SpeakEasy 21

I was super excited when this was about to open, but it didn’t get the best reviews so I put it off. My friend and I wanted to celebrate our birthdays by going out for lunch and we saw that they were offering their Winterlicious menu a week early. We figured, why not?
My friend ordered the pork belly skewers, sweet potato mac and cheese and the brownie dessert. I ordered the cauliflower soup, honey garlic ribs and also the brownie.
The pork belly was an enormous portion for an appetizer. Three huge pieces of meat which was awkward to eat. She gave me some of hers and I found it very rich, but flavourful. The spice in the soup was so overpowering (and I love me some strong flavour) and it almost had a vinegary taste. No bueno.
The ribs on the other hand were awesome! Fall off the bone delicious. The coleslaw left a bit to be desired. The granny smith apple in it barely saved it. It was quite bland. My friend seemed to really enjoy her mac and cheese and took half of it home.
The brownie dessert came in a small mason jar with chocolate mousse, whipped cream, brownie pieces and peanuts. It was really yummy, but it would have been a 10 if they had warmed up the brownie pieces first.
Service was good, but there was barely anyone in the place. I’m guessing they make the bulk of their money on the after work drink crowd.
Atmosphere is ok. Nothing special compared to other downtown restaurants. High tables and stools mostly, so try to get a table with a bench seat against the wall.

Went there for lunch because it was the only place in the financial district that had availability for a group of 10 on a Friday. Now I know why they had availability.
Sodium bomb. Everything. Salty for no reason.
Ordered several apps and one didn’t come but they tried to charge us for it.
Salad drowning in dressing.
Not worth the money and will not be back.

We got charged full price for our drinks even though there was a special.
Everything else is quite pricey.
The owner is rude.
The place itself is nice.

The food was awful. I would never come here again.

A nice spot in the summer with a fantastic patio on the financial district, this is one of the big selling points of coming to this spot that and the good drink specials they usually have. But it’s usually packed full of professionals going to get a drink after a long day of work so getting a table will be hard let alone getting a server to take your order.

I went last week with a friend on a Wednesday night so it wasn’t too busy, they have different specials everyday and Wednesday they have the 2 for 1 appetizers which was pretty awesome. We got the pork belly and the meatballs both were absolutely delicious, the pork belly was particularly amazing, had I known we would have just ordered two portions of the pork belly!
For the mains, I thought I’d be a bit healthier and have a salad, so I got the kale Caesar salad with double smoked bacon… Also delectable, a little salty for my tastes but still delicious. My friend ordered the steak which I only had a bite to try and I don’t have much to say about it.
The reason I gave it a 4 instead of a 5 star is because it is a little on the pricier side, I had 2 drinks, a 2 for one appetizers, and a salad the bill ended up being about $ 75 after tax and tip. The food is good, the place is very nice (it has a very old-​comfy-​rich kinda feel to it), the staff are fantastic and friendly, but if you’re looking after your wallet maybe not somewhere you’d wanna go every day lol but I do recommend it for a nice night out!

«An upscale pub» is probably the best way to describe this place.
Food is yummy and a little on the high end … hence my comment above.
Great to take a client out for lunch or drinks after work.
Great service.

I wouldn’t go back here for lunch or dinner — maybe drinks.
The service was poor. Food took forever to come out (rare at lunch in the financial district). Prices are high. My steak was overdone. Nice atmosphere and my friend got a free birthday treat though.

Summerlicious Lunch: I went along with two other friends because the menu looked so good, but unfortunately all three of us were very disappointed.
Hummus: friend had it and he said it was just like any other hummus spread and nothing special to it
Kale & Arugula: this was the highlight of my lunch, a bit salty was the mix was still nice. I liked the sweetness of pear and raisin with the salad
Pierogies: friend had it and was diappointed…
Pulled Pork Tacos: I enjoyed those however it was appertizer portion, wish it had 3 tacos instead of 2
BBQ Chicken Mac & Cheese: friend had it. It was lack of chicken (supposely shredded chicken but we still didn’t find much chicken, and didn’t have enough cheese in it. Overall really bland.
Banana Cream ‘Pie’: it looked like mashed banana with crushed cracker bits, but I couldn’t even taste the banana in it
Chocolate Ganache: the ganache was way too hard and not creamy at all. I only ate the vanilla icecream on the top.

I’ve been here twice now. Once for drinks and once for summerlicious dinner. Both times were disappointing and not terribly enjoyable.
Thursday night drinks: complete dude show and if you’re a woman with a group of women, forget getting decent service.
Summerlicious: the food was terrible. Actually, the kale salad was quite delicious. I would have really liked to finish it, however, Speakeasy has taken the timing of courses away from their servers for Summerlicious. Our main course appeared when we were half way through the salad. The food runner offered to put it under the heat lamp until I was finished. Um, no thank you! FAIL. FAIL. FAIL. Looking at the prices on the menu for the meal, I expect better service even during Sunmerlicious. The salad was the best part of the meal.
Overpriced food and drinks and the air of alpha male expense account entitlement. No thank you.

Good atmosphere and after work drinks but that about it. Food was horrible, no taste, over salted chips and butter chicken balls didn’t even taste like butter chicken. Wouldn’t even eat if it was free. #truth #critic

What can I say, this place is not my cup of tea. My family and I made reservations and decided to try this place after my graduation.
The inside was nice, full bar and TVs everywhere; mainly sports on. Customer service was good, the drinks were good, the food was bad, mediocre at best. My parents and I ordered 3 steaks for each of us and the size was not worth the price, it didn’t even come with a side order of fries or salad. Same thing for my brother and sister; they ordered mac & cheese and fish tacos respectively and the portions were not worth the price. I guess this place is more suited for customers who just want appetizers or a place to go for happy hour.
To conclude, I left this place still feeling hungry and I had to go get cheeseburgers from McDonald’s to satisfy my hunger. The food was not worth the prices.

As the name suggests, Speakeasy21 is first and foremost a pub — popped in for a quick, drink-​free work lunch so am judging this place in the view restaurant food and keeping in mind that food was never meant to be the main draw. On pure conjecture, the close second draw would be for this place to serve as an after-​hours meat market for the financiers & salary men/​office ladies.
That being said, I’m reviewing this place with the mindset that I’m not expecting a majorly deep or thought-​provoking meal here, just some tasty, unpretentious, heavy-​duty food meant to provide a tummy-​nest for the imbibements. So here goes: I think this place is OK, although I agree with other reviews that this place is rather overpriced, but I feel like Speakeasy pays steeply for their prime location (prime location… meat market…*ba dum tssss*).
The small menu is split into two styles: Shared Plates and Mains. Our table opted for the shared menu, choosing: Eggplant & Pepper Tapenade, Fried Cheese Curds, Beef Tartare, Three Layer Dip with tortillas, Baja Fish Taco, Butter Chicken Balls, Buffalo Chicken tacos and Popcorn Chicken.
The fried cheese curds are like a Canadian take on the fried mozzarella stick. Fun, lacks the ooey-​gooey appeal. Beef Tartare tastes strongly of Parmesan, so go for it if you’re a fan of this cheese but you’d better abstain otherwise as the force is quite strong in this one. Baja Fish Tacos are served with a cute and miniature plastic squeezie bottle of (not spicy) hot sauce. Popcorn chicken isn’t the Taiwanese/​KFC type of popcorn chicken — these are chicken fingers with a popcorn crust (tbh, I thought it was just breading cause you can’t really tell they’re popcorns). If I recall correctly, butter chicken golf-​ball sized meatballs come in a set of 3 — not as much flavour as you’d get from butter chicken at an Indian place. Can’t really expect too much of the food though — meh, it’s a pub.

$ 4 a bottle happy hour Friday night after work? What could be better? Being in the Scotia tower, this place is necessarily banker/​lawyer/​suit city. Service is good and attentive. Shareable plates are reasonably priced for location.

Came here on a Thursday night, and it was fairly busy — a lot of suits, which wasn’t surprising given the location.
The service was great (our waitress was very friendly)… and I think that’s where the positives end. There was no one at the front desk when we arrived, so we had to go search for someone to acknowledge our existence. The music was a little too loud (I couldn’t hear the person across the table from me), the drinks were mediocre (you could get a much, much better drink at BarChef for the same price as their cocktails), and the food was nothing to write home about. I would not go again — I wouldn’t have paid half of what I actually paid for the quality of the food & drink.

Speakeasy has been opened for approximately 4 months, though a small pub fare foodie joint it has added a positive vibe to the financial district.
Located at Scotia Plaza I’m not surprised it’s been considered one of the go-​to places for after work food and drinks. Every day Speaks has a special, so there’s always something to look forwards to.
Our server was extremely, genuinely polite given this part of the downtown that can get quite pretentious. For drinks, since it was Friday, we took advantage of their $ 4 bottles of beer. awesome!
appetizers we shared their in house made beef tartar which was delightful to your taste buds. Presentation was lovely, pieces of meat were cut very small, however instead of them serving chips, it would have bee better of they substituted it with crostini. ⁴⁄₅
For main I ordered their one of their popular; fried chicken club, yum! Portion was big, satisfying and delish. This dish came with a house salad which added some healthy element to the dish lol!
…dessert…sorry dude… no room.4/5
Overall Speakeasy 21 was a great experience, the ambiance is laid back, clean and a definite hit spot that I wouldn’t think twice to visit :)

Very good location. Service is okay. Menu is overpriced except for $ 4 beers on Fridays. We wanted to order something off the menu but they had ran out.
Okay place but nothing to phone home for.

Not a real speakeasy except maybe with the snazzy ads that piqued my interest. The vibe was more of a sports bar with servers in short skirts and UFC, baseball etc. playing on multiple TV screens.
Overpriced for drinks and food. The guacamole was $ 10 for 3 – 4 deep fried chips and a little dish of dip which was weirdly white and not very guac-​like.
I’m glad I stuck with a bottle of Creemore instead of shelling out $ 15 for a cocktail which although interesting didn’t really give me confidence that it would actually be an authentic 1920s speakeasy drink.
Nice wraparound patio that hangs over the street that might be worth trying for the view in the summer.

I have no problem paying good money for good food. I don’t, however, like spending good money on mediocre food.
I paid $ 15 for a very average Brown Derby cocktail, $ 17 for a sandwich similar to a filet-​o-​fish with a hot dog on it and $ 14 for three butter chicken meatballs. The latter were decent but still a bit pricey. The definition of a speakeasy is a place which sold illegal alcohol during prohibition. The biggest crime here was the price of the food and drink. In addition, you should be able to speak in a speakeasy right? It was too loud.
The service was OK but the waitstaff looked a bit like members of the Jersey Shore going to a prohibition party. Snooki once said «I feel like a pilgrim from the freaking ‘20s washing this s – t right now».
I felt like a pilgrim watching it.

Based on the name I was expecting something completely different! I’m sorry but the term «speakeasy» should NEVER be associated with a lace like this! my Hendrick’s was served with LIME! Cucumber was not even offered!