The Duke Live

Shit hole, smells and my first beer was flat, enough said. I was told by a few that this place is a dive and has been for a while.

I went here with some coworkers on a Friday night, and we were all less than impressed. We sat out on the patio. The service was lackluster… and that’s putting it generously. The waitress literally threw our orders on the table and never smiled. The food was stale. The atmosphere felt unwelcoming. I don’t think I’ll come back.

I’m here to review the Karaōke on Saturday’s with Sweet Daddy Sikki.
The regulars sing country music a lot, or songs from the 50’s and 60’s. The books of songs are ancient and have very little new songs but having said all that it really is a unique albeit surreal experience and The Duke is growing on me especially since they upgraded the patio and have parking!
The bar itself is a bit old and dingy but part of the experience and the old guys sitting at the bar and playing pool look like they are there every day.
My friend has her annual karaōke birthday party here and it makes it fun having a big group singing songs from the 80’s and 90’s mixed with the country twang of the regulars.
The food is all deep fried but decent for what it is. (Fries, wings, onion rings, deep fried mushrooms were a hit in our group, and Nachos etc.)
If you don’t take yourself too seriously it’s worth a try just make sure you have a few friends with you to make it fun!

The fact that the duke has great food I’ve known for awhile now. I have in fact ordered for take away on many occasions being that the ambience was not to my liking. Now all that has changed. They opened a beautiful garden patio. I think the best in the whole hood. Staying true to their rock n roll roots the is now a black white and red motif with original art all painted by one very talented local artist. He was actually working on a painting while I had lunch today it was cool. Also they have tropical trees scattered about the entire place. The staff call it George’s jungle. Lol :) two thumbs up

They’ve slowly been trying to upgrade this place over the past few years but it still has that dirty bar feel to me. On my last visit here I was joining some friends that came for karaōke. The server was trying way too hard. He immediately acted like he was my best friend and started some banter and making some comments. Combine that with 20 minutes of the worst singing I’ve ever heard and I had had enough. I said goodnight to my friends and walked out.

THE PATIO IS OPEN! I love the new patio! The chairs are big, there is a gazebo even and so many plants. Lots of stroller room too for brunch with the family.
When we went, it was for lunch. I had a toasted western (awesome) with fries (meh) and hubby had chicken fingers and fries which he thought were good. We got scrambled eggs for our baby: which she liked. It’s not gooormit food. but it is eating out/​pub food and it IS insanely cheap! The price on the menu apparently includes tax?!? We also got a beer and a coffee and all of the food mentioned above and it was like $ 24!!!
Going from outside to the washroom inside (on the main floor which is a plus!) was a bit of a shocker. very dark. Apparently they will be fixing that up next… def. a patio place for now! I’m just so happy about this because it makes the whole neighbourhood seem nicer. I love that it’s still local and it hasn’t become a chain restaurant or something… Also: service was super friendly. It was really quick too because the place was empty. No music either, which I didn’t mind. They do have a ton of music (bands, Karaōke, DJ’s etc) at night tho!
I hope they keep on going in this direction!
I would say the Ambiance is ‘quiet and relaxing’ almost tropical on the Patio!

Great food and full stage Pa and Lights are all in-​house a pleasure to play there!
Rockin a Hardplace Saturday July 13^th 10:00pm No Cover

I can only speak for the ambiance and brews. This is an old-​school dive bar with definite John Wayne vibes. It’s unpretentious, and looks to be a local hangout for a nice working class neighborhood. I had the Somersby hard cider, in love with this beer! My husband had the local Steam Whistle, and he couldn’t finish it, it was truly hideous beer. Even he, who hates to see beer go to waste, could not fathom finishing the glass. Turns out, Steam Whistle is quite delicious, we’ve had it two other places in Toronto. We can only guess that the Duke’s keg on this one was way off.
I might also mention that this is one of the best per-​capita karaōke talent haunts we’ve seen. Each singer kept blowing us away, it was great entertainment.