Rivoli Cafe & Club

Neat spot downtown with a wide offering of meals. I tried their Shrimp Pad Thai (asked to have the Chicken substituted for more Shrimp) and it was delicious! Not too saucy and shrimp was cooked well — definitely worth another shot.

I’ve always loved this restaurant, great food. However, with my recent visit to Rivioli, their services definitely disappointed me. The waitress messed up on my order (charged me less than what was the ‘supposed’ to be price). It was extremely rude and unprofessional of the waitress to come back to me, while i was in the middle of eating and ask me to pay the ‘remaining fee’, when it was their fuck up.

I love to come here for the dancing! They have this cute little upstairs spot that was free to enter for dancing. Amazing hip-​hop, R n B and some great oldies tunes. What a little gem! When I want to get my dancing shoes on for a price that is very right, I know exactly where to go. The food is really good as well! Its set up so that its a super cute great date place with a good ambiance.

My girlfriend and I checked out the backroom concert venue at Rivoli for Delta Ray. It was our first time visiting and the security and ticket personnel were friendly and it went smoothly. The bar in the back is efficient and fast, the venue is small so you really get a good vibe from the place. Sound is decent!
Look forward to going back for the next show.

Service was not so great. Staff seemed a little uninterested in serving. The caesars and calamari were yummy though!

I go to this place quite often so I will keep it short.
It’s ok food not great. The main thing that killed it was the servers. They have this «I don’t give a fuck» attitude and talked really loudly about their personal stuff.
It’s an okay date place, for the first date but it isn’t amazing. The flowers on the tables were really cute. When it’s daytime they never put lights on inside (it’s super dim) nighttime they have candles.
The food I got was fries (6 $) and a burger (13 $). Eh.

We went here for brunch and I was quite disappointed.
The food wasn’t anything special, and the tables were all sticky. They have $ 5 Caesars for Saturday brunch, but the Caesar was so unbelievably fishy even the most Canadian among us couldn’t finish it.
The service also wasn’t up to par. We had to continually seek out the waitress and ask for things.
The atmosphere was good, so not everything was bad. But not enough good stuff for me to want to go back.

Was there on Fri May 8^th. A small group of us were doing the Scotiabank Contact Photography festival and we were walking for a few hours. So we ended up here. One of the people in the group said that their pad thai was famous. I was starving and ordered it. I was very disappointed. It was too gloopy and too ketchupy. I was too hungry to send it back so I ate it all.
I will go back but for something else.

Just went for the pool tables and a beer.
Tables have ripped cloth but are playable.

My girlfriend and I were walking by while doing some shopping and saw the server come out with a burger and fries. It looked so good, decided to remember to come back from a few blocks past.
We were not disappointed. They have a few extra beers than on the Beer menu, so make sure to ask. We both ordered something that wasn’t on the menu.
I, of course, got the burger with bacon and cheese and salad on the side. I’m not usually a salad person, but this was really good. Lemon vinaigrette, beets, kale and mixed greens. Probably the best salad I’ve ever had. I enjoyed it as much as the burger.
The burger was moist and juicy and had this awesome tomato butter.
Overally, really recommend this place. Definitely could see myself coming back here next time we are in Toronto from Ottawa

This review is for the backroom/​pool hall.
I’ve been here twice so far both times on Sunday’s, the place is always decently busy. It’s $ 10 hr for pool.
The place is nicely set up with the pool tables towards the back. And more of a lounge area and the bar near the front. The lounge area has booth seating and lots of room if you wanted to hang out with a group of people.
There are a lot of pool tables and they’re a good size, I’ve been to places with smaller tables. There’s always lots of chairs and seating around the tables as well as a lot of cues to pick from. The worst thing is when you can’t find the right cue.
There’s always good music playing the the bartender is always cleaning up any dirty glasses left behind. From what I’ve been the only staff there is he bartender and security but everyone seems friendly.
There’s only one bartender from what I’ve seen but you don’t have to wait to long for drinks which is great.
Overall I recommend this place if you want to hang out and play pool.

First impressions was that it was very dark inside. The waiter was very attentive and friendly. Was good food with large amounts. Loved the nachos with pulled pork! Very tasty!

My wife & I had our 1^st date at this place 21 years ago. So we decided to go back to celebrate that occasion.
My how things have changed & for the worse. In my mind this place is a dump. It was dark & dingy with little tiny seats. I felt like I was sitting on the lap of the couple next to me. The service staff was decent & fast. For me it was just the environment. I can say that the food was decent. We had only the calamari & the Pad Thai… both pretty good. After that we left. Next time we’ll celebrate looking from the outside in.

I LOVE the bartender here. Really I wish I could remember his name to give him a shout out. He had this line of bitters behind the bar and when I asked about them he brought them all over to me and told me they were his personal collection and he just liked playing around with flavors in drinks. He had me test them and asked if I wanted him to make me a special drink. SUPER COOL. I hope he reads this to know he made my solo trip way more enjoyable and there should be more approachable bartenders like him :) This venue has a lot of live music but its in a separate room so you dont know if the local artist is good unless you pay a cover. I skipped the live entertainment because I liked sitting at the bar.

came here for friday night dinner
ordered
–pad thai ⁴⁄₅ (very generous with the chicken)
–gnocchi 2.5÷5 (it had a weird taste to it)
–martini and wine
The food was somewhere between tolerable and «if there’s no place else to eat tonight».
Service was a bit neglected
Tables were crowded and tight.
Menu had very little options. Seriously… 3 or 4 options for apps, entrée and desserts.
Overall i’d probably never come back here, in fact i’d probably just go to mcd or hero burger instead of eating here. The food is not that great (except for the pad thai), the service was below average and the overall atmosphere was not good at all.

went here to play billiards with a bunch of friends… very impressed by the amount of tables available as well as the price for the time we used.
drinks were well priced as well
will defiantly go back

Came here for some pool with some good friends.
Friends had already ate earlier so we decided to eat while at the rivoli while playing pool.
I’ve had some pretty crappy bar food in my life but this place takes the cake when it comes to GROSS food.
I ordered a burger and fries and my husband ordered a roast beef sandwich and fries.
The fries were okay, bur were covered in cilantro? I’ve never seen that before, and i’m not a huge fan of cilantro. Covered in ketchup it was tolerable.
The burger had a very strange tomato/​spice/​cilantro paste on it which completely turned me off.
The roast beef was still pink and not thoroughly cooked, in all the roast beef sandwiches we’ve ever encountered I’ve never come across one that was still pink.
We also got nachos as an app, the first layer was good, nice and cheesy and tasted great albeit also covered in cilantro.
however once you peeled back the first layer the rest was a smooshey mushy nacho mess.
The only saving grace was the great service from our server and the excellent pool tables/​rates, at only $ 10 an hour for a table? that’s fantastic!
Overall we did have a great time with our friends but the menu definitely needs to be improved and expanded on. Barely any choices and what’s with covering all the food in cilantro? yuck.

This was the best meal I had while in Toronto. Went in looking for drinks and dinner and had a great time. Staff was friendly and entertaining. Drinks were good and food was amazing!
We ordered the Malay Chicken grilled boneless chicken with Southeast Asian peanut sauce, steamed jasmine rice and cabbage, carrot and radish ‘slaw, Pad Thai rice noodles with chicken, shrimp, sprouts, scallions, egg, peanuts and chillies, in a sweet and sour sauce and the special which was a ribeye with potato salad. The peanut sauce on the chicken is addicting, it was so yummy!
If you are looking for a fun bar in Queens West area of Toronto, this is the place! I will definitely return if I ever find myself in Toronto again!

Can’t believe I’ve never reviewed the Rivoli!
I’ve been coming here for years. What’s great about Rivoli is it is one of the only venues I can think of that has such versatility! Large spacious pool hall in the top floor, live music and comedy in the back room, decent bar area on the main floor, small patio at the front and the food here is definitely good for pub food.
Great «Jack of all Trades» bar. You can’t go wrong if you’re wandering on Queen and need a place to go.

As a fan of live music and patios, I can’t believe that I have not been to the Rivoli in the 15 years I’ve lived in Toronto.
I’m not sure what’s kept me away… perhaps the fact that the patio is almost always full and you get the feeling that those who are there are guarding the seats with their life. Or maybe I have been here, and I just don’t remember.
At any rate, today, a good friend of mine called me up and asked if I wanted to join her and her wonderful little daughter for lunch. It was the first patio Saturday of the year and I knew that I could get to the Rivoli early and snag a spot of this perfect-​for-​people-​watching –patio.
The menu is a mishmash of cultures, which I’m generally not a fan of, but for some reason, it seems to work here and I was surprised to see many things that I’d like to try. I got a table right in the corner and ordered a Caesar.
GREAT Caesars here! Our amazing server asked me ‘how do you like it?’, which I thought was really nice, since I do happen to have a spice tolerance equal to that of a dragon. She returned promptly with a delicious looking drink, brimming with horseradish, sambal oelek, and crowned with three green olives and a spicy yellow pepper skewered on a cocktail sword. A GREAT Caesar!
My friend had the fish tacos, which she enjoyed and which her daughter deemed ‘picy’, which in year and a half year old language means ‘spicy’. I had the Pad Thai. Normally a no no for me to order ethnic food when not at the corresponding ethnic establishment of said food. But I was quite surprised! The noodles were well cooked and tossed in a ‘picy but slightly sweet sauce that did not appear to include ketchup. It could have used a little more fish sauce and lime for me, but I’ve had worse Pad Thai at actual Thai restaurants. The shrimp were fresh and plump and there were nice charred pieces of green onion topped with lots of crunchy peanuts and bean sprouts.
Our server was even so nice as to offer to bring some plain rice for my friend’s daughter. We asked if we could have tortilla chips instead and she was happy to oblige. Luisa loved the chips and I’m sure the dog on the other side of the patio was happy to have a kid dropping lots of food for them to mow down on later.
I would definitely come back to the Rivoli. The people watching is fantastic, and although this strip of queen street has become more touristy than trendy, that’s completely ok with me. There’s an open feeling here compared to west of Spadina where there is zero room on the street and at the Rivoli, it’s actually really funny to watch the tourist families gape at people who have pink hair.
A solid establishment.

En plein hiver, c’est sympa Rivoli, mais quand il faut répéter ‘Rémy Martin’ trois fois à la serveuse à cause de ma prononciation française pour se faire proposer avec glaçons, ça laisse pantois. La prochaine fois, je commanderai un ‘Raymee Martiiins’ — Mon amie avait profité de l’occasion pour commander un petit dessert, une tartelette aux fruits qui aura pu servir comme sous-​verre.
Bah allez, c’est un bar et salle de concert sympa à deux pas du Golden Horshoe. On y passé entre deux boîtes, on y passé pour retrouver du monde et s’entendre parler.

Très bon bar pour jouer au billard en sirotant sa boisson. (une bonne dizaine de tables)
Il y a un rez de chaussée avec des tables classiques, l’étage du dessus repose plus dans l’ambiance gros canapés pour les groupes.
Pour la musique vous pouvez choisir vos morceaux sur une machine en mettant un quarter (25 cts).