Café Polonez

Good and reliable quisin

U loved eating there the schnitzel was really good. And the portions was really huge so beware of ordering too much. Lively place for a group or family. Street parking available

Very friendly service. They served us some bread and butter soon as we were seated. Perogies were so good. Bean soup was delicious. Cant wait to come back and try some other food in the menu.

Portion sizes hold up to Polish standards. Excellent food, the pork pirogies and the mushroom pirogies are my favourites. The cabbage rolls were outstanding as well– the best part is they allow all kinds of substitutions! Replace your sides to your every whim — making the menu completely customizable. The service staff are smiling, friendly and outgoing. Willing to guide guests to the Polish traditions. 5 stars !

As a Polish person, this food was almost as good as Babcia’s cooking. I’d recommend it to anyone!

This is by far the best Polish restaurant in Toronto. The place is very clean and professional. The waitresses are very attentive. The portions are huge and the food is amazing. I highly recommend the duck or the Hungarian pancake. The prices are more than fair.

Extremely good food. Authentically Polish and delicious. We had the perogies, schnitzel, and borsch. A mild warning that this place while not outright expensive is also not cheap. But it IS worth it.

WE had planned to try out 9 café the other night. It is close top where we live and the menu looked interesting. However, upon sitting down, the first 3 three items were not available. After a 4^th absence on the menu we decided to go to polonez. Prompt friendly service. Excellent hearty food. I had Schnitzel Polonez, She had goulah in a pancake. Yummy. Go there before Roncesvalles gentrification is complete. I jest I suspect they own the building and the place does huge business. It is going nowhere.

Went here with a party of 7 after a hard morning of volleyball!
Location/​Service
Street parking is available if you plan to drive, but suggested if you carpool to save time and gas. Easy to find location and very family-​feel oriented interior.
Waitresses were very nice and knowledgeable as I don’t have much experience with Polish food. They were also quick when we wanted something extra like olive oil for the bread of extra plates for sharing.
Food
Ordered the platter for 2, which pretty much has everything they specialize in. The pork schnitzel was the biggest portion. It was a little dry to my tasting, but adding in with the beets and veggies gave it a good mix.
Also ordered a few varieties of perogies. They were very delicious since it’s comfort food with a lot of the filling. The best was the mushroom and cheese. Next was the pork. If you have a larger party, it’s the best option to share as an appetizer.
Tried the potato pancake Hungarian style. This was interesting since it was like a pancake wrap/​taco. There were fillings inside so potion was very enough. Again also tops off with side dishes to balance it out.
I would love to come here again since I haven’t experience much Polish cuisine. I think it would be better to come here with a few people since there is a wide selection of food on their menu!

TLDR; Come here for a cozy, fabulous, no-​frills Sunday meal. This is the kind of place you want to write a fake negative review about so you can keep it to yourself. Portion sizes are massive.
FOOD
I have thoroughly enjoyed every meal I have eaten here. The food is homey, and consistent. Skip the free bread at the beginning, it’s not that good and will fill you up. My favourites here (after trying a ton of the menu) are:
Cabbage rolls with mushrooms (must order!)
Cheese and Potato Dumplings
Hunter’s Stew
Beet Root soup with mushroom dumplings
You can’t go wrong here. If there is something on the menu that interests you, I can guarantee its well prepared.
AMBIENCE
Feels like you’re at your grandmas for Sunday dinner. Service isn’t the best, but they’re generally slammed so I can understand.

Awesome place. You can tell it’s a popular place when it’s constantly packed! There was a line going out the door when we were leaving.
Service was fast and friendly. They gave us a basket of bread & butter to start.
I had the Cabbage Rolls (Pork) and they were absolutely delicious. The tomato sauce was sweet and tasty. I also loved the beet salad and coleslaw which came with it. My friend ordered Perogies and enjoyed them. She thought they would have come with a side or sour cream though, which they didn’t.
Looking forward to trying more menu items here! Lots of street parking available on Roncy.

I feel like Café Polonez might be one of the city’s most popular unknown restaurants. It’s always completely full and busy and yet it hardly seems like anyone’s ever talking about it. I’ve been a few times and the food is always delicious, so I’ll bet this’ll be changing soon enough.
Anyway, this time around I ordered the Potato Pancake Hungarian Style (Potato pancake stuffed with goulash and served with side bouquet of salads). Honestly, I can’t think of anything negative to say about this dish. Not the size, as it’s fairly enormous. Certainly not the taste, as the goulash is just about perfect; it’s rife with delectable bits of pork and a rich, delicious sauce. I could probably eat this every day for the rest of my life.
Now, the downside to Café Polonez and the reason I’m not giving it the full five stars is because of its atrocious service. It took around 20 minutes for a waitress to even approach our table after we had arrived and it was around an hour (!) before we even got our appetizer. My water was hardly ever refilled, and the bill took forever to arrive. I understand that the joint was completely packed and it looked like there were only two waitresses, but that just means that more wait staff should be working on days like that. No excuse for this kind of service.
I’ll keep going to Café Polonez for the amazing food, but it’s the kind of place where you have to warn newcomers not to expect competent service, unfortunately.

Very delicious. We got the platter for 4 — be warned, it is NOT for four people. It is for far more than four people.
The schnitzel was solid, the sauerkraut was good, the cabbage rolls were good, the perogis (cheese) were delicious, sausages were delicious, potato dumplings were delicious, and the hunter’s stew was good (I preferred the sauerkraut in this).
We also ordered the paprikash which is nice too.

Loved this place enough to have my family only wedding reception here. I’d like to be friends with this restaurant. You know, bro-​down and BFF forever?
I’m sure that if you ordered all the wrong things, and maybe you didn’t like meat, bread, cabbage and pierogies you could walk out not completely satisfied. Otherwise, you are doomed to have the most authentic and delicious Polish meal of your life at a very fair price.
Things to try: cabbage/​mushroom pierogies, bigos, borscht, schnitzel, potato pancakes and any of the salads. I’m sure most of the other stuff is awesome too, but this is where the restaurant truly shines.
If you live or are visiting Toronto… DO IT.

You really can’t go wrong at café Polonez, nothing to complain about.
To start the waitress brought complimentary bread and butter to our table; looked likenit was about half a loaf of sliced rye bread and a plentiful amount of butter pots.
I got the 12 perogies to start, there were 5 flavours to choose from but I stuck to the classic cheddar and potato filling. These are considered to be the best perogies in they city (according to BlogTO) and I’ve gotta say I agree! The consistency was perfect, and they had a lot of filling too. It came with a side of sour cream and a side of butteres garlic. The 12 cost $ 11.25.
For my main, I ordered the schnitzel melt; your choice of either pork tenderloin or chicken (I chose pork), topped with nelted cheese and sauted mushrroms mashed potato side, and 3 different types of aide salads. The schnitzel was AMAZING! So tender! So flavourful! So big! I could only eat half of it, I was stuffed! The only slaw salad I wasn’t too much of a fan of was the purple turnip one… a little sweet for my liking, but I guess that’s just a case of personal preference. This dish was $ 18.25 I believe, well worth it for the flavour, quality, and especially considering the mass amounts of leftovers haha!
My boyfrind got a roast beef sandwich which was smothered in a delicious gravy, accompanied by mashed potatoes, slaw salad, cagge and carrots and beans on the side. Again, a massive quantity! I tried a bit of the roast and it was unbelievably tender… clearly it was slow cooked to perfection. Hos plate was also about $ 18.
We also ordered a drink and after tip ended up spending about $ 50. Certainly not the cheapest meal I’ve had, but the money went toward some top qualitt food, so it was well worth it. Plus, we took home enough leftovers to last another meal aha!

I’ve been here a few times, mostly without my Polish fiancée.
I’m happy to see an all-​Polish staff, which just adds to the traditional authenticity the place carries — something I’d hoped for in a neighbourhood known as «Little Poland».
Everything from the food to the drinks to the service can be qualified as quite authentic. I would consider Polish fair to be comfort food, and this place has an expansive and mouth-​watering selection.
Expect large portions, all made well and authentically. Service is attentive and efficient.
The clientele is multi-​cultural, and consists of everything from young patrons on their own to three generations of family dining together to couples on a romantic date night.
Look forward to: daily specials, excellent homemade soups, hearty, unpretentious meals, a good selection of several Polish beers all served in their respective steins (Poland produces amazing beers! A great value here in Ontario.), a good selection of several Polish vodkas (of course), and a decent wine list.
This place is definitely worth trying out, even if sauerkraut and cabbage rolls aren’t your thing!

Great food for affordable prices. Everything was fresh and so delicious! Fantastic service and a really clean place. ⁵⁄₅

Stick to your ribs, home cooked goodness! It’s rare to find a meal this good.
Both my fellow diner and I each ordered the platter for one — it comes with pork schnitzel, hunter’s stew (basically a warm cabbage salad with a bit of sausage), coleslaw, beet salad and a few pirogies. We also shared a side of potatoes and a small serving of goulash gravy. I’m a big dude and this meal left me so content I was forced to walk it off.
I’m already looking forward to my next visit and it’s definitely sparked my interest in Slavic/​Bavarian/​Eastern European food.

Absolutely best place to get authentic Polish food in Toronto. I’ve been going here since I was a child and they’re still going strong. Pierogis are homemade and filling, cabbage rolls are hearty and flavourful, their Zurek is sour and bold. My all time favourite dish has to be their Kopytka. The gravy on top of these potato dumplings is out of this world. The meat in the sauce melts in your mouth. It also comes with some traditional polish sides like sweet fried cabbage or shredded cooked beets. Also don’t forgot to try their compote or apple crumble as a sweet ending to your meal!

I’m surprised to say that Café Polonez is one of the best kept secrets in Toronto. How this place isn’t packed, with a line down the street, is beyond me. I had first visited in April, and for my encore visit this month, it was just as good as I remember it the first time.
For both visits, I ordered the «Platter for Two» (Cabbage Rolls, Pirogi, Pork Schnitzel, Sauteed Mushrooms, Hot Sauerkraut, Beet Salad, Fresh Cabbage Slaw, Cucumber Salad).
Normally, I find that restaurant portions tend to be less than advertised. The «Platter for Two», is really enough food for three. I am a fairly big eater, I can pack a lot of food away, and I’m certifying this meal is not an exaggeration of portion sizes.
The cabbage rolls are the best I’ve ever had. If this is the way cabbage rolls were meant to be made, then I’ll take a second helping please. The pork schnitzel was lean and yet perfectly tender. Pirogi (Cheese/​Potato, Sauerkraut/​Mushroom) were excellent as to be expected. The hot sauerkraut is simply incredible; sauerkraut should ALWAYS be served this way. The beet salad, cabbage slaw, and cucumber salad just round out an incredible balanced and delicious meal.
I didn’t grow up eating Polish food, but both my meals here, so far, have felt like I was eating comfort food. The food was absolutely delicious and it felt like a great home cooked meal.

We Unilocaled this location and after our visit we gladly give it 5 stars. We stopped by after visiting the High Park and were seated immediately. The interior was clean with a nice décor.
Menu items were well described and the food was well worth the fare. Service was great and the food was tasty. If you are looking for a Polish cousine, this place hits the spot!
P. S. Not familiar with the Toronto area, we parked about two blocks away on a side street. Plan accordingly.

The Roncy also known as Little Poland houses many polish eats however this one takes top mark for the best dine in experience. Authentic, home style dishes you would think babcia (grandma) is cooking away in the kitchen.
Extensive menu with all the Polish specialties, cabbage rolls, pierogies, hunter’s stew, schnitzels, red/​white borsht, potato dumplings, potato pancakes, goulash, and full bar.
Ordered the platter for two can easily eat three. Huge portions! Two cabbage rolls, 6 perogies of your choice, 2 pork schnitzels, bigos/​hunter stews and three large salads (beet/​cabbage/​carrots).
Lots of vegetarian options just be careful with the sauces as some are meat based.
Dessert try the crepes (nalesniki)
For beverages try Kompot (fruit cooked in water and lightly sweetened) or Zywiec (Polish beer– pale lager).
Service is excellent. You gotta eat here!

Our server was one of the friendliest servers I’ve ever had, and she really wanted my friend and I to have an authentic Polish dining experience — perfect! I wanted to try Polish beer, so she gave me a brief overview of the beers. After choosing Tyskie, she promptly brought the pilsner. I liked its refreshing, citrus flavour. She said it’s common to mix it with raspberry syrup, and highly recommended it. Sure! So, she returned with a large syrup shot and a basket of warm rye bread. I ordered goulash with pierogi ruskie, and my friend ordered the platter for 1.
I came here last spring with a friend (visiting from Wrocław, Poland) for perogi take-​out. Apparently, the former Polish president ate here during his Toronto visit!
Fast-​forward to yesterday: the people behind us were amidst a celebration, but my friend and I had no issue hearing each other. Once served our main courses, we sampled each other’s plates. I liked the Polonez schnitzel and bigos from my friend’s platter. Unfortunately, the meat in my goulash became tough to chew after eating several pieces. I loved everything else on my plate though, especially the pierogi. We didn’t have room for dessert, so we drank the remaining raspberry syrup that wasn’t used in my Tyskie-​syrup concoction. From Polish hospitality to reasonably-​priced, homestyle Polish food, we left planning our next visit!

This restaurant is absolutely amazing! From the cute interior to the most adorable server ever (Joanna), to food that only is rivaled by my grandmother… (Sorry mom!!) Every bit of my experience was absolutely PERFECT! I seldom give a perfect score to ANYTHING… But this one is well deserved.
Tip: Order the Dinner for 2 for the most amazing value! Everything on one plate that makes you miss your baba…

Enfin un vrai restaurant à Toronto, la Polish Sausage est un classique ! Mon assiette est repartie toute propre en cuisine. Les schnitzels sont divins, et tout ça à un prix super bas. Allez y les yeux fermés !

I went there with my friends after visiting High park. I read a lot reviews about this restaurant and finally made wise choices.
The staff there were all very friendly and nice. They provided some suggestions when we were confused with the menu because it’s Polish style~
The food were served in large portion but the price was not expensive at all. I ordered one platter for one with pierogies, a large size schnitzel, boiled potatoes and beets and add a mushroom cabbage roll. To my surprise, the waitress forgot my cabbage roll at first so she didn’t charge me for it as an apologize. It was so nice!!!
My friends ordered potatoes pancake and polish dumplings. The portion was sooo generous and all food were in good flavor. We cannot have them all actually. I particularly love their beet soup and pickles on side-​dish. The rye bread and butter were also provided free before our main dish.
The restaurant was suitable for family and friends because of its relaxed atmosphere. The food was authentic as well. If you are interested in polish cuisine, you must go to try it.

Their perogies and cabbage rolls are my favourite! So glad I found this place! The restaurant had a comfortable vibe and it was a nice place for groups and families to eat and catch up. I’m not usually around that neck of the woods but they have definitely gave me a good impression on polish food!
Service was great and the restaurant just felt like one big family.

I haven’t had many experience when it comes to Polish food. Last year I attend the polish festival on bloor and get a general idea of what their food is like. My friend and I discover this place after we went to high park too see cherry blossom and were very happy with this family style restaurant .
We had a platter for one and add on a side cabbage roll. The portion was really generous and it’s excellent for sharing, also you get a bit taste of everything. So it is like an intro for this type of food. And if you found you like sth better than the other next time you know what to go for. Perfect for someone who can’t make up their mind !
The platter we had includes choice of one kind or pierogis, hunter’ s stew, coslaw, beets and breaded pork with sautéed mushrooms. The potato cheddar progis is very good as I could tell it’s not sit there for long and reboil it, very tender with some texture to it. But it depends my very last visit with another friend I found it’s different it’s more dry, so it’s lack of consistency. The pork was juicy and crispy very good indeed. The hunters stew has the tangy cabbage so it cut down the richness of the sour cream and protein, and so does the sweetness from the beets. The pierogis comes with sourcream and minced pork in the oil. I love the progis cause it remind me of Chinese dumpling in a way. Those are the type of food in can’t say no it take me back to my roots so it’s hard to not like it even just a somewhat alike lol. The cabbage roll is with tomato sauce it’s more like a cold dish. Also forgot to mention they give you a basket of bread and packs of whipped butter to start, it’s European type of sourdough bread. Overall it’s great food and family style

Finally found myself in the Roncy neighbourhhood and was super hungry. I remembered that I had Café Polonez bookmarked here on Unilocal for about a year, so we went for a late lunch.
Service was very friendly and efficient. The atmosphere was comfortable enough and they had wine, so I was happy. I ordered a glass of Gruner Veltliner but was immediately struck with jealousy at the cool steins of Polish beer at a neighbouring table. I am not a beer drinker, but if you are, I highly recommend one of those bad boys.
I had a hard time deciding what to order since I grew up in a kitchen with a Polish grandmother and a Hungarian grandfather. We ate a lot of potato pancakes, perogies and goulash when I was a kid. I decided on the Bigos (Hunter’s Stew) and a side of potato and cheddar perogies. My boyfriend had the Goulash and the pork perogies.
Everything was wonderfully tasty. The perogies were properly made and made me a little nostalgic. The pork in the goulash was a little dry, but benefitted from being cut into smaller pieces and eaten with a larger amount of the sauce.
The potato pancakes being delivered to other tables were massive and looked delicious. The schnitzel seemed appealing, but I’m not really a schnitzel lover so I didn’t have diner’s regret over not ordering that.
I took a star off for the dry meat. I know a lot of Eastern Europeans cook the crap out of their proteins. Maybe that’s why, but a gentle braise will leave the meat nice and juicy. I didn’t feel like they achieved this with the goulash and the sauce was a bit flat for me. Perhaps that’s because my Grampa loved spice and used to make his very zingy.
I’d love to come in here and have a Polish feast with a bunch of friends one night. That would be yummy and fun.

A little on the pricey side but the liver hot sandwich I would come back for. Décor is romantic and service is friendly.

A friend once told me that Café Polonez was the best restaurant in Roncesvalles. Having a mighty appetite for pierogies, cabbage rolls, and anything made out of the humble potato, I jumped at the opportunity to give these delicious, delightful and weight altering meals a go.
First, the good. Staff are friendly and greet you with a warm basket of fresh bread to start your meal. Bf scored two winners with the cauliflower soup (broth, with cooked cauli and other veggies) and the hot ground meat sandwich. The gravy on that was to die for. It was hearty and filled with tender morsels of beef, and smothered that sandwich like nobody’s business.
I wish I ordered something less carb-​tastic than the potato pancakes so I could enjoy my meal without feeling shame and dread at my choices in life. The pancakes were composed of mashed potato, unlike the shredded counterparts I’m familiar with, and were served with a side of sour cream. They were okay, but quite boring. Wish I added a side salad or a soup or something more flavourful at least.
Oh, and to finish up this carb-​fest deluxe, I sprung for a side of cheddar potato pierogies. They were delicious, but again: I could’ve used veggies to cushion the blow of those carbs!
Comfort food, really relaxed environment, amazing pierogies. Maybe not the best in Roncy in my books, but a lovely restaurant nevertheless.

I had heard great things about Café Polonez, and being a lover of pierogis and schnitzels, it was a no-​brainer whether to make a reservation with them or not. I gave them a call before the Christmas holidays and requested a reservation for 16 people. I was shocked by how easy it was to make a reservation since reviewers often mention the huge wait-​times and long lines.
I really enjoyed my meal; great portions, tender schnitzel, decent prices and great service. The one thing I did not really care for were the pierogis. I am not a huge fan of boiled pierogis, and if I do eat them boiled, I like to add salt and eat them with sour cream and feta. But what are the chances that a Polish restaurant will have feta? Not likely.
Looking at these pictures has me eager to pay them another visit. ASAP!

Solid, Polish comfort food near High Park!
I preferred the pierogies over the cabbage rolls… although I did like the side salads A LOT, re: coleslaw, beet salad, dill potatoes. Other veg were just awh-​ight.
I’m pretty sure the pierogies were made in-​house as the wrapping wasn’t very thick like the ones that come from your grocer’s freezer.
The only con that I can think of is that is was L-​O-​U-​D, LOUD in there for a Friday night, early dinner service. I couldn’t hear any background music, but perhaps that would help to control the noise. Definitely not ideal for a first-​date or a catch-​up meal!
Note: Fried onion oil sauce has PORK in it, so FYI Halal/​Kosher/​Veg peeps.