King Rustic

I live right around the corner and my old office used to be right across the street. Safe to say it was one of the frequent watering holes after work. Usually here for good craft beer on tap, and a small snack the odd time. Had the Cobb salad (Huge!), and the burgers which were decent too. They do have infused spirits in-​house which I’ve dabbled in a few times. Cool spot if your close by and lazy to walk a couple blocks.

Came here from my bday with 12 friends. I had left it pretty late on finding a place to make a reservation, but had no problem booking here. The food was really good, great selection for drinks and the server was great too. Only down side is that they don’t split bills. Would definitely go back.

Food was delicious. If you are looking for fantastic comfort food this is your place. We have walked by so many times and the perogies caught our eye. The sauce on the Swedish meatballs rocked. As do the garlic mashed potatoes. No need to head to the local pubs — this is way better bang for your buck. Seriously give it a try.

One of my favourite old fashioneds in the city. I got three with dinner. I got the burger but found it pretty dry. The service was pretty slow for a Saturday especially considering it wasn’t very crowded. They had a live band so that made up for it.
I’d come here again for drinks in an instant but would only try the food again if someone else wanted it.
Three stars for the old fashioned and the live band.

I can’t put into words how absolutely delicious King Rustic has been, each and every visit. I live quite close so there has been many occasions where I have gone in for lunch and dinner both by myself and with a group of friends.
The atmosphere-​from the dim lights and candles, to the music and rustic feel, has been completely enjoyable. The staff is very accommodating and the owners even go out of their way to ensure your experience has been everything you expected and more.
I’ve ordered a variety of different dishes but some of my favourites include the meatballs, perogies, steak, manchego burger, turkey club, butternut squash soup and cobb salad. Each dish has been packed with flavour with exquisite presentations. A lot of the times it’s hard to find a place downtown that’s affordable and also a bang for your money, but King Rustic has very tasty foods for relatively good prices and not to mention great portion sizes.
I definitely recommend trying this place out! Always an amazing experience

I’ve been here a few times, partially because it’s about a block from where I live. The food has been consistently good every time I’ve been there. The first time I ordered the lamb chops, and I cleaned my plate at a frankly uncivilized speed, apparently to the amazement of the chef when it came back. The brussel sprouts were great for some reason. Brussel sprouts never taste that good when I cook them. I call black magic.
Since then I’ve had the cajun style grilled chicken, the penne alla vodka and the rustic cobb salad, and they were all pretty top notch. Another reviewer complained about portion size, but the portions always seemed pretty good to me.
Service is mostly okay, but they do seem a bit slow and forgetful from time to time, even when the place is only moderately busy.

The food is fine — nothing great — but the service is abysmal. The last time I went there, I ordered the salmon salad. When my salmon salad came out, the salmon wasn’t in a solid piece — it looked like they had broken it (dropped it?) in the kitchen and then just scooped it on top of the salad anyway. There were a lot of wait staff working, but they were mostly talking to each other or behind the bar. I finally got someone’s attention, and she told me they could remake it for me if I was really unhappy «but sometimes it just comes out as one piece, and sometimes it comes out as a lot of little pieces.» Ridiculous. She should have just apologized and taken it away — or not brought it out in the first place.

This place is nothing special and don’t think they deserve such a high overall score. My friend suggested going to this place because she lived nearby and wanted to support a local business.
Their menu wasn’t too big but half the items were crossed out. I ordered a draft beer and when the waiter brought it, it wasn’t filled to the top. He said they ran out and couldn’t fill up the entire glass (which was smaller than a pint) and said they would take $ 1 off the beer. He didn’t even ask if I wanted to have a different beer.
I ordered a hangar steak with a side of brussel sprouts. The hangar steak doesn’t come with any sides at all. Both dishes were over-​salted and portions are tiny. I think I got a total of 8 brussel sprouts.
It must have been the server’s first day because he meticulously wrote down my order but had to double check again on what drink I ordered within 2 minutes. The waiter brought our food but didn’t give us cutlery until we flagged him down. Then he brought forks and knives without napkins even though his platter had napkins on them. He came back with napkins but essentially threw them on the table.
When we got our check, he forgot about the «discount» on my beer and was confused about splitting the cheque. He was also waiting right over your shoulder so I guess he’s pretty desperate for tips.
I wouldn’t go out of my way to dine at this restaurant. If you’re in the area and want salty food but in small portions, this place is for you.

Great food and friendly staff. Cool environment that is great for a date. Try their infused alcohol — pear and fig bourbon and jalapeño tequila to name a few.

Portions are massive, but food is quite average for the price. Had the turkey burger on one occasion and the penne ala vodka on a second occasion. Neither dish was bad, but definitely no wow factor here. Also, the restaurant has a very nice wine list (albeit a bit overpriced) — However, both times I ordered wine my first wine choice was out of stock and when I ordered my second choice, I was served wine in terrible, inappropriate glassware. The first time my wine was served to me in a beer glass (because they had run out of wine glasses) and the second time my wine was served in a very old, scratched up, thick rimmed wine tumbler. Both made the experience of drinking nice wine not so nice. Service is friendly though and atmosphere really chill. A good place to check out some live music and have some drinks (maybe not wine!).

Great neighbourhood place with surprisingly good food (and sizable portions) and bartenders that take the time to think about their beer list and curated cocktails. Never seems as busy as it should be, so please Unilocal’ers keep this place in the neighbourhood!

Not only did I have such an amazing Brie appetizer, but my boyfriend ordered the Shepard’s pie (also amazing) and I ordered a salad which took longer than expected, so the server bought us a round of drinks. Customer service and elegance at its (King west) finest

Get a seat by the window to watch the transients from the halfway house next door walk by. The entertainment is endless.
That being said, the turkey sandwich is fantastic. A nice ratio of protein to bread.
My girlfriends shepherds pie looked great, but when I tasted it all I got was rosemary. No beef or potato taste, only the herb.
It was good, but nothing to write home about.

A great new restaurant in our neighbourhood, have been few times now. The cobb salad is my favourite along with the chicken meatballs and sandwich and the mashed potatoes. All the meals I have had were excellent. Their house sangria is also fab. Not a great selection of wines (and a little pricey for the location) or beer, but I think the plan is to add more. They opened for brunch first time last week but I didn’t get to go, but hope that will continue. A must visit.

Came with kind of low expectations due to the last merchant that was in this space. The décor was proper I was surprised once I got in there. The server was extra nice and you could tell she cared. I feel like the cocktails were the real highlight which isn’t broadcasted enough on the website and in the marketing. Love dem King Cubes. The meatball sub was real good and the cajun chicken wasnt all that. I feel like it was lacking a bit of flavour. I love brussel sprouts and I thoroughly enjoyed King Rustics. Overall I am glad this spot is in my hood now. Def made it in the roto. One small suggestion would be fresh ground pepper. Holler.

King Rustic opened a couple months ago and we stopped in and checked it out this evening.
We sat at the bar. It was fun to chat with Loren, a mixologist from Texas, and watch him at work! He dries many things like apples, grapefruit, etc. to mix with his drinks.
Kristen took good care of us.
Great Lakes Brewery had a rep who gave out samples of beer … Crazy Canuck, Red Leaf, Harry Porter and Johnnie Simcoe. I like a fairly bland beer and preferred Red Leaf. Gord is more adventurous (the hoppier, the better for him!) and liked them all.
We split an order of the Signature Chicken Meatballs (white meatballs, adobe seasoning, poblano garlic sauce, mozzarella cheese, panini pressed ciabatta bread). They were yummy and I’d get them again!
King Rustic had a good vibe and friendly staff … we’ll be back!

King Rustic is one of the newest spots on King West, and I was super duper excited to check it out after drooling over the yummy looking fusion menu.
I came here on a Thursday evening and this place was dead. I think maybe one or two other small parties the entire time we were there came in and out. However, even though there were not many customers, service was painfully slow. From refilling water, to getting dishes out, slow slow slow all around. Super friendly, though. The staff even gave us a free, and EXTREMELY delicious tiramisu to share (and I am quite picky when it comes to tiramisu!)
Food was decent, but not outstanding. The prices are a bit weird. Apps are very similar in price to mains which can be a bit of a deterrent when considering an app. I did steal some of the brie app and it was quite tasty! Melty, gooey goodness, paired with their AMAZING bread (I think it’s a grilled focaccia? Whatever it is, their bread is out of this world.)
Outside of the brie, bread, and tiramisu, other items around the table were good, but nothing to write home about.
I was a little underwhelmed in the end, but definitely wasn’t a bad experience! I think with some service & menu tweaks, King Rustic would be a place I’d definitely return to.

While we were staying at the Thompson hotel last week in Downtown Toronto, i asked one of the staff if there was a place around the area that me and my friends can go and have a great time. They recommended us King Rustic, we went there we were astounded, it reminded us of a place that we always go in New York City. We sat down, the waiter took care of us right away with a big smile, we felt so welcoming. We look at the menu and is great, their food selection gives everything from Perogies to Spanish Adobe meatballs. It was hard for and my friends to decide what to order because everything sounded exquisite.
I personally started with the spinach dip and then i ordered the Grilled Chicken Cajun style, so delicious and to drink i had a Vodka Martini on the rocks with three olives which it was perfectly made by the bartender. In our opinion between fusion foods is one of the hottest trends in the world, and i’ve been to a lot of places.
By the way if anyone who doesn’t understand what fusion inspired cooking means, it’s the combination of elements from different culinary traditions. My friends and i are more than happy with the service, the drinks and the food. We’re definitely visit King Rustic again, that’s for sure.

I’m actually shocked this place does not have any reviews yet.
I normally wouldn’t eat anywhere that has NO reviews but our friends swore by it and convinced us to join them
Really, from start to finish, it was a fabulous meal: the service was great; the food was very tasty and well presented; and the drinks were boozy.
We shared the baked brie and meatballs to start, I had the hanger steak and my wife had the salmon, we shared the tiramisu for dessert. Everything was cooked perfectly and really quite enjoyable
Check it out, it’s a fun neighbourhood place with good food and drinks

*** 3−½ STARS ***
I was here with a group of 7 people last week for dinner.
I was also surprised there hasn’t been any reviews anywhere and I was even more surprised that I live a couple blocks away often get takeout at Sushi 930 next door and never knew this place existed — it has been open since the beginning of last December. The space was once Saviari Tea & Cocktail Lounge, which was an interesting concept, but was plagued by a rather cheap and uninviting atmosphere and always lacking in customers.
I had my doubts about this restaurant when I first saw their menu online. Their food is claimed to be rustic fusion, which sounds rather like a cop out and their dishes sounded lack-​lustre with nothing that really stands out.
When I arrived at the restaurant I noticed they did a good job in transforming the once bleak space into a place that is much more warm and welcoming. In keeping with the rustic theme, there is lots of rustic wood furniture and paneling, rustic nik-​naks, and the proverbial Edison bulb light fixtures everywhere. While the space is much improved, however the restaurant feels a bit odd, as the floor was dominated by a couple rows of large bar-​height tables down the middle of the restaurant with dining tables on either side. This lack of room and flow seemed to make it difficult for the servers to attend to their diners and it makes walking to the bar or bathroom more cumbersome. The TV sitting at the end of the bar was on the Rogers channel preview channel and was very distracting. The rustic themed effort of the restaurant felt almost like a Lone Star restaurant trying to be hipster, which the atmosphere seemed to be a bit off or not quite put together.
The music was a mix of electronic and funk, which I liked but was played way too loud, especially when there were not that many people there.
I started off with their Apple Crown cocktail which on the menu said it was a must try, which I did and it was very tasty. It was Crown Royal with lemon tea, infused honey, house made bitters, dusted with cinnamon with a dried apple slice on top of a large cube of ice. It wasn’t overly sweet and had enough booze which I really liked. I would order this again, though they had a nice and interesting cocktail menu selection.
My table had a couple orders of the brie appetizer which was baked brie topped with toasted pine nuts and drizzled with honey and served with slices of ciabatta, they all really liked it.
I had a really hard time ordering my main course as nothing really stood out and many of the dishes were either very simple or served with tomato sauce which seemed like a very easy and had potential of being bad (at least in my experience). The menu was a mix of Italian, English pub, Mediterranean, and bits of other cuisines, so it really had no focus which was why I was having trouble ordering something I would really like — everything felt really safe.
I went with the hangar steak as I was craving steak. I wanted their perogie dish, but they didn’t have any that night.
I requested the steak be cooked medium-​rare but more on the rare side. I found the beef on the tough side despite being perfectly cooked, but it was well seasoned and nice flavor. The sides of mashed potatoes tasted creamy and buttery good, the asparagus was tender, however the side salad was barely dressed and dry and the odd side of guacamole didn’t go with anything on this dish and I didn’t care for it. A salsa verde or chimichurri sauce would be much more welcomed here.
Every else in my party seemed to like their dishes, though someone had a side of brussel sprouts which arrived cold and was overcooked and too soft.
One dish that looked really impressive was their Double Grilled Cheese Beef Sliders. The dish came with two sliders and they were much larger and substantial than your typical slider. It was essentially a burger inside a grilled cheese sandwich, brilliant! I will definitely order that next time.
The waiter was nice enough to give us a complementary sample of tiramisu for dessert as we were all too full from dinner. Even though I am not a big dessert person I really liked the tiramisu and would order it if I was hungry enough for dessert.
Overall I thought my dinner experience was good, but it still needs improvement which is understandable as this restaurant has only been open for less than two months with little business or publicity. Also there was only one person working the front of house — he was the waiter and bartender for the entire restaurant when we were there which made for slow and spotty service, but he was very nice and courteous and greatly appreciated our patronage. An extra wait staff would definitely improve things.
I’m sure they will iron things out with their service as they get more customers and experience. I will definitely check back in a few months.