Paintbox Bistro

The paintbox bistro has some REALLY cool things. Oolong teas, kombucha, every kind of relish I could think of, Mac and cheese, turkey dinners, soup in Mason jars, dried kale, coffee, lattes, espresso, chicken, root veggies, Jamaican patties… I don’t know why I never went in here before.
There’s a nice atmosphere, water with lemon, the staff are friendly.
Some things are over priced but many are completely reasonable.
I like this place!

First time trying this place and will NOT be going back. Got the Jamaican patties they were dry and lacked flavour. Customer service wasn’t good no one came to help us… until they noticed I had my dog. I had intended to order more but was told to leave because of my dog which brings me to my second issue. Least dog friendly bistro in Toronto. Couldn’t keep my well trained dog tied outside for a few minutes while getting takeout as there are signs all over saying no dogs on the grass which was the only area available to tie a dog.
In conclusion wouldn’t recommend and won’t be going back.

Super convenient from our condo, makes it very easy to quickly grab a bite. Friendly staff, and a great addition to the Regent Park neighbourhood.

I don’t get why this place gets such poor reviews. I popped in today to grab and go and although there should have been at least one more person working, the service was good and not too slow. The woman behind the counter was attentive, polite and friendly. I ordered a hot chocolate which was very reasonably priced for the quality. It was all milk, not too sweet, and very good. I also got a croissant which was flaky and crispy on the outside but soft, buttery, and chewy on the inside. The only thing is that it was a bit greasy. I’ll go back again for sure.

I am a student and do my coop in the same building as this place. I come here on average once a week, and sometimes I just buy a cookie or something. I’ve liked the taste of the food and the design of the place, but the service is always weird. This place makes the whole comunity look way better but the staff seem sassy and hate their job. Today I got the curry wrap to go and after I ate it I saw my boss heading to throw away some grilled veggies I was going to get from the restaurant. She said it tasted funny and the food doesn’t look and smell right. Then she brought up how she had the breakfast sandwhich and it looked terible inside it, the eggs wen’t cooked properly and the bacon was half cooked. Another co worker then said that she had the steak wrap the other day and it didn’t agree with her at all. I thought to myself, «always eat here and I dought I will have the same problem». I got home… And had a date with my toilet. Never coming here agian!
Edit: Also this place is way pricy compared to the comunity it is in.

This place has a nice vibe, cool building in a revitalized neighbourhood. So far I’ve had the steak wrap, a cheese croissant and a latte, which were all good. Customer Service though… It must be some kind of performance art. Read the reviews below and be prepared. (I’m giving the 3 stars for food only)

I give this place 4 stars not 5 because the prices to buy sanwhiches could be a bit lower, I’m an art student and 7 $ for a sandwhich isn’t something i could buy all the time when acrylic paint is so damn expensive.
I walk 10minnutes to this place just because of their curry chicken wraps and pulled Pork sandwhiches, and the pulled pork is actually very juicy not dry and has the stringy texture that i love.
I love also buyying other things here like the quinoa cake, It’s really decadent and GLUTEN FREE ^_​^
This place also has a retail section, which an impulse buyer gets temped to buyying these things. They have cute confectionaries in mason jars and local companies itemcs like green house juice co, gourmet popcorn, jelly beans.
ALSO I LOVE THERE COOKIES, but only fresh in the morning, AND THEY HAVE MASON JARS WITH MEALS READY TO GO, ISN’T THAT NEAT, AND THEY TASTE GREAT! I bought a mason jar with chickpea channa inside took it home and heated it up and in no time.
i never really had a bad expeirnce with the waiters as I get when waiters are buys with all the other customers. but they never forget to bring anything to my tables.
all in all it’s a cute plae to hang out the windows and trendy/​artsy furniture make it a nice comfy feel, i like to chill here and get my imagination going. if you need a present for your artsy friend come here and get them something. did i mention they have VEGAN AND GLUTEN FREE baxing mixes.

Terrible — How would you like to bite into your sandwich and have HAIR in it? Disgusting.

I am disappointed every time I come here!
For example, I came in now to find them closed; despite the sign on their front door saying that they’re open until 6pm. There have been innumerable other minor complaints. I’ve been trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I’m disappointed every time I come here!!!

Whoever owns or manages this operation should update their web presence — their operating hours on Unilocal is drastically different from what their website says.
Secondly, if the website is correct: what kind of restaurant/​bistro would NOT SERVE DINNER? Nor open on Sundays? Paired with lack-​lusture reviews, it’s hard to venture even across the street to find out if this place is indeed open.

We live in the Paintbox Condo above the restaurant and when we first moved in came a few times and found the service ok but really slow and the limited menu was over priced so we stopped going.
I decided to drop by for lunch today. There were 3 groups of people at tables eating and 2 servers … When I walked in no one acknowledged me. One of the servers got more water for one table. Then the other server cleared some plates and they still didn’t acknowledge me. The servers went behind the counter and chatted with each other while I stood there. I grabbed menu and sat down. Still nothing. The servers brought a coffee to one table and the bill to another then went back to chatting with each other… I walked in at 12:05 and at 12:18 I walked out and went around the corner to Suko Thai were I was served immediately

This place has a nice laid back community vibe but is better at the cool laid back community thing than as a restaurant.
Just one example — ask to have your sandwich cut in half and they’ll tell you that nowhere in their big handsome kitchen is a knife to do the job.
They also spend a weird amount of time rearranging tables for whatever is happening next.
Five stars as a hangout spot. One star as a place to have a meal. Average 2.5 stars, rounded up to three

They need to update their menu and come up with new dishes for this place to be deserving of 4 or 5 stars. The way the menu is setup right now, it’s not very inspiring or worthy of a trip to this part of town, I’ll be honest. Their shrimp tacos, for instance, were ok, but no where near the level of Barrio Coreano or Seven Lives Tacos Y Mariscos. So, I don’t see any reason why I would be compelled to come back here, when there are so many other better options in the vicinity of 1−3KM. Sorry, Paintbox Bistro, but you did not meet my expectations.

Food was good, service was okay, had a mix up with our salad and the server was fairly aggressive in terms of telling us what we had asked for. Not sure what happened to the customer is always right, but a couple at the adjacent table mentioed when she moved away, they heard us order because they thought, Oh, they are having the same salad as us. Other than that misunderstanding, it was good. Would have given them a four star if this hadn’t happened.

Oh thank god the other reviewers agree with me, I was worried I was being too snarky.
Came here for PaintNite and NO. Take your cute little artistic buns over to Paintlounge instead.
The artist told us right off the bat that Paintbox was «a no stress zone» but then proceeded to stress us out the entire evening by telling us to hurry, accusing us of being too picky, using a domineering tone, and not providing us with appropriate tools. We only had TWO brushes for a painting that required at least four separate kinds.
There was hardly any room to paint. No place to put the drinks or food they offer. The painting staff are different from the bar staff which are different from the café staff, and there didn’t seem to be any overlap in knowledge.
Painting is my safe place away from the stresses of urban life. This experience ended up stressing me out even more.

I love that Paintbox has struck out in Regent Park, engages locals trained at George Brown and takes its inspiration from the community around it. My problem is that I liked the idea of Paintbox more than the reality of it.
I really enjoyed the Moroccan-​spiced Cornish Hen with quinoa salad which was flavourful and well constructed but the crisp-​skinned Organic Salmon with fennel & tomato braised white beans was rather uninspired. Overall, the total experience (from food, to décor to service) didn’t feel developed. Like an experiment that hasn’t quite found its legs yet. It feels earnest and I am routing for it but it isn’t there yet — particularly at the prices currently set.
Lastly, I felt confused by what Paintbox is trying to be. On the one hand the menu is ambitious with complex dishes they aren’t quite executed and are pricey and on the other is a cafeteria style, casual atmosphere that is informal and colorful. They aren’t in accord for me. The informal setting doesn’t work with a menu that aspires to be delivering a higher end culinary experience.

My daughter & I were next door attending Unplugged Expo 2 convention in Oct. 2013 & con organizers had thoughtfully CLOSED any on site food facilities all weekend. Starving by lunchtime, we had no choice but to dash in the miserable rain to the pretentiously named «Paint Box» «Bistro.»
We were somewhat underwhelmed by its poor selection deli menu with a display of tiny packaged unappetizing «healthy» snacks and little bottles of obscure juices and waters. A sign announced a «Special Menu» for the con, which turned out to mean a LIMITED menu of just 2 choices. You should be honoured they bothered to serve con goers even that much, was the implication. Trapped and hungry, we chose the overpriced, bland and skimpy sandwiches, which fell apart all over the plate, and which included bitter unseasoned veggie sides. It was all about stylized cutesy presentation but nothing about making sure the food was actually flavourful; it was just barely mediocre.
Social experiment, my ass. This pathetic hipster café, fraudulently calling itself a «bistro» would have never made it as a business past 6 months, except for 2 facts:
1. It is the only eating facility near the Daniels Spectrum/​Artscape events facility building.
2. It is being used as a training facility for Regent Park locals & George Brown College culinary school grads. And guess what? You are the guinea pigs!
AVOID. AVOID. AVOID.

I really wanted to love this place but like many of the other reviews I also agree that the execution was not nearly as good as I had hoped it would be.
I came to the Paintbox for an event so I never had a plated meal just drinks and small snacks.
They seemed to have a good selection of craft beer. I had Beaus. It was ridiculously pricy but I’m not sure if that’s because of the Paintbox or just because Beau’s is always a bit pricy.
The staff were very friendly and were helpful but the food definitely left something to be desire. They seemed to try and execute some pretty extravagant type of snacks, pork belly, some other pork dish and nachos with some sort of vegetarian salsa. They lacked flavour and weren’t my thing.
I really like the concept of the Paintbox and I am interested in trying it again sometime because it’s a pretty neat location and the atmosphere inside the restaurant is kind of cool. I’m a bit weary of the food though but maybe that’s just because we had a large group.

My boyfriend and I decided to go to an NXNE comedy show at this «bistro». Despite the establishment’s effort to be a yuppie and hip east end hot spot, it misses its mark completely.
Pitfalls
— No proper drink menu
— No draft beers
— Serves only overpriced bottled beers
That’s just to name a few…
I ended up only ordering a $ 5 can of PBR and the boyfriend ordered a bottle of Guinness and the daily soup. Everything here is mediocre from the menu and lack of offerings to the lacklustre atmosphere and total disorganization amongst the staff.
What a train wreck of a place.

Paintbox Bistro is located underneath one of the new condos that just finish building in the Regent Park area and has been opened since September 2012. The little cute bistro has a paintbox theme and has a nice table setup with colourful daisies and paintbrushes in little jars as part of the centre piece. There was also a small stage for live music. I’ve been here once for a small catered event and another time for a sit-​down dinner. Both times I was thoroughly impressed with the type of food that they served. I admit that the name «bistro» conjures images of random sandwiches, soups and pastas, but Paintbox bistro does not have a run-​of-​the-​mill menu at all.
Their catered event used cute little mason jars to serve cous cous with a mushroom blend, and also used the jars to serve chilled desserts in small individual portions. The dine-​in experience, I saw the mason jars holding the mushroom medley beside my creamy potato risotto served atop a wooden cutting board. My friend Ashley had the tomato smoked pork soup and it was also tasty. Just a note that the primers (cute way of referring to starters) is very large. Overall, their food was really good although I wasn’t very impressed with some of the side vegetable dishes including the beets and cauliflower sides that came with my short ribs and the assortment of bread that was served as the starter.
Just a note that they have very specific hours for serving their meals, but they did let us sit and drink wine while we waited for dinner to start. I am impressed with the wine selection, and they also allow bringing your own wine with a corkage fee of $ 20.
Hours
Café
7:30 a.m. — 5:00 p.m. Monday — Friday
9:30 a.m. — 5 p.m. Saturday — Sunday
Bistro
lunch 11:30 a.m. — 2:30 p.m. Monday — Friday
brunch 10:30 a.m. — 3:00 p.m. Saturday — Sunday
dinner 5:30 p.m. — 10:30 p.m. Monday — Sunday
bar 5:30 p.m. — 2:00 a.m. Monday — Sunday