The Old Nick

We got here and there was nobody to seat us so we just sat ourselves. We remained there for 15 minutes and every waiter and bartender saw us yet nobody said a word.
So after 15 minutes of waiting we decided to leave and find somewhere else to eat.
Terrible service.

The second I walked in a should have turned around. The place is very run down and not very well maintained by the looks for things. You get a nice stench coming from the basement every time the door to the washroom opens. Not something I enjoy while having a beer and eating a meal.
This scares me to think how the kitchen is maintained! If at first glance you can see poor maintenance, what does the back look like where no one can see?! It doesn’t surprise me I had an upset stomach after eating there.
The portion was small, and something seemed off with the blue cheese dip. Doesn’t surprise me I felt sick afterwards.
Such an environment must not be the greatest to work, which is unfortunate for the staff, who were very friendly and asked multiple times how things were and if I needed anything.
Live music was pretty good. I find live music at a lot of small pubs is always too loud and overbearing. This was not the case. I was still able to enjoy my conversation and have the music in the background.
All and all the staff and music are not enough to bring me back again. Definitely a first and a last for me!

My days may be numbered here now. Menu was scaled down. Prices increased. Based on these horrific nachos I was just served, food quality has gone down.
I got a half order of nachos. No more chilli has an add on. So I got the black beans. It’s like someone opened a can of beans and threw them on the nachos. I dug through them to just eat the nachos and veggies. All broken chips like I got the bottom of the bag. I’m not even ¼ of the way into them and my gut feels funny. I’m not sure if it was real cheese melted on top.

A group of us were attending a performance at the Danforth Music Hall and chose to eat here because it was fairly close by.
Service was a little spotty when we first arrived, mostly due to the fact that there was only one server for the whole place and it was steadily busy. A few new employees arrived halfway through our meal to help out but we did have a slow start to dinner.
Food is definitely pub-​style and more on the average side of taste. Most of us ordered the burgers and I had the steak dinner. The burgers got good reviews from the group and I thought the steak dinner was ok. It wasn’t the nicest cut of meat although I did have fairly low expectations. The fries were tasty — a fact agreed upon by all.
Ultimately, I feel I would be more inclined to just come here for some drinks rather than food as well. They had reasonable prices for both food and beer, but the quality of food for the same price as other places in the area just doesn’t justify going back with the intention of eating.

Monday night! Musician’s musicians! You don’t hear this on commercial radio. This IS the go to place for grass roots music in Toronto. C’mon down!

Great local place to go for a bite to eat and a few beers. It has a great back patio with plenty of seating. Food is very reasonably priced. I did get some brown lettuce in my salad once, but they made me a fresh salad and apologized profusely. All the staff is friendly and the owners are pretty personable. They have an old school table too game station and some board games in the back. The live music is awesome and they bring in really great artists. Definitely one of my fav spots on the Danforth.

The Old Nick is a decent pub for a quick pint or bite to eat. Conveniently located at Broadview and Danforth, they are just a short walk from the subway. There is a decent amount of seating inside and the servers are pretty friendly.
Although we didn’t try the food, it looked pretty good. Their beer selection was decent and the pints were very good. They have a patio out back which is ideal for summer drinks while the weather lasts.
I got the feeling that a lot of the patrons knew the staff on a first name basis, which makes me feel better about dropping by more often. I hate giving my money to chain pubs and restaurants, and would much rather support local businesses like this one.

Well earned 3 stars. Not too divey but not upscale. It’s a decent middle of the road pub with lots of character. It’s located on the Danforth and is quite spacious inside. We came here for beers and found a seat right away. Pro tip: There’s also a patio out back that perhaps seats 5 – 8 people, so it’s ideal for a large group. The kitchen is small but they know how to work it and the food looked good. Other than that, seat yourself when you come into the bar. Pro tip: Free wifi, just punch in their phone number.

Came here recently with friends. They had an incredible cover band playing, cold beers, and a lively environment that made this a fun spot.
Service was a bit sluggish. They did not seem to be totally on top of the game in the service department, but nothing was bad.
The atmosphere was fun and laid back. If you are looking for a place on the Danforth (near the music hall) that is dive-​y, but not crappy, this is a good spot. It is more of a beer bar. I did not attempt any classic cocktails here, but I assume there may be better places for those.

Very nice place, great staff, and for such a limited snack & food menu, very good kitchen.
Keep up the great work with live music!

Went there Saturday afternoon for Lunch. Perfect Beer selection. The owner even brought me a couple samples to taste. One had a touch of grapefruit and it was amazing. I had a chicken sandwich and my girlfriend had the Eggs Benedict. We shared each others meal and both of out meals were outstanding. Although we sat inside they have a nice outdoor patio area. The service was a 10+. We will definitely be back.

A nice little pub on the Danforth with a lovely back patio. I don’t understand the complaints or poor reviews from the group of 7. The patio rules are clearly stated and are in place for a reason and signs are clearly placed. The establishment is obeying bylaws and looking out for the comfort and safety of staff and patrons alike which is an indication of responsible management. The food is also fantastic and very reasonably priced. Nice beer selection. Portions are generous and they offer a great brunch on the weekends. Staff are very friendly and personable. Wonderful live music featuring local musicians.

I went here on a Wednesday night, our gay waiter was hilarious (not in a bad way). Service was fine when we went as it was not a busy night.
They have $ 9.99 specials during the week and that night was pasta. I had Pasta Pomodoro Pasta and my friend had Penne Salsiccia Penne. We both couldn’t finish them but they were good.
(FYI: Gay friendly bar.)

This place is bush league. We arrived with a party of 7 before 9pm and they would not let us combine tables to sit together. They said it was because of some by law. It was before 9pm and we were sober.
The menu is a typical short order bar menu with nothing out of the ordinary, the wine and beer menu were also limited of choices.
2 stars because it was clean and we had a friendly waitress, but the lack of choices and «max group of 6» rule really turns me off from this place.

One star for our server, that’s it.
We arrived shortly before 9pm and made our way to the back patio. There were 7 of us in our party. We saw signs posted ALL OVER the back patio «No group of more then 6», «Do not move the tables»???
So we moved two tables together and sat down… when our server arrived she told us that we had to move the tables back to their original spots and that the group had to be split due to by-​laws about noise restrictions.
Ok, whatever.
However, as we sat there, quietly talking amongst ourselves and pretending not to know the people in our group sitting at the table next to us — on the off chance that by-​law enforcement was conducting an undercover sweep that evening– the patio started to grown on me. Our server warmed up to us after taking our drink order, so that’s how they managed 1 star.
However, at home later that evening, I lay awake wondering how did they arrive at 7 ppl per table as the tipping point for the onset of boisterous rabble-​rousing? Were there scientific studies conducted indicating that 1 in 7 ppl are hooligans? Just sayin’.

The Old Nick is really quite divey, I can’t say I am too impressed with this place.
Our group of 7 tried going to Allen’s a few doors down, but they could not allow us a seat on the patio since they were still doing a dinner service. The waiter there suggested we try the Old Nick a few doors down, as they had a back patio.
On first inspection, the back patio did seem rather nice. But there were signs everywhere saying «Max 6 people per group» and «DO NOT move tables.»
So our group of 7 moved a table and sat down. We were promptly told off by the waitress and had to move the table back, and told we were not allowed to talk loudly as the pub is continuously getting noise complaints. This was at 9pm. Lame. Why bother having a back patio if people can’t sit out and have conversation. Why else would we be there? And we had to sit slightly apart and «pretend» we were two separate groups instead of one ENORMOUS group of 7.
Our waitress really turned out to be quite lovely, so I feel bad given this place a 2 star. But really, not impressed.
(A standard bar shot + mix was $ 5.75)

Although it has all the qualities of a good dive bar, The Old Nick is also a great place for weekend brunch!
The staff are nice, the prices are average for the Danforth and the portions, my friends, are friggin’ HUGE. Too huge for any mortal to consume in one meal.
I had a chorizo and mushroom omelette that could easily have fed a standing army, with potatoes and salad on the side. Since I’m a sucker for Tiki ads when choosing a beverage, I rounded out the meal with an Hawaiian pale ale, heavy on the pale.
Basically, go hungry.

I’ve been coming here for a while now and I have to say it is a really awesome bar, by far the best on the danforth. An important thing to note is that even if you are brand new they will treat you like a regular (or at least very nicely and with a personable touch)
I’ve had a lot of the food there and I can guarantee its all delicious. From the deep fried pickles (yes!) to the Italian dishes this place does EVERYTHING well. Pub fare as well as not-​pub fare always satisfies. Their french fries are probably the best I’ve had in Toronto.
Drinks are nice, but not out of this world, good beer selection and pretty good cocktails.
although the buspersons are a little boring and uninterested, the waiters, owners, bartenders (all the same people) and chefs are all great fun to have about. A good crowd of assorted people come here (young/​old/​gay/​straight/​drunks/​lightweights/​dirty/​clean) so you’ll fit in no matter who you are. you’ll want Martin to be the waiter, he is the really gay and really awesome one. You’ll see what I mean, he will make you want to keep coming back.
A small grievance is that the place is fairly small, especially in the winter when their great heated patio is out of commission (I guess its not that heated), I consistently find myself walking in with a date and finding that there is only ONE table for two available in the whole bar, convenient but I like to play it safe.
I had brunch here once and it was great, although I’m more of a $ 5 breakfast guy.
I find it really funny that the elites are mad at this place because when they break a rule, the waiter gets annoyed with them (what else could happen?)

We stopped in yesterday afternoon for a beer.
We waited a while for the server to take our order … she seemed very disinterested and unengaged.
My beer was good, though.

3.5 stars.
The Old Nick has many things going for it that I love:
1) Boddingtons on tap. That alone puts it head and shoulders above so many bars in this city. If you enjoy Boddingtons that is. If you don’t, you should get that checked out. It might be a tumour.
2) Open mic night (Tuesdays). And a solid one at that. It’s good mix of regulars and newbies.
3) They really seem to want your business. It doesn’t matter when I’ve shown up, with how many people or in which level of sobriety, the ON staff seem happy that we’ve plopped ourselves down there and that’s where I want to spend my money.
4) Lots of character and z-​e-​r-​o attitude.
5) People watching, be it the regulars or the people strolling by on the Danforth.
In my experience, the food has been pretty average, so if you’re hungry, I’d suggest you just drink more. If that doesn’t work, drink even more and then head to Square Boy for some souvlaki.
I like the Old Nick and so should you. (Remember, it could be a tumour.)