about. What killed it for me though was the price. What I thought would be a small quick lunch came to over $ 50!
–Friend’s Beer -$ 7.25 – (sounds steep for students!),
–2 Cokes — $ 2.50 each
–Half-​Portioned Wrap with Side Salad — $ 8.49 (although they unknowingly charged me an extra dollar for a salad, even though on the menu it was written as a side option)
–California Salad — $ 12.99
–1lb Wings — $ 10.99 (These were ridiculous. 6 wings for $ 11. Are you serious?)
I was pretty shocked. I’m a student, and I expect lunch to cost between $ 10 and $ 15, not $ 25 each. For $ 25 you could get WAY better value for your money. This was absurd.
Sure, the place is new and clean and quite beautiful inside, but I sure as hell won’t be back.

I feel weird giving this a four star rating, but it does deserve one.
Put it this way: There are crappy Tim Horton’s locations and there are awesome Tim Horton’s locations. There are Timmy’s where weird patrons loll about and you look around thinking, «Is he even wearing pants?» and there are Timmy’s where the server is sunny and smiley and the donuts seem to be warm from the oven ²⁴⁄₇. Just because it’s a chain, doesn’t mean all locations are the same, or even as good as each other.
This is a good Shoeless Joes. The food is what you’d expect: average, tasty, filling (perogies, pizza, sliders, chocolate cake, cosmopolitan and a beer all went down easy, no complaints).
It being the first day the place was open, I should probably wait a few months before judging the cleanliness but, as you’d expect, it was spotless and the bathrooms were pristine.
I guess the best thing about this place is that every booth has a TV. You never have to spend your entire meal with your back to your table just to watch the match, or try and see around people at the next table who are there to see the same game.
Bottom line: It’s Shoeless Joes, but it’s a fancy, NEW Shoeless Joes that would almost (ALMOST, guys) pass for the most casual of first date venues. Maybe upgrade to MIlestones…