The Red Lantern

Edit: Have gone back several times, they’re pretty reliable for breakfast and the Sunday burger special was good when I went for dinner. Definitely recommend checking them out and they recently renovated the entrance/​patio too, looks nice! Stones throw from most of the apartments on Balliol, so there’s that bonus if you live nearby.

We have been here a few times and had good experiences each time. Brunch is delicious here, especially the Eggs Benedict. We’ve had delicious burgers too. Drinks are good. Service is fast and good. And the washrooms are clean and on the same level. Also the patio is very nice to sit on in the summer (aside from the smokers right outside it). It looks like a hole in the wall but it is truly a gem in the neighbourhood!

For a local pub, it’s not bad. Would be nice if the menu was updated a couple of times per year. The brunch menu is diverse and tasty. The daily soup is good (I like that it comes with a crispy garlicky toast).

We went to this resturant as a group, the customer service was good and the staff were friendly. I ordered euro burger with salad which was pretty good.

A dump! I quit going here a few years ago simply because the food is bad and overpriced. Service is poor and usually sullen. On the bright side the bar flies are personable.
My last (attempted) visit was for Sunday brunch which starts at 10am. We arrived at the open door a few minutes early. Entering we saw the owner drinking coffee sitting at the bar. Our cheerful inquiry if they were open was met with «it’s not 10». I replied it was 3 minutes to 10. This was met with «got no one to serve ya!» No problem, we went to kramers.
If it was too much trouble to welcome us, explain the situation, perhaps over a cup of coffee I shudder to think what else would be too much trouble for his patrons.
Never again!

Just stopped by for some dinner and beer… The Canadian burger is amzzzzing and the beer was great price, only reason 4 start and not 5 was due to due to the fact of few parking spaces but really other than that very happy over all… And as one reviewer previously said
” a hidden gem in Davisville «! Thank u for that quote lol.

Had brunch here. Huevos rancheros burrito was great, and the potatoes are fantastic. My girlfriend got the lantern breakfast which was also really good. Fairly priced, great service, and nice atmosphere. I hear the pizza is good so we’ll definitely be back to try it.

I applied the blowtorch last time I was here because I was with out of town guests and we couldn’t find a server.
I’m pleased to say the Lantern has rediscovered its A-​game. I arrived with my wife on a reasonably busy Thursday night to find fresh pints, delicious food and even a geezer tinkling the ivories.
I had the chicken sandwich with cream of mushroom soup; both were delicious. She had the burger with sweet potato fries — another hit. House wine at $ 5 a generous glass and fresh pints of Creemore helped wash it down.
Our server was friendly and efficient, managing to attend to our needs at the same time as socializing with the regulars.
Well played, Lantern, well played.

The Red Lantern offers surprisingly good food at a fair price. The fish and chips is a great deal: thick fish, lightly battered, and the chips are really tasty — a little thicker than shoestring, but nicely seasoned, and moist. The fresco chicken impressed me: a generous portion of sliced chicken breast mixed with tomato, spices and lots of melted cheese, all sitting on a bed of penne. The portion was so generous that I could only eat half. The ambience is basic, even a little spartan, although the washrooms are clean and bright. Service was variable: polite but detached, and reasonably prompt (then again, I was there on a quiet, mid-​week evening.)
I’d eat there again, because the good food is the attraction.

The food is great and there are drink/​food deals nightly. There is a cute little patio but make sure you are upwind from the smokers… there is nowhere to hide!
Front and back entry makes it easy to access from Balliol or Merton!
Otherwise, the beer selection is basic and the service is just ok unless you are a regular.
Try the chicken pesto pizza! Amazing!

Very very good burgers and a very decent selection of beer! Highly recommend!

The beer prices just went up A LOT. Keeping me away. Almost $ 20 for two pints?

I live near is place, and I agree with the other reviewers about it being a «hidden gem» — it’s very much our little neighborhood pub.
The food is good, tasty and reliable as pub food should be — nothing gourmet or fancy, but the wings are good, the California burger with guacamole, goat cheese and roasted red peppers is fantastic, and the panzerottis are HUGE.
A great place for an easy night out.

This is a hidden gem in the Davisville Village. Every time I come here, it is never full. A few people enjoying dinner, many available spots. The food is always delicious, so far, never a let down. I find that some of those menu items are slowly becoming modern comfort foods for me. On the other hand, the service… or well, my luck has not always been on my side. Twice in the last 3x I’ve gone to, they’ve forgotten my order. Thankfully, yesterday there was no incidence. The service was very quick and my pasta was delicious.
One thing I find humourous is that they have 2 entrances: the front and the back door. Entering through the back door gives it the familiarity of an old friend. Regardless of where you enter, there is no need to wait to be seated.

I only discovered this fun little place a few months ago. It is right down the street from our place, so of course convenience is the number one reason we tried it out. We’ve been back several times now and really don’t have anything bad to say about it.
Atmosphere and Décor:
–I like the décor at this place. It kind of looks like it’s right out of the TV show «Restaurant Makeover.» Plenty of booths, for the intimate nights, but lots of room for bigger parties as well. Very intimate lighting at night.
Service:
–Very friendly servers and bar tenders. We actually ordered take out once and our pizza was a little burnt on top. We returned the pizza, got a full refund for our entire order, and were given a coupon to order again for free. When we did come back in to redeem our coupon, we were thanked for coming back in. I really appreciated this.
Food:
–I think the menu is simple and to the point. Lots of pasta’s and pizza’s. Good appetizers, great sandwiches! It’s all fresh made. They also have breakfast on Saturday and Sunday’s beginning at 11am I believe. We’ve been, and it’s yummy, at a great price!
The only thing I wish is that the Davisville and Mount Pleasant crowd would catch onto this place. It doesn’t get too busy, and a fuller restaurant would definitely add to the experience.
I will definitely be back for more, whether for dinner or a pint!

I live very close to this place and it used to be a real hole in the wall. A couple of years ago they renovated and made it into something classier.
I’ve been in for brunch since the renovation. The food is very good and more creative than what you’d find on most pubs’ breakfast menus — I think I had an eggwhite omelet with asparagus and smelly cheese. Coffee was a bit weak and service was … very relaxed? … even though we were the only people in the place. I’m not sure if we were being ignored or if he thought we just wanted to linger.
It seems to be a hopping joint on certain weeknights — sometimes on a Thursday or Friday there are people out on the patio being very loud and inebriated. They sound like they’re having fun.

Davisville’s hidden gem (albeit zirconium)
When my original plans for the evening were called on account of illness, Shari «pizza guru» M. took me up on a last-​minute suggestion that she finally introduce me to the Red Lantern she had been talking about since she FTR’d it a month ago.
Two entrances to this place (front and rear, surprisingly) make it an ideal spot to grab a bite and a pint if you’re running from somebody. Ceilings are high, and they’ve left the concrete-​and-​truss canopy in place for a modern feel that grew on me after the fact while I wrote this review. A dark wood floor with some character and new dark tables offset the off-​white ceiling and bar nicely. The most distinctive feature was definitely the public-​facing hand-​washing area between the men’s and ladies’ rooms. I’m a big advocate of public hand-​washing sinks –people are more likely to wash (and to do a good job of it) if they know they’re being watched.
Shari strongly suggested a pizza or calzone; notwithstanding my preference for getting something different from my company, the Classic pizza (pepperoni, bacon, mushrooms and red peppers) was so strongly recommended that I went for it despite the fact that Shari had ordered the same thing in folded format. Delicious and filling! Crust was a bit soggy in the center, probably from all the chunky tomatoes and peppers. Ordering the calzone will no doubt aid in avoiding this problem, and I’ll go that way in future.
Deduct one point for a lame beer selection. They have Steamwhistle (which I refuse to spell as two words) and a bunch of big-​brand stuff like Bud and Canadian (ugh). I think Toronto’s beer drinker is a bit more sophisticated these days, and it’s a shame that some restaurants haven’t caught up. If you’re not a beer drinker, please do adjust your set, until my rating reads four stars.

If you are looking for a totally relaxed place to have a super martini (Red Lantern martini — highly recommend), eat some great pizza and totally relax — this is the place to go.
I have heard this place has been around for a very long time, and underwent renovations a while back. The décor is unpretentious, simple, cool and relaxed. There is a baby grand near the front (which I have never seen used). The men and women’s washrooms share a common sink area, that startled me at first as I thought I walked into the men’s washroom (I had only had 1 Red Lantern martini!).
The clientele is really mixed. You will see people sitting at the bar reading, people watching sports, people stopping in after work, and locals catching up with friends.
A hidden, unpretentious, calm gem.
Check it out.