Upfront Bar & Grill

This place is a dive! But its real and thats great, love playing pool here and dropping loonies into the jukebox over a few drinks with a few buds. Haven’t tries the food yet but i’ll review it when I do.

Come for the drinks, stay for the karaōke. Yes, this is a dive bar, but it’s a great spot to have some drinks with some co-​workers — or in our case, have a lot of drinks and sing karaōke on Friday nights. I would take a pass on the food, but the drinks are reasonably priced (for Toronto, anyway). Pool table in the back. Small-​ish patio in the summer.

Great for karaōke on Fridays! The food definitely has something to be desired, think ice burg lettuce with firm tomato slices and cucumbers for your salads… but go there for some drinks and belt out some tunes with other fearlessly fun patrons and you‘ll be happy and a pig in… its pig pen… with all its pig friends…

First things first. Upfront Bar and Grill is on the north side of the street just east of Jarvis street. In the same enclave as Paganelli’s (formerly Romagna Mia) with a medium-​sized parking lot out front. The façade of Upfront actually faces east, which might make it easier to find. Following just the address will confuse you, I promise.
Once inside you will find a very standard pub slathered with sports memorabilia. There’s a pool table in the back, a long bar to sidle up to, a few well-​placed televisions, and beers on draught. I wasn’t really blown away by the selection but they had Guinness, so that’s something.
They are known for their chicken wings, but I only sampled the brews that night. Not especially cheap (considering the atmosphere) but a passable choice for session drinking. Their patio could be a good spot in the summertime. I would come back again.
Obligatory Title Pun: Let be UPFRONT about it: this is a dive.
Menu Readability: I didn’t have a chance to look at one.
Need to mention: Scenes from «Good Will Hunting» were shot here.
What this place teaches me about myself: If only I was born back when Guinness was considered medicinal.

Came here with some fellow Unilocalers to have a few brews before going out elsewhere. The place is a little divey but really it’s more just your regular neighbourhood pub.
The address threw us all off a bit. The bar entrance is actually located on the side street, not right on front where there is an entrance to offices and such as marked by the address on the building.
The bartender was great. She was the only one working but still came out to our table to clear glasses and bring refills.
Overall no complaints here.

Okay, let me tell you that this place is a total ‘dive’. I give this place 4 stars because I would always have fun here and the night typically ended up with someone in my group fighting or vomiting from too many drinks.
If you’re from a small town and are use to going into ‘dives’, then walking into this place, will remind you of the small town vibe.
I knew someone though that’s from a small town and totally refused to use the bathroom in this place. Again, it’s a ‘dive’, ie. put toilet paper on the toilet if you need to go to the loo — lol.
I frequented this bar in 2010 as a place for afterwork drinks with co-​workers — it was all about cheap beers, good conversation and a place for karaōke.
This place can get loud and usually it was because of the group that I was with. I’m sure the staff (the one lone waitress) that worked here hated to see us walk in.
There are televisions to watch the game, a pool table, ATM available, and a bunch of tables available for groups. Sadly, the jukebox that use to be available seems to have been removed. French fries and other pub food available to order.
Good place for group drinks. And yes, it’s like a hole in the wall, but it can be great fun, then again, it’s who you’re with that counts and that helps create the vibe.
We have always been able to get a table for groups of 10+, it’s not that busy.
Cabs are available when the night ends and easy to flag down as you stumble into the street.

Good place to watch UFC (if you’re looking for quiet) beer is cheap, food is decent.

Upfront is a coworker favorite watering hole near the Yonge and York. The key draw to this venue is summarized in two simple words: cheap beer. At lunch a pitcher of beer is ~$ 11 (I believe the brand is Great Lakes). Any other reason to come to this «dive» is hard to justify.
Let’s be plain, this place is a DIVE, not a pub, but a dive. Featuring a dark atmosphere, dingy floors, tacky record covers stapled to the walls, furniture that could been dated 10 years ago, and a truly appalling washroom. Even from a sports viewing perspective the «big» screen TVs are washed out and fuzzy. The long bar looks like several bars stitched together but the drunk patrons and sadly sitting on one end is a game monitor that is straight out of the 1980s.
The food here is above average for this type of venue. I’ve had a steak here once that was decent. My co-​workers often order wings or fish and chips which are sufficiently greasy and heaping. Service is also decent as the purveyor, Vic, is attentive, remembers us and is a generally friendly guy.
You’ve been warned.

Came here with my husband and he, being from Europe, doesn’t understand the concept of the dive/​sports bar. I live for dive bars…
our conversation:
hubby: If this place was in Europe or New York it would be shut down
me: that’s why it’s awesome
hubby: look at that part of the bar, it’s falling apart
me: that’s why it’s good times
hubby: everything in that cabinet is very dusty
me: that’s some old school sports memorabilia, it’s supposed to be dusty
hubby: they don’t have grappa?
me: drink some crown royale, you’re in Canada now!
me: look at all the rad albums on the ceiling…
hubby: that is good.
Two thumbs up!

oi. what can i say?
This is a dive.
Serious dive.
Sports and beer memorabilia covered walls and kinda trailer-​clientelle.
And don’t get me wrong, none of the above I mentioned are BAD things at all! What gets me is that this place desecrates one of the ESSENTIAL parts of the purpose of a dive bar: AFFORDABILITY and good-​ish greasy food.
This place was NOT worth the bang for the buck and made me wish I had gotten a movie from the rogers across the street and a happy meal and gone home.
I understand taht given its location it is in dire straits and on its last leg for survival. It is on the borderline of affordability and the highly gentrified/​condo-​fied area in the st. lawrence market. And it is neighboured by two very nice looking restaurants with lovely patios on Front street.
But If you are going to maintain a dive bar, you have to have to be inexpensive and generally good or generous with food. This place did neither.
I’m giving it two stars because they menu promised amazing wings (which I didnt’ try but other people have attested to) and because I kinda feel sorry for it. I can tell it’s going to perish in the next few years as the neighbourhood upscales and this place gets pushed out.
Unfortunate, really, for neighbourhood regulars (of which I think there are many).
Oh, and apparently the movie Good Will Hunting was filmed here. really, the only reason me and my buddy went. just wanted to check it out.

My experiences with the Up Front had been mixed. And it has nothing to do with the pub itself. Most times that I’ve been to the Up Front, it had been on the heels of a layoff at a company that I’d been working at. This was the place that we would all go to to drown our sorrows after losing people from company. Because the place was close to where we were situated, this became the oasis. For the layoffs that occurred subsequent to that, we still found ourselves going to the Up Front. Misery loves company, I guess.
However, most visits to the Up Front were not anchored in misery. It’s actually a very nice sports bar. Anchored in the days when you’re able to smoke inside restaurants and bars, the Up Front provides a quasi-​dive feel and a typical sports bar menu. Wings, nachos, and all kinds of other deep fried fast food options are available on game day or otherwise. The tap list is also good as one would expect an independently owned sports bar such as this. One of the cool things to do is to look at the ceiling and walls and determine which of the vinyl albums that are posted there you once owned. This game is probably only good for those 30 and over.