Kiva’s Restaurant & Bakery

Yum! Favorite place to go as a kid for breakfast!
Everything on the menu is delish!

If you want meat for breakfast-it’s not your place. If you want a quite place and immediate sitting– it’s not your place.
If you want an exceptional Israeli breakfast and great people around you, go! I love everything about them. Do you remember the old lady, the waitress? The best! I do feel for girls serving us at Kiva, we are nor very easy customers. Tip them better. Not ONCE I had any stomach trouble or my picky kid would complaint about the food. Coffee is fresh, eggs are perfect (yes, you can screw eggs, try Newmarket and Aurora for breakfast) and the bagels are song! Thank you guys!

Not sure what ppl are crying about or expecting with homemade food. Make it yourself at your home lazies, pretty simple. Bagel, cream cheese, lox. Can’t make a tuna or egg salad? Should I make it for you?

Cream cheese and lox on a poppy seed twister… Hands down the best I’ve ever tasted!!!

Ahhhh what can I say about Kivas? I’ve been coming here since I was a little kid. With visions of twister bagels, Lox and cream cheese in my head. Um (clears throat) okay I’m back., always fresh, wonderful service. They have so much variety to choose from. My kids love all their treats especially their cookies. I will always be a regular here till my dying day.

I agree with some of the reviews on customer relations. Hit and miss.
I am craving for cream cheese and lox on sesame.
Just got it. Wanted something plain and hearty.
No nonsense ordering. Go in and out, at least for this shop.
Hmm, like I said, I was craving for lox, and the taste is all right, hence the three-​star. I think I will be back, if I’m in the area, if I have a big craving for it.

Bagels are fresh here, twisters particularly good, nice selection of lox. Fairly extensive variety of cookies and my all-​time favourite, alfajores with dulce de lece. Delectable cheese and blueberry pastry. Staff behind the counter are very polite and friendly.

Very simple taste and no meat selection for breakfast menu. Understandable considering the ethnic/​cultural background but lack of attention from the servers where managers had to step in to address our issues couple of times for not being attended to for far too long. Great managers, poor staff, mediocre good.

My family and I used to come here almost every weekend for breaky. Simple breakfast and illy coffee. Reasonable price, some times the service is shoty. I so wished bacon/​pork was kosher cause breakfast without bacon is not the same.

Great place. Been there only once but excellent place to eat. Everyone was friendly (staff and patrons alike).

Kiva’s is something of an institution in Thornhill and has been serving bagels for decades. I used to go here all the time while I was in high school and my family still gets their weekend bagels from here. The bagel style is not Montréal style — but it’s not typical Toronto-​style either. The bagels are quite dense and doughy, but delicious. I recommend trying the bigger bagel twisters if you’re hungry. You can get a bagel to go — or you can sit in their dining room which is basic and reminds me of a 60s diner that’s been updated. Kivas had a change in management many years back — and they have done a great job stepping up the menu and food a few notches. This is a Jewish bagel deli. I’m not sure many of these exist anymore.

This is a local staple for the older Jewish crowd. In short, the Omelettes are amazing! You can also create your own, I had an egg-​white omelette with Spinach, avocado and onion and it was fantastic. The bagels are pretty fresh so that’s nice.
The service is really awful. They don’t listen properly and so every time I’ve been there they get something wrong on our order. The place is always packed, if you want brunch go really early morning. It is also a much older place so everything is a little run down.
Go for a quick omelette with a friend early morning and it’ll be great. Any other expectations you have watch out.

The reason for the one star is simple: management attitude. I ordered a flat toasted bagel with cream cheese (with chives). What I got was a bagel and cream cheese with green onions. I called over the waitress and mentioned it, and she quickly returned with the same offering saying that this was how «the kitchen» served this item. She suggested I speak to the manager/​owner on my way out.
After paying I did speak to the manager. He said he knew the menu said chives but that was just «lingo», as «green onions would not sell as well». I told him that it was not correct but he dismissively said «we can get away with it». That is stunning disregard for your patrons, and knocks down their rating to 1 star.
This is a dairy restaurant catering to a lot of people following dietary laws. One cannot but wonder what other liberties they take with the lingo in the menu… or in the kitchen.

Came for the Sunday breakfast. Service is efficient and friendly. Can’t say I was a fan of the eggs and lox. Ms. Brooks Brothers had the goat cheese and red pepper omelet and it was fantastic. You won’t find any bacon or sausage on the menu here, being it’s Kosher. I think I’ll stick with treif breakfast dining.

i’ve been going to Kiva’s every weekend since i moved into the neighbourhood 15 years ago. i’ve now moved far away, and the only thing i miss is Kiva’s. their cream cheese and lox on a twister, can fill you up for the day. they have freshly squeezed orange juice, a little expensive, but oh so worth it. and my absolute favorite, their apple strudel. writing this review is making me homesick, but just for Kiva’s menu.
P. S. also i suggest the spinach salad, or the cheese blintzes.

Oy do I crave a poppy seed twister bagel with cream cheese and lox! They’re coffee’s not so hot, but big deal; there are plenty of coffee shops around. Eat here! Try their baked goods: ruggulach, challah to take home, cookies and so on. Yummy!
The other reviewer, Sheldon G is right: «just go»!

Kiva’s is an awesome place for breakfast and lunch.
Service could be better and the place could be less packed, but you can’t control that sometimes.
Three Eggs Sunny Side up, toast and potatoes. Solid meal. Awesome price. The bakery is phenomenal, check them out. Bring Cash, it will make your life easier.

I took my 89 year old grandmother (who we call Bubbie) here for brunch yesterday. She loved it and that’s all that matters. Daniel B. is correct about the Jewish part, though you can also be from other areas of the city, aside from Thornhill! The décor is nothing fancy and the idea is that you don’t spend a tremendous amount of time there. They do have an outdoor patio.
The menu is quite large and in addition to all the egg options you have, you can also build your own omelette. I didn’t feel like building yesterday morning, so I ordered the asparagus and brie omelette. It was delicious with my toasted whole wheat twister bagel and endless refills of coffee. I do think that there were a lot of eggs in it though…
You also have all the other standards: scoops of tuna and egg, cream cheese, salads, lox, and BAGELS!
One of the best parts, aside from my grandmother being very happy and loving her cheddar omelette, was the server. She was absolutely hilarious and I would go back just to have her as my server again.
Then when you are done and are paying up at the front counter, you can wander into the bakery side and load up on danishes, cookies, breads, bagels, etc.
I am rarely up at Bathurst and Steeles, but it was worth it. Especially to eat there with my Bubbie :)

Kiva’s Bagel Bakery and Restaurant really have 2 set of doors… one leading to the bakery itself… the other to the restaurant itself.
I am surprise when this location suppose to be new… since the deco is plain and feels dated.
I would just suggest to just get the bagel and run and go home and do whatever with it… I was in shock when my Pumpernickel Bagel toasted with cream cheese cost $ 4.99! While a twisted bagel cost $ 1…
To be fair, the bagel tasted mighty good! just crispy outside and chewy inside… and loaded with really light cream cheese. Carb Heaven!
The sweet selections are really interesting too… Alfajores looks tempting and delicious and mighty sugar which I will try it next time when I visit!

Recently I heard that Kiva’s had opened a new location somewhere on St. Clair and thank goodness because I grew up eating Kiva’s bagels, but the trek up to edge of Toronto is well, quite frankly, a little too far for a bagel.
These are NOT Montréal styled bagels, they ARE (when fresh) very very very good (typically less chewy, with a hard crust and soft doughy middle).
But be warned, this location sits at the ageing intersection of Bathurst and Steeles, so the crowd is more bubbie/​zadie than hip/​metropolitan. This can be an advantage though if you’re looking some good home-​style Jewish classics like blitzes (eggy crepes rolled around ricotta cheese and topped with berries) or the ever popular bagel, cream cheese, lox platter.
Anyways, cheers to the new location, now do you think we could get some bagels south of Bloor? Seriously?