Bloke & 4th

Went here for new year’s eve, and it was a terrible experience. By December 30^th the tickets for the event were up to $ 100 and i hope no one bought them for that much because it was barely worth it go for the $ 30 i paid. They sold way too many tickets, it was way too crowded. After waiting in an extremely long line for coat check it filled up. Obviously everyone is going to have a coat so you need to have as many hangers or more for how many tickets you sell. We had to hold on to our winter coats while dancing. After midnight people started to leave and you could line up again. Lined up for half an hour before we got to the front. I paid for myself and my friend and the people at coat check told me i didn’t pay for one of them and i did. Had to pay twice, although coat check was only $ 3, so at least it was reasonable. The staff were actually pretty good, minus the people at coat check. They also said there would be platters and champagne at midnight and there were neither. I’m sure it would be better on a regular night, not new year’s eve, but because of my experience I won’t go back.

Way too expensive for very mediocre music and ambience. Can find tons of clubs and lounges in the area that are similar, better and cheaper too. Only advantage is that it rarely has a long line up!

Let me start off with saying that the number one thing this place needs to fix is the Attitude of its serving staff. The comments, facial expressions, and total lack of enthusiasm to help their customers is what will truly be their downfall. Everyone from the hosts, servers, bar staff, and Managers really need help on just being nice to the people that come to your establishment to give them their hard earned money.
From the outside, the location is hard to find because the sign is written in black letters on a black wall. I really do not know what they are trying to pull off there, but it does not work.
The ambience is nice. It is your typical supper club. They serve dinner until approximately 10pm and then it turns into a nightclub after.
The food was decent but not worth the price. I did not get my dessert and when I told the server this… the first words that came out of his mouth were «well I put them down on the table somewhere.» Immediately I gave him a nasty look and promptly replied that I just wanted to let you know that I did not get my dessert. Thats all. Another example of attitude is when my friend ordered a drink that never came, the server gave him a smart ass answer and asked my friend «do you want this to be a good night or a bad night?»
There were many other examples throughout the night of our less than subpar service as well but I will talk about some of the good things here.
The music and DJ was on point and he was playing some great mixes! The bottle service selection was good and our host was actually nice to us.
Bloke & 4^th needs to change a lot of things in order to keep customers coming back. I would not recommend you go here for supper but feel free to go have a good time at their night club.

Un … Unpleasant, unsatisfied, unwelcomed and unacceptable.
Attended my sister’s birthday at this supper club. Never heard of it and the experience made sense why.
Service: Absolutely unacceptable. We arrive and the hostess was sweet and courteous and sat us down. We were three of twelve guests that had arrived. We sat and a fellow filled our glasses with water and one cup already had water?!? The fellow replace the glass and left us. Didn’t tell us when or who our server was going to be. We waited for about 15 minutes and no one had offered us a drink menu or again let us know who our server was. Finally, as the hostess walked by we grabbed her and ask for a server as our first celebratory drink was not even on ice yet. The hostess took our order. Another five minutes passed and no drinks until our uncomfortable facial expressions drew the bartender to our table with our first order of drinks. We ask Jonathan, the bartender, who was our server, he then tried to get our server. The server came over and guess what he told us, «I am busy with that table over there and will come to you guys when they are done.» Reaction: Appalled. Its Saturday, get it together and multitask. Fine, you are busy, shouldn’t you offer a drink menu and at least capitalize on the fact there was a birthday dinner going on. After a free shot and a drink I was a little relaxed. We should have had at least another three shots for the 30 minute gap between each course. Dinner was a boring drag. After the dinner, the changing over to a club started. They did not make an easy one. The men whom were moving the tables were rude and rough. Use words, «pardon me?» «Excuse me?!» The service was very poor. Everyone but the hostess need to check their attitude at the door and walk around with upscale attitude and make the supper some money. I have only given a one star because the music was fantastic.
Food: Starter — mushroom and some cheese. It was good, but I would had preferred my food hot not my plate. Main — steak. Nothing extraordinary, it was the chinese bbq with some burnt jasmine rice. Dessert — great and such a tease, it was the size of a pea ball. We were on summerlicious menu and nothing about it would ever make me pay full price.
Ambiance: the dinner setting was cool, sexy and classy. The club night was just dark. There was a girl on a table ‘naked’ with fruit on her. Not that original especially when she had black granny panties on. Don’t try it, if you can’t execute it.
Price: not worth the quality of food served.
Overall Feedback: our group if twelve really tried to give the place a chance and it was disappointing and sad.

My boyfriend and I went here tonight for Summerlicious and were very disappointed. While the service was attentive, we weren’t too impressed with the food or ambiance (didn’t realize it was also a night club!). For starters we ordered the mushroom arancini and pulled pork brioche — taste was good, but both were luke warm. For the entrees we had the steak and vegan board. My boyfriend said the steak was okay, but the portion was rather small. The vegan board was basically a random assortment of dips/​toppings and some pita bread. Most of the dips were cold, tasteless, and mushy. For dessert I had the vegan brownie, which would have been better had it been warm. My boyfriend had the deep fried cheesecake. We were looking forward to trying this particular dish, but were very disappointed when it was brought to our table and turned out to be no larger than a Timbit. Needless to say, we won’t be going back again :(

Food:
Good food, not amazing for the price you’re paying.
Atmosphere:
Great for a girls night out or just any night out! It’s lively (busy) and packed.
Service:
Not the best. I’ve been there loads of times for dinner and drinks and the staff are so snooty — too snooty for their own good! It’s an experience.
Overall: good if you’re looking for dinner and then clubbing.

I attended Bloke & 4^th for a company holiday party, and I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect before arrival. I’m a regular at BarHop just beside Bloke, and from what I could recall, it was a place full of club-​goers, whom I could see constantly smoking if they weren’t waiting for bouncers to let them inside.
So, I wore my best «holiday work party appropriate» outfit and jumped in.
And was pleasantly surprised!
The food was delicious (since it was by the Food Dudes, I should’ve figured), definitely a Canadian/​Americana style of tapas to be sure.
The hors d’oeuvres that were passed around were tantilizing, two of my favourites were a steak tartare on house-​made potato chips (which were divine!) and a cold shrimp with chutney stacked a-​top it (hard to eat though).
For beverages, we could purchase whatever from the rail, but only house beer (which was, honestly, a surprisingly mediocre selection), house wine, and this weird blue mixed drink were free. The blue thing looked like it was blue curacao with a shot of sprite and vodka… no thanks, and the beer was sad, so I stuck with the wine which was better than I expected with the other drinks around. I expect the sad alcohol selection is due to their being a club at night, those places always have the least impressive drinks.
But then, bring on the dinner! We were wowed with several «salads» which were really impressive plates with vegetables on it AS WELL as actual salads, and the meal progressed to these amazing butter chicken meatballs with house-​made naan and, the piece de resistance, mouthwatering short-​ribs.
So why is this only three stars?
The ambiance, unfortunately, sucked. I felt like I was in a really shitty club the entire time, the staff cleared our tables and chairs the second we stood up to make room for people coming later for clubbing, and I knew it was time to go elsewhere. LOVE THE FOOD, I’d really like to see this place be more of a supper club than an office-​bro dance night, but the actual venue was a turn-​off.

This is a belated Winterlicious review.
We checked out Bloke & 4^th for a ladies dinner on a snowy Thursday evening. With a 7:30pm reservation, we were seated right away and I was starving so we also ordered quickly as well.
Appetizers — I chose the Rock Shrimp Tempura. Main — Port Braised Beef Short Ribs and dessert was the Bourbon Chocolate and Caramel Pie. We rounded out our dinner orders with two bottles of the Apothic Red wine.
The shrimp appetizer was good, but contained only 3 shrimps (Can there ever be too much shrimp?). The star of dinner was the beef short rib — very tender and flavourful. Dessert pie was massive and turned out to be a generous portion which I had to doggie bag as I was stuffed.
Service was friendly and efficient. I have lowered expectations whenever I do a meal during the ‘Licious events. They were even able to accommodate two people in our party who were almost an hour late and had everyone caught up by dessert.
A good meal in a swanky place that I initially thought would be kind of douchey. Glad the food and service proved me wrong.

Went here for dinner with my girls for their Winterlicious 14 menu and it was better than expected! The service wasn’t amazing, but they were eager and friendly. Presentation of the food was nice and quality was great. Portions were a little on the small side tho. Very flavorful. We all had the chocolate and caramel pie for dessert and it was delish! However, the dessert portion was giant and we could barely finish it. I did manage to finish it, but definitely felt guilty afterwards! :)
I would recommend this place!

Disclaimer: I’m not a club type person — so please take this review with a grain of salt.
Our company had a holiday/​cocktail party here. If I were to assess the entire event, it would have been 1.5 stars, however I don’t know how much of it was the planning committee’s fault and how much of it was the venue’s fault.
What I liked: The space was very nice. It has some comfy couches and is very clean and hip. The music was pretty good as well.
What I disliked: I’m sure our company would have told them we were planning to be there from 6:30 — 11:30 and we wanted a cocktail party. If it’s a cocktail party, there definitely should be music, but it was blaring all night. This would be great if it were a bunch of university students clubbing, but the DJ should have thought it through that it is a COMPANY party and people want to mingle for the first few hours. At least give us 2 hours until 8:30 to hear ourselves talk and then you can blast the music up at 8:30−9 so people can start dancing. Another dislike was the infrequency of the food. I probably had about four bites all night at the venue and I was there from 6:30 to 10. Another coworker and I got so frustrated, we left at 7:30 to grab some real food. I don’t know if this was our company being cheap, but my coworker said he attended a b-​day party here and ran into the same situation.
My last and final dislike was the food. While I thought the meat was pretty good, why did everything have to be served on a chip, cracker or just be fries? You could have at least served it on bread.
Verdict: Seems like a good clubbing place, but doesn’t seem like a great dinner place or to hold «professional» parties.

I was here for the bar on November 9, 2013
Wow! I can’t believe how terrible this place is. I would give Bloke 0 stars, but the system wont allow for it. Do NOT GO HERE for late night/​for the bar.
I cannot say enough about how poorly mannered the staff at this terribly run establishment is. When I finally got into the bar I went to check my winter coat. because I was wearing a ballero type scarf, emphasis on scarf (which I was small enough to put in my coat sleeve), the woman at coat check demanded that I pay for two items for a total of $ 7.00. I couldn’t believe it! I told her «Are you going to give me two ticket stubs and put each item on a separate hanger?». She said «No of course not». And I said no I am not paying that. That is ridiculous. I only had FIVE dollars on me at the time because cover charge was TWENTY DOLLARS at the door. Are you guys serious? She took the five dollars and said «whatever, that’s fine». WHY DID YOU HIRE THIS GIRL?!
I then go to the ATM and the machine is broken. So I was sitting in this bar, all night, couldn’t even by a drink. The bouncer said, the bartender will take debit at the bar. When i went there, she said she would take the card but I had to pay $ 50 to the bar first for the drink minimum; or I could go across the street. WHAT?! and have to deal with the coat girl! Are you kidding me? (I really can’t believe the audacity of the charging-​per-​item-​rule. WOW!). I stayed 30 minutes and insisted to all 20 of my girlfriends that we leave and go to another bar. Which we did, and had a much better night there.
By the way, if there is anyone from LAW ENFORCEMENT reading this. There were UNDERAGE drinkers at the bar. I don’t know if it was the braces with the combination of high school football jackets that spelled it out? or the fact that they were 5′ 5″ and looked 13 that gave it way? But they were there. Ridiculous in ever sense, I cannot believe this place.
DO NOT GO TO THIS BAR IT IS A WASTE OF YOUR TIME and $.

4.5!
So good… you know you’re satisfied when you can’t breathe and sit there in a coma.
Service was above and beyond.
Food tasted amazing and portions were perfect. Food Dudes doing their thing watch out now!

I can’t speak to what Bloke and 4^th is like after hours, when it turns into a club, but restaurant-​wise, Bloke & 4^th is easily one of my favourite places I’ve been for Winter or Summerlicious.
The décor is modern, dark, and loungey. Lots of small nooks and areas to be seated and eat in small groups, as well as larger tables and booth/​table hybrids if you are bringing a larger group.
Everyone that works here is gorgeous looking eye-​candy! Males, females, hostesses, bar tenders, wait staff! Each of them attentive and quite friendly, too.
We opted for two pitchers of Sangria (which I recall were between $ 35 – 39 each) and split amongst everyone. We were all able to have two glasses of the Sangria each from the pitcher, so if you are sharing in a large group it’s quite a good deal. The Sangria came with chopped up fruit, and it was quite yummy, though a little light on the alcohol.
The amuse bouche was a fruit gazpacho shot with cucumber. It was an interesting sweet and savoury mix, and cool way to start off the meal.
For my app I had the fire-​roasted shrimp that came in a sweet and spicy sauce, served with crispy chips and on a bed of warm, delicious guac. These were fantastic. The sweet spice sauce on the shrimp was to die for!
For my main I had the shortrib that came with an INCREDIBLE cauliflower purée. Seriously, I wanted to lick the plate clean from that purée. The shortrib was quite good, a large portion, and packed a lot of flavor.
For the dessert I had the chocolate pot au crème. Simple, but delicious.
All 7 of us that came to check out Bloke & 4^th did not have any complains about the food — it was rave reviews all around. I will definitely be back to check out some of the tasting menus they have!

Summerlicious is always in and around my birthday and so naturally I end up at a lot of them for birthday dinners.
I don’t know about everyone else but I had a lot of difficulty trying to secure reservations this year without eating like a senior (e.g. 5PM) or having to eat two dinners (because I don’t think I would’ve been able to hold out until 9:30PM).
I almost couldn’t get a reservation to Bloke & 4^th, but through the power of Twitter managed to nab a reservation for our table of 10.
I don’t usually go to restaurant-​lounges (the kind that turns into a bar/​club after 10PM) because the food is usually mediocre and you’re usually paying for the ambiance and convenience of not having to go elsewhere to party afterwards. But after having learned that The Food Dudes were part owner at this trendy King West joint, all my doubts subsided.
The $ 35 dinner menu consisted of an amuse-​bouche + 3 courses. While the amuse (a Strawberry gazpacho) was a refreshing way to start off our meal, it was their Focaccia bread that had us all cooing. It had a nice crust, but was pillow-​soft on the inside and I suspect there was some cheese involved. While I almost always pass on the bread, there wasn’t one slice left in this basket!
To start I opted for the Steak Tartare with paper-​thin, house-​cut chips, mustard aioli and fried capers for added crunch. The tartare was not too wet, not too pickled, and not too sweet — as Goldilocks would say — it was just right.
For my main, in true Flinstone size, a Braised Short Rib served over a bed of smoky cauliflower purée, grilled asparagus, King mushrooms and topped with carrot chips. This colossal rib had me howling Ya-​Ba-​Da-​Ba-​Doo as tender and juicy shreds of meat came off the fork. The King mushrooms were full of flavour and I loved the creamy cauliflower purée (bonus that it’s way less calories than your usual mashed potato).
I had high hopes for the Key Lime Pie — essentially a white chocolate and Key Lime crème brûlée with ginger crumble on top. But it resembled a Key Lime Pie as much as I resemble Angelina Jolie — not even a hint of lime flavour.
Luckily, the real dessert came when my best friend Andie surprised me with my very own birthday cake. A Chocolate-​Kahlua cake with Frangelico cream and a cherry minion on top! I loved it. Bloke & 4^th was kind enough to divide up the cake for us; service throughout the night was attentive and our server was a lot of fun!
We ordered pitchers of Sangria ($ 36) to drink. As one of my friends put it «Enjoy your Sunny D!» But we did later discover that all the alcohol content went straight into the booze-​soaked fruit.
All in all, I had a fabulous time at Bloke & 4^th. Even my pickiest friends gave their stamp of approval for this Summerlicious pick! The ambiance is chic and there is plenty of street parking nearby (we parked right out front). But beware the parking enforcement Nazis who left me a huge birthday present (a parking ticket) for being 10 minutes late to renew my parking.
Summerlicious runs until this Friday, July 19^th. Take advantage of special prix fixe menus and choose wisely — not all restaurants are created equal ;)
*Please note that this review is intended solely to gauge the restaurant during the Summerlicious period and may not reflect the restaurant’s normal state of operations. This blog post is meant to document my dining experience and should not be viewed as a restaurant review*

Terrible, terrible front door service. We came for the club and had bottle service and guest list. The front door guest list girl was extremely rude and condescending to us. She told us we weren’t on her list and we were never getting in and made a stink about how we were being rude to her when all we did was ask her to check with her manager to see our names as she wasn’t finding it.
Music was amazing and our promoter was fabulous which are the only reasons this place didn’t get a 1 star. Bottle service was attentive and the crowd here is upscale. Too bad the front door staff ruined this otherwise good venue.
Be prepared to pay for a lot of bottles here if you want bottle service on a Saturday. It was rammed.

Joined friend and her co workers here for a dinner she planned. Tapas (small sharing plates). I have to say the food here was absolutely amazing. Veal meatballs, polenta (polenta wasn’t amazing but it was average) mini sliders. I cannot start to speak on the quality, effort, detail, and delicious taste of the food. The server also seemed to know exactly what he was serving.
The initial woman serving us drinks, meh, she had no idea what was going on. On top of that, the drinks were 75% ice.
I am weary of places that turn into night clubs. Not a proper supper club. — it turns into douche bag central at about 11. We were all coming from work, and wore work attire, but many a female was close to naked, many a male was doused in grease. Some arrived at 6,7. Who comes from work looking like that — ever? Which leads me to believe they were just house wives, single cougars, and yuppies trying to fit into the crazy mold.
Skip the nightshift here, go early leave early and enjoy the absolutely flavourful food.

Love love love this place! Sophisticated and classy. A nice and fun environment.

Ok I have to give these guys a great review because the food was amazing. I am not sure why people think the portions are not enough. Unless you eat like a whale, the 7 items prix fixed is perfect. My friend and I couldn’t even finish it all off.
We didn’t stick around for the club/​lounge portion — so can’t comment on that, but really is there ever anything different in a club/​bar — same music, same crowd, same players with their game ;) (so old)
Staff are great. Very friendly except for a strange hostess who seemed completely out of it? everyone else was a delight. Will definitely come back.

Came to bloke and 4^th with a bunch of my girlfriends. We had the price fixe menu which was $ 45 for a 7-​course appetizer meal for everyone at the whole table. Good food. Highlights were the chicken drumettes and the veal on pizza dough.
Cons. If you’re a foodie and you’re ok with paying ridiculous amounts for very small portions of food, this is your heaven. Otherwise i probably wouldn’t recommend it. The servers don’t come by that often and are slow to refill water which is my biggest peeve with restaurants. Also, the bus lady came by to collect our salad plate and dropped the tongs on my head, and then it bounced off my shoulder. She apologized obviously but that really shouldn’t have happened, unless she was drunk or something. All in all this venue is VERY overhyped and i probably wouldn’t come here again.

What the fuck! Where did this place spring from?
Always surprised at how much I have yet to discover in my own area let alone the whole of Toronto.
Do not remember much about this club apart from the barmaids all being gifted in the chest department.
The first time I went I did not really enjoy it, being it was a Saturday night it consisted of hiphop wanna bes and Princess wanna bes.
However went there on a Thursday night for the FCUK fashion show after party and the crowd was much nicer. Music was also good, some house which slowly made its way to the commercial RnB.
What got me was the politeness of the staff and the front door security and management but I suppose if a big retailer is throwing an after party and bottle service that a bit of ass kissing is a must. For that one extra star for what should be normal service to normal patrons.