The Citizen

I give this place a 3.5 stars.
I came here with my bunch of my girlfriends and when we got there there were 2 lines formed (not too sure why).
So logically, we stood at the shorter line. The bouncer let the girls in front of us go in and when it came to my friends and I, he said we were in the wrong line up and need to join the longer one! We had to go alllllllllllll the way in the back. It was about a 20 – 30 minute wait not to mention we were in dresses and heels and it was freezing out. We noticed the bouncer would let random girls and they weren’t even in line. W T F!
When we finally got in there was a $ 10 cover. The place was also super crowded.
The ONLY good thing about this place is that the music was really good — hip hop, r&b, top 40 etc.
I would definitely go again but CITIZEN you need to improve on the entry system. That shit ain’t right.

The Good: Food for everyone || The Bad (and I mean BAD): The entry system during club portion of the night (especially if you’re racialized, male, and not up to the pre-​determined «look» they want in their venue). I hate to bring race into this, but evidently when you’re inside, you can clearly see the homogenous groups of people that are let into the venue and clearly isn’t representative of the people trying to get in or partying in the city.
Went here for a big group birthday celebration on Saturday night. No real complaints about the dinner service which was prix fixe and portions were plentiful and good tasting. Everyone had a superb time for dinner. However, the evening portion was a bit frustrating as we had friends joining us post-​dinner /​during the club hours.
When they begin to transition into the club night portion of the evening they remove many of the dining tables off the floor. Apparently, if «you’re not on the guest list or have bottle service, you’re not getting in». Even though they claim to let people in by guest list, this guest list is almost impossible to find. Our 4 friends (three males and one female) were told the above at 10:45pm.
I’ve worked in the industry for almost 9 years and have never seen or heard of such douchey, race-​based, and preferential treatment of guests in my life. The managers of the venue can be seen at the rear bar drinking with other industry people and having fun, while bouncers at the door are the biggest problem (who obviously uphold what the managers tell them).
Anyways, our friends waited two hours in line from 10:45pm. TWO HOURS for a place that wasn’t even full until past midnight. I ran into two friends that happened to be female, and they mentioned that they got into the club in a few minutes and got free drinks because they knew the manager. So to Pedro the Manager, who responds to most reviews on Unilocal and Facebook, you’re clearly lying and deceiving ANYONE who reads these reviews by saying that the venue doesn’t play favouritism and is «fair». It’s a lie, and you and the other managers need to really think about the poor image your venue gets when people are refused at the door and blatantly lied to.
In summary, and I think I’m being fair here: go here for the food and dinner. You get awesome food and don’t have to pay any cover or coat-​check if you stay for the party portion. Keep in mind the slightly pricey menu, but not bad.
If you’re coloured, male, or don’t have enough females in your group, didn’t purchase $ 350 min. bottle service or on their «guest list», then avoid at ALL costs to avoid the disappointment. Seriously. The bouncers and management basically hope that those criteria flush out anyone that isn’t fitting the look they want in their club.
I’ll be sure to contact the Better Business Bureau and Toronto’s Municipal Licensing & Standards offices regarding The Citizen. Venues like these put a bad taste to Toronto’s entertainment scene and it’s a perfect example of how exclusionary clubs and venues can be.

Good bar/​lounge/​club. Came here on a Friday after a year or two long break of no ‘clubbing.’ The entrance is pretty confusing for many — Many people, like myself, end up going to Cibo Wine Bar instead and having to be directed to the right place. It’s tucked into the street itself, rather than being smack on the corner of King and Brant.
The line-​up moved quickly. There was a $ 10 cover which is fine. The set up is actually pretty nice. The drinks were fairly priced. Bartenders weren’t pretentious. All in all, this is a good place to hang out with some friends while pounding back some drinks and dancing.

Fun times on Friday nights — slightly older crowd and the music is reasonable. Generally a much more relaxed crowd then the younger crew on Saturday nights. Definitely going again on a Friday. The drinks are ‘happy hour’ priced during the week.
Unfortunately they charged $ 10 cover at 10pm on Friday… why? Not too sure as the bar was still empty. Maybe around midnight it would make sense to do that, but beforehand it was annoying.

I never went before they renovated which most of the pics show the old style. But I went last week because some friends suggested it and it was fun. Theres a good sized dance floor and the space is decent. Music was good hip hop top 40 and rnb, crowd was good as well, i’d go back now that I know about it

$ 4 Heinikin on King Street– Nothing else to say. Cheers

Come here if you:
–Want cheap drinks after work ($ 4 drink happy hour)
–Want to sit outside on a patio
–Want to get drinks with friends/​colleagues in a relaxed/​lounge environment (inside has cool leather couches)
This is our go-​to spot for after work drinks, we are here all the time

Waited in line forever not worth your time unless you know someone or are willing to pay extra to get inside. Once we got inside it was pretty good. Wouldn’t go back there.

To start with the good: they have a good happy hour — drinks are $ 4. To cover why I am giving two stars, here I start:
1. They have average or below average food that is overpriced. We order their kickoff kale and trout which had a few pieces of thinly sliced cured trout (probably less then 1oz) and kind of old kale. It was not dress at all. That was $ 15
2. The customer service: the girl was friendly but did not do the extra step to let us know that the happy hour is over and continued charging us full price for everything we ordered.
The space was kind of empty while all other restaurants on King are usually full. If they step up their game with the food and improve their customer service it may be a good place to visit otherwise but for now I may be coming back just for drinks.

So the first time I came here was for a big dinner. Granted there was probably 20 of us on the table but keeping track in maybe sections of who bought what would have saved the birthday girl ending up with a bill $ 200 short. I didn’t know the whole group at the table so can’t really comment on who may or may not have paid but the staff didn’t make things easier. Ended up paying more out of my pocket to cover the shortage.
The food, gosh I can not even remember what I had but I am sure it was good enough, was more the service that annoyed.
The next time I came was for drinks, they have smacked a great big square bar in the middle which is great. The décor and music is fun. However at one time waiting at the bar to get served and being ignored it took to being loud and rude to finally getting a managers attention and him telling me that the bar was closed. To which I responded with more abuse and him having nothing to say back.
Would still go to this place just because it is more of a casual drinking hole, with music and dancing without too much of a douche crowd.

Pretentious and refuses to sit a $ 300 guaranteed tab at the table at 9:30pm…holding out for a min $ 750 bottle service. This is exactly what’s wrong with King West… Do yourself a favour and go somewhere that treats customers properly.
Thank you for the great service whomever the manager is the night of March 19.

Good place to catch a game or have some drinks but it turns into a bit of a stuck up crowd after 10 when it becomes a club… Remnants of its hey day as Brant House. Foods a tad over priced but poutine trio and wings are good and I also tried the burger but watch out if you stick around too long they will take away your table to make way for the dance floor. Tons of TVs for sports but nothing special about the tap selection.

The Citizen is A-​OK. We had dinner reservations here on a Friday evening just after the end of their happy hour at 7PM. The place had a surprisingly sparse smattering of people there at that hour. A mix of mostly groups of people there for happy hour, and a couple of tables like us who came for dinner. The space is large, and there was plenty of empty seats. Despite this, we were pointed to one of the more not ideal tables located on what I presume is the edge of the dance floor. The table was wobbly, the seats were bar stool height and uncomfortable. All the more quickly to get diners outta there before dancing starts later in the evening. I have to say this again — there were SO MANY empty booths and seats that we could have been given, that were STILL empty by the time we finished dinner. If they were reserved, it wouldn’t have mattered because we would have been gone by the time more people supposedly would have came in for late night drinks. Anyway, it went a long way to giving a sense that we’re second-​class Citizens.
I had the maple mustard wings which were pretty good. My friend had the southern bbq wings, which unfortunately tasted more like curry. ??? Others had steak and fries, which were OK. Check-​in and redeem the Unilocal free drink. That was at least nice and a redeeming feature.

I laff this place. Been coming here on a pretty regular basis for the past 2 – 3 months I would say. It’s a fun crowd, music is good.
It’s really hard to make your way to the bar or anywhere really if it’s a busy night so… do like me and buy 4 beers at a time if you can get a bar tender’s attention. I’ve had fun times here — recommended!

Meh, nice looking place. The food was very plain, they didn’t cook the burger very well. I felt the service was unimpressive. I would not go here again. Even the drinks were not that great. Everything was pretty average. A place in such a location as this one, needs to put more effort in.
The staff almost seemed upset we were there. Additionally when we came in they told us they were not sure they had room for us, the place was literally EMPTY. We were the only people there.

Preface: This review is for A LARGE GROUP experience… I do believe that smaller groups might have a shot of having a better experience.
We went here this past Saturday for my cousin’s 30^th Birthday. There were 25 people to be served, and the menu was pre-​set, family style.
Everyone was seated with adequate space. There were two servers taking care of us. Both were friendly, from what I saw of them. They came around to half of the table, and didn’t ask for drink orders. I ended up going to the bar to get a drink.
The salad was served, which was lovely. Not 5 minutes afterwards the entire meal was on the table… Pasta, steak, chicken breast, roasted potato medley, and French fries. The food wasn’t delivered at appropriate times… We didn’t have enough time to finish our salad because of fear that all of the other food would get cold.
The steak was cooked well, but cold by because of the serving time. The chicken breast was moist, but tasted synthetic. The pasta sauce tasted like it came out of a jar, and the noodles were over cooked. The best parts of the meal were the fries and the salad… And as Homer Simpson’s so smartly put in the past, you don’t win friends with salad. The dessert was equally terrible, a chocolate brownie that was dry and an apple crumble that was raw and doughy. They really should have served some ice cream with that dessert… It would have masked some of the problems with the dish.
We stayed after for when it turned into a club, and ordered bottle service. The VIP area is crowded, the servers were scant and rude. The DJ sucked.
Needless to say that I will NOT be returning.

You could be dying of a heart attack and nobody who works here would notice. This is a perfect example of a bunch of investors with clashing ideologies making a mess of a space that should really be converted into a GoodLife. What is this place supposed to be?
Bartenders seemed like they were from The Brunswick house and did a one week crash course on how to serve food.
Had a bad oyster out of a dozen we ordered, the bartender looked at my regurgitated food and asked me if i wanted to finish it.
Everything else was one shed less than mediocre and not memorable. (Chicken wings, Truffle poutine are the only other things i can even recall ingesting)

My review is based on the food and our own experience.
For dinner we had the truffle putine and the caprese salad. Both were really delicious but also pricey for the portion we were given. The food and beer menu is also limited.
We attend ‘The Citizen’ for a birthday which turned into a nightmare. One of our companions has a food allergy and asked not to have a specific garnish added to their meal. After a few bites, our companion realized the dish had been garnished and had to be escorted to the hospital. Once our companion and their family left, the restaurant presented us with the bill for our companion, their spouse and their other six family members.
We were fortunate that we could work out an arrangement and we appreciate the helpfulness of the manager that evening.

Over the weekend I learned for the first time that the Brant House was no more and about four months ago it re-​branded, renovated and reopened as The Citizen. A more casual cocktail restaurant and lounge with a menu focusing more on tapas sized sharing portions.
Our party of 8 had reservations for Friday evening to celebrate a friends birthday, an evening meant to be relaxing and enjoyable but ended up being riddled with bumps and band-​aids.
To begin, upon arrival, I have to give them credit, they had definitely changed this place around. The décor, vibe and staff were far more casual and friendly than the Brant house once was. The stuffy patrons, the snooty staff, the food… all different! I thought «Self, this is the kinda place you’d like to come to… plus, hey look a that craft cocktails!»
We were seated around 8:30 and service was to say the least, very slow. With significant gaps between drink orders, drink deliveries, food orders and food service, it was after 10 pm by the time the first trickle of food began to roll out. I say trickle out because the kitchen, while potentially busy, struggled with timing on orders. A chorizo sausage appetizer shared by 3 of us, arrived about 10 minutes before the lobster roll appetizers ordered by the same 3 people — the other 5 guests received nothing for at least another 10 minutes. After which point we asked to speak to the manager twice, and then *poof* food began to roll out. I was surprised the first items to come out then were the cucumber and watermelon salads — something that could have easily come out far earlier. All food with the exception of one guests dinner kale salad arrived, said salad didn’t arrive until most of us had nearly completed out mains meaning one guest had gone nearly 2.5 hours without food. Not good.
In terms of our server, I would have to rate her 2 stars or lower. I cannot speak to what other guests at our table experienced but I found our server to be unprepared and not very helpful. When I asked what kind of steak was used in the steak frites, she «didn’t know» and didn’t offer to find out. When I asked how the lamb was cooked? She responded «I’m not sure» so I asked her to look into that for me when she didn’t offer. I also noticed a consistent trend amongst our guests orders, whenever a guest would ask how an item was, her response was «it’s good.» That’s it, I asked for more details to which there was none. I can appreciate that someone might be new or unfamiliar with the menu fully, but to not know basics about their few main course options was not good. In addition, we went our entire meal without water being offered. It wasn’t until the manager came over to speak with us that water top ups were provided — once we asked… again.
What I will say, to their credit, is that 90% of the food items (save for the lobster rolls) were fantastic. Perfectly cooked, expertly prepared, presented and a joy to eat. Now I can’t say if the fact that we were starving played a factor in our relief/​enjoyment of our meals… but as I said, I’ll give them their due, the food was good. What was wrong with the lobster roll? Less than a table spoon of lobster could be found on an oversized brioche bun, a nice attempt/​taste but poor execution overall.
My steak frites were amazing, slathered in bourbon butter and pre-​sliced into easy to eat pieces — top 5 steaks I’ve had no questions asked.
So, what did management do once they came over to speak to us? They totally owned up. I have to admit, their management of our situation and the perfection of their food are the main reasons this review is a 3 star and not the 1 star it could have been. The manager apologized profusely citing the busy nature of the restaurant as the root cause of our experience (save for our less than helpful server). He knocked the three steak frites dinners off of our bill (approx. $ 90 in value) and 2 rounds of shots for the table. A kind and generous gesture which seemed to appease the group.
Other notes, cocktails are fair, not great. The negroni was very well done while the Old Fashioned was watered down and not well done compared to other spots in the area.
I hope that the majority of the issues we came up against are merely growing pains, their food is incredible and deserves to be sampled.
Eatcrest Out.

This place has a cool vibe. Came here during the Raptors game recently and it was busy but not crammed like most bars downtown would be when showing the game. They have lots of tv screens all around the restaurant.
The hostesses made it seem like we wouldn’t get a seat without a reservation but there were a lot of empty tables, which remained empty for the majority of our stay so seems they can afford to be a little more accommodating by seating tables but maybe letting them know that they have only 2.5 hours until the next reservation!
The food was okay — nothing spectacular for the price. I did enjoy the poutine.
Would recommend coming here for a few drinks to watch a game with friends, but it doesn’t have a super social vibe. On a Friday night around 11pm, it wasn’t that busy.