The Piston

The Piston took over where the Concord Café left off. Aside from making the place look great they put in a great audio system in the back room and treated it for sound, turning this nondescript spot into a great little venue not unlike the back room of the Cameron. One of the owners is a terrific chef and the menu is some of the best BBQ in TO, from the ribs to the brisket to sides of slaw, beans and potato salad. They always have one vegetarian dish on the list and if there’s one weakness it’s that these days — the «tofu scramble» or whatever it is — is merely good, not great. Food prices are a bit steep ($ 13 to $ 21 per plate) though this is real food, not bar food. The staff are friendly, the bar is well-​stocked (nice selection of tequila), the music is great, and it’s hopping on weekends.

I’m a fan of this place. For two years, this place went unnoticed by myself & my spouse (we live very close by). I’m not sure if it was the previous signage or what — but we noticed it nearly a year ago and it’s a great dinner spot for friends or a very casual date night. We’ve had all of the meats & sides, and it tastes all very homemade and legit to me (and I’ve gone down to Louisiana… and I’ve cooked more than a few pork shoulders… I looooove my BBQ).

Server was also the hostess, bartender and cook which was fine given it wasn’t busy.
Didn’t offer water or menus until requested.
I ordered the pulled pork sandwich — not the best or worst I’ve ever had.
The chicken sandwich was delicious.
I felt almost $ 10 for a sandwich with no sides was a bit much.

Super good pulled pork sandwich. Very friendly staff, for sure going back for more amazing barbecue!

Brunch is good, but too expensive. $ 18 for the brisket Benny and there was barely any brisket on there. Pretty disappointed. Dinner menu is great, though.

My new favourite weekend brunch spot! The pulled pork Benny wins every time. Very friendly staff and chill atmosphere.

Great place. Brunch is perfect. Line up elsewhere if you want to pay more to be hip.

Nice way to wind down the day with friends, suds, and bbq.
Great little pub, have not yet been disappointed in anything yet, and I’ve tried everything on their menu. I hear there is brunch as well, but I’m often not in the area during those times but if I ever am, this is where I’ll be going.
I’m just hoping they’ll bring more taps some day. ..

Went on a Good Friday, so fully expected the place to be ultra empty. The front room was 80% full, the back room was quite empty. The sound system was great, and the venue was very good as well. There was only one bathroom (unisex style), so depending on the evening, it may be a LONG line up. They accept cards, but there’s a condition of buying two drinks minimum in order to use the card. It looked to be a cool place, looking forward to visiting again on a more happening night.

Checked out this quaint little spot on a Wednesday night and was pleased to see a great little BBQ menu.
I went with the pulled pork which was $ 12 and came with 2 sides. I picked the baked beans and coleslaw.
The plate was a generous portion of pulled pork, a warm ace bakery bun, homemade beans and slaw. Everything was beyond DELICIOUS and I was so impressed at how good the pork was. I would come back just for that meal, mmmm!

I love The Piston. Whenever I stop by on the weekends to dance there is great music in the back, and whenever I stop in for a drink, bar service is quick and friendly. The food is excellently prepared and usually pretty healthy for bar food. Zero complaints about anything ever:

Last night, like every other night I’ve been here, I’ve come for a specific DJ/​event. Last night it was the third «Madchester» party, a night devoted to that particular music scene and bands like the Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets and more electronic sounds like FSOL and a Guy Called Gerald. Great times!
Thinking back, I’ve been to this place quite a few times: bands, a 60s/​Motown kind of night, etc.
The whole place can sometimes be a «tale of two bars»:early on, the front room, with the actual bar, will be packed and the back room (no bar!) will only have the DJ and a few people. This resolves itself later and the whole place is packed.
There are few places to hang a coat here but it is the kind of place where nobody is going to steal your stuff if you pile it in a corner somewhere.
Bathrooms are adequate.
I feel like there is more seating here, in both rooms, than usual – which is good.
I’ve never tried the food. I would never think to order food here.
You can come close to dying of thirst on a busy night – Saturday nights could probably use another set of hands making drinks.
I’ve only ever had tap beer here – it seems like they have had the same three for a while which is fine with me. I don’t really think of it as a cocktail place for whatever reason.
The interior has never really stood out to me – it is just another cool bar in a cool part of the city with lots of cool bars. People who like going to cool bars, and want to be cool, come here and likely live nearby.
A+ for location – right across from the Delaware entrance at Ossington Station!
This bar works for first dates although probably not on a busy/​crowded Saturday (or I assume Friday). On those busy nights it is the kind of place you can probably just show up to because something good is bound to be happening. Recommended.

Thank you Piston for being so cool and unassuming. And for playing awesome Hip Hop all night. Old school and new school tunes, it was awesome. I love your dancefloor-​there is tons of room to toss yourself around!
For you non-​dancers, there is also plenty pub style seating in the front :). Drinks are affordable, ~6 for my G/​T. I think similar for beer pints.
Go here for a night of fun with your buddies. Its a mixed crowd. Oh, be aware there is cover on Fridays after a certain time. We got there around…1030pm and didn’t pay. But as we left around 1am I noticed there was a door person.

A super fun spot with nice pub seating if you can get a spot! The night I was there, the dancefloor was insanely packed, like a mosh pit. The tunes were great (80s night). Service was friendly and reasonably quick.
I’d definitely hit this spot up again.

The ONLY REASON I even WENT HERE was because Cold Tea was having a big birthday party and was of course way over capacity and why would I wait in line for someone’s birthday party when I don’t EVEN KNOW who they are? So after waiting in line for 2 hours we SPLIT and took a cabby up and over to the Piston. My mind was racing praying that I was dressed appropriately and, to my immense relief, everyone else was wearing bold glasses too.
I think the highlight of the night was meeting a personal hero of mine: the guy who directed the Batman in Toronto video that went viral. That was actually the night it hit one million views so when I met him all he kept saying was «one million views, one MILLION VIEWS» and then he wandered off into some dark tunnel.
We went to the back room where some old wrinkly guy was DJing on legit vinyl and it was straight up Brendan Canning from BSS. I was of course the only one who recognized him amongst my friendies. He spun Talking Heads, that’s where the two stars comes from. A person bumped into me and then tried to fight me then a buncha tall girls got between us so I could sneak out the back and run home. That was a close one!

Went to the Piston last night (Saturday night) to meet up with some friends. Arrived around 11:45. It was really, really crowded. It’s one of those bars which is long and narrow, which means that there is a major bottleneck right along the bar, which is almost impossible to get through.
It was Ska night, which isn’t my kind of music anymore. It was when I was 16, but I’ve kind of moved on in the last 2 decades. I guess some people still like that kind of thing, which is cool.
The saving grace was that we were able to snafu one of the tables right up at the front of the restaurant. Eventually they did end up mixing up the music a little bit. It seems like a cool place, but not ideal if you like to talk to the people you’re with. Pretty typical bar I would say.

Came here last Wednesday, and the music wasn’t very good.
It’s not that I don’t love 90’s/millenium wayback playback nights (AllSaints are my girls, and Nelly’s right, it IS getting hot in here!) It’s just that they played a lot of songs I feel should have stayed in that decade, and their transitions between songs were awkward.
Somehow I still had a good time – there’s fun in the bones of this place, I think they could play Top 40 and still be A-​OK.

Strangely nestled smack dab in between a store for musical instruments and a store selling hardcore pornography… the Piston offers a wonderful space with elements that appeal to BOTH of these crowds while also offering surprisingly good food.
Having one of the best music rooms in the city clearly appeals to the musician type. The sightlines are clean, the sound is great and the vibe is stellar.
The combination of cute-​ish hipsters and great selection of free-​flowing alcohol most likely would appeal to the raincoat crowd, as the bar seems to be a sure-​fire way to cure loneliness. People are friendly and the attitude is quite relaxed… although perhaps not to the point where you can take off your pants and start making orgasm noises.
All in all, a wonderful spot in the middle of Toronto’s best neighborhood.

I step up to the tiny bar at the back between performers. A burly man with dreadlocks says the bartender will ‘be right back’ and offers to pour me a glass of water in the meantime. I oblige and thank him. When the bartender returns he nods in my direction signally my move and I casually shoot out a ‘What do ya got?’ He replies completely deadpan ‘Everything. What do YOU got?’ A little surprised to see my playfulness so haughtily slammed I growled back, ‘Money.’ And no tip.
Piston, I know you’re new so maybe you haven’t learned that you won’t attract return patronage by behaving like a sour teenager. You earn tips with smiles and hotties, not sour sausages.
I was at the Piston for an under-​attended NXNE show (putting my Unilocal hookup wristband to good use). I was a fan of the former Concord café (on the rare occasion when it was open) but I haven’t found the gumption to enter the Piston when it’s stuffed to the gils with local hipsters. I like breathing room.
The blue light over the door is slightly pretentious and more than a little Dundas/​Ossington stripy since it renders itself invisible to non-​locals. But it’s a non-​offensive façade so I really can’t complain much. It’s definitely more appealing than the XXX shop that just opened up next to Freedom Clothing Collective.
The Piston needs a website with a menu listed and an attitude adjustment. Other than that it’s a nice place that supports local artists and a welcome improvement in the neighbourhood.

This little place just opened recently next to Long & McQuade on Bloor, just west of Ossington. It doesn’t look like much from the outside. No big flashy sign, just a big blue light above the door, and a curious chalkboard stand (see picture I added). Reminded me a bit of The Violet Hour in Chicago. Inside however, there is a stunning environment. Exposed original brick walls, a shiny diamond checkerboard floor, high ceilings, and eclectic rescued elements (old wooden doors, stained glass windows, etc) have been craftily brought together into a cozy and intriguing setting for a bar & music venue.
The front room is full of comfy raised booths and tables with candles, with one long main bar running the length. They have Steam Whistle (pilsner) & Amsterdam Big Wheel (amber ale) on tap, and one of the owners told me they’d be expanding their selection shortly, as they had just opened. I had a fabulous single malt Irish whiskey, that was recommended, called Connemara. As a scotch drinker, I was surprised at how peaty and sweet it tasted. Notes of vanilla, perhaps. My companions stuck to the classics — G&Ts and rye & Cokes. The owners offered us some delicious shots, one with tequila and cassis, and were welcoming, friendly and genuinely happy to have us there. Much of the interior work was done DIY, by the owners, and you could see how proud they were of the place. It almost felt steam-​punk at times, but very polished.
The back room is the crown jewel of The Piston. Robed in golden velvet curtains, it boasts an incredible sound-​system, beautiful stage, lighting rig, and another bar accented by rescued punched-​tin ceiling tiles, with remnants of paint still intact. One of the people I was with immediately commented about how great it would be to throw her birthday party there in a few weeks. On Fridays, we were told that one of the owners spins 60’s, 70’s, & 80’s in the back room, and there will soon be some great live music, which is reassuring as many of Toronto’s best venues seem to be disappearing in recent times. The sound of this room is really something special, and I’m sure the word will soon get out, especially being so close to one of the top music stores in the city.
As we were headed out, we were told that they would soon be starting to serve brunch (or as they called it, «blunch»). I’ll be sure to update my review once I’ve tried it. In the meantime, check this place out. Dimly lit and discreet, it’s great for a romantic rendezvous or just catching up with old friends.