The Black Bull

Nice to find a pub that’s not pretentious! The pub food is awesome… liquor prices are a bit high… but the tunes and atmosphere are laid back… great place to just let it all go and chill out for a bit!

waitresses please acknowledge this:
do not keep change thinking that it’s your tip. we decide after receiving the change, what you get. otherwise, it’s called stealing.
now you know why service means everything or in this case at the black hoof, nothing.

The service was subpar — The waitress barely said 4 words to me, which was surprising because it was not busy. The food was horrible and I actually felt unwell afterwards (I got the Bull Burger)
The only good thing about this space is the patio, but there are other patios to enjoy that have better service and way better food.

Location: Downtown. Street parking available [metered] — good luck with that!
The place: I didn’t go inside because it was a beautiful day. They’ve got a huge terrace that’s probably their best feature. According to my date, getting a table on the terrace is like winning the lottery. Woohoo!
The goods: Like your average bar, they’ve got beer and drinks, as well as food. My friend ordered beer and had no complaints. I needed a snack so decided that ordering a poutine in Toronto, was a good idea. Uh-​huh. It was barely hot and could have used more cheese. This coming from someone who needs to avoid lactose and eats pouting maybe 1 – 2 times a year.
Service: Good — our waitress was really friendly.
Price point: Average, bordering on spendy — at least for the poutine.

Patio is great! Fun spot to stop in for a drink at. Menu is decent, nothing that really stands out and the Caesars are inconsistent (small or large depending on time and bartender) but I still find myself bar hopping to the patio from time to time

Goog place for a tap beer. Although it may take a little while to seat outside, the patio great! Food does not impress… I had a cheese burger. Just ok. Better stand for the beers and enjoying the sun during summer!

Service was slow. Food was great. Servers were rude. Drinks were good. Asking for a server was like pulling teeth. Drinks were priced cheap. Asking for the check was nearly impossible. Nothing else to say. One of the servers needs to get written up. Never snap at a guest who asks for their check. Especially when they themselves are servers and know how to tip.

Brutal service!!!
The ONLY thing this place has going for it is the patio. But you can get the same view on the sidewalk… and perhaps better service from passerby’s.
I knew this was going to be bad when the host was about to seat us on the patio by the sidwalk, and the waitress (Maria) motioned to him that she didn’t want anymore people in her section. We were seated elsewhere, but then moved on our own to the table that she didn’t want us to sit at.
Ordering anything was a nightmare. We finally got our order in for drinks. No menu. When she finally arrived with our pints. We asked for menus. By the time all was said and done. We finished our drinks and determined that we would probably die of starvation if we waited to order anything.
I can’t believe this place is still in business. The only real reason you would want to come here is because it has one of the biggest patios on Queen W. But let me tell you, the service is bad enough that I will not return. Perhaps if more people did the same, they would change the way they do business.

The black bull has a huge patio but thats about all it has going for it. Upon arrival we had to wait 20 minutes for a table because there was 2 of us and they only had tables of 4 available. Why make us wait? There was nobody else waiting. When we finally got seated I asked the waitress if they happened to have a nutrition guide (i am diabetic) she pretty much looked at me like I was a moron and said uh no in the rudest way. Then I asked another waitress where I could find the bathroom, she couldnt even be bothered to look at me. They have the worst servers of any place Ive ever been to, if you guys hate your lives that much FIND ANOTHER JOB. To top it all off I had the chipotle chicken club, bland garbage! ugh, even the fries tasted like nothing. Will never go back.

The patio here is always packed in the summer; I can see why. Great patio for people watching and enjoying a cold brew… right smack middle of downtown and convenient to meet up /​go elsewhere.
Usually not here for the food (it’s only okay)…but really do enjoy the chill environment.

Had the nachos and a couple of drinks– the nachos were se of the worst nachos we could have asked for and the quac ample tasted like a stale fridge smells… Had them replaced with ‘new’ guac, but it still tastes like stale fridge.
The pints were about $ 7 – 8 a piece… Not cheap but this is tourist-​vile.
Would only come back out of necessity…

Was traveling for work and met a buddy from Toronto at this joint. It was a decent spot, with a nice outdoor seating area that they call a «Beer Garden» but its just an outdoor seating area. It was a beautiful night and the spot was busy. I was told its the biggest beer garden in the city… and I guess being from Manhattan, this spot just seemed like a regular olé’ bar with a little outdoor area.
The haggard waitress looked like a woman who has enjoyed many beers and cigarettes over her years and been slinging brews for too long.
All and all… a good spot, to meet for beers and sit outdoors.

Other than the patio, this place is pretty brutal. Our server was pretty unfriendly. Took about 20 minutes to come to the table, then another 20 to bring drinks… then pretty much disappeared. The food was blah. You can do much better for a patio in Toronto, and much better for a restaurant in the surrounding area.

My partner and I stopped in here for a late lunch while shopping on Queen Street. The menu was standard pub food, but when our meals came, it was extremely bland and tasteless. I got ‘poutine’ with my burger, and the ‘gravy’ consisted of a very thin brown water-​like substance that had no flavour at all. It was like eating wet fries. My partner got Caesar salad with his meal and although it appeared to have a lot of dressing on it, it was absolutely tasteless and the lettuce was wilted.
I absolutely hate wasting food and always take my leftovers home from restaurants to eat later, but at The Black Bull, neither my partner or I even bothered to finish our food, because it was so terrible. We left large portions of it on our plates and didn’t bother to ask for takeout containers.
On top of the food being sub-​par, our waitress was less than attentive and did not bother to refill our drinks even once while we ate, leaving us thirsty for most of the meal. When we were done, she was nowhere to be found and finally we had to hunt down another employee to be able to pay our bill.
When we walked out the door, my partner looked at me and said, «Well, that was revolting».
.. . and I think that pretty much sums up our dining experience.

Worst bartender ever! Didn’t even say one thing when I was ordering and looked miserable when I ask for anything and there beer selection was terrible!

So I went here with my girlfriend while visiting the city and just perusing Queen St. It was cold so no patio but the pub does have an attractive exterior.
Once inside the service was friendly yet still managed to get our drinks mixed up! We then ordered Nachos and Pizza. Nachos were good but that’s a hard one to screw up, the pizza however wasn’t that great with the dough barely cooked and the quality on par or below what I could buy in the frozen section of the grocery store.
Overall it seems like a great RV point for friends looking to have a few drinks before moving on to a new spot, I do not recommend the food.

Came across this place while strolling down queen street and looking for a place to grab a drink. It immediately caught my eye because there’s a big outside patio along the sidewalk with a large amount of tables and seats. I popped in here with a few friends and hung for about an hour.
Aside from the outside seating, the food and drink selection aren’t anything special at all. They were actually lacking pretty heavily in the variations of drinks they had. The food was very basic as well and forgettable. I’d say the main draw here is the outside seating on a very busy street.
Black Bull is great for people watching and getting a group together to hang out and drink outside. However, if you’re looking for good bar food and drink selection, I would definitely go elsewhere.

We had pizza and fish & chips.
The pizza was not done. Neither were the chips. The frozen pizzas I do at home are better. The cod was nice though.
It was impossible to get a coke that was actually sparkling. Second one was just as still as the first one. Waiter kept saying that it was just poured from a bottle. I would have liked to see that bottle.

I have lived in Toronto for 6 years and never gone to this place, as it seems like a bit of a tourist/​bro trap. However, my visit on a Saturday afternoon showed that it’s a good place to do some serious Queen Street people watching, and a pretty central place to meet friends in from out of town.
The beer list is plentiful and the drinks are fairly affordable for a Queen Street joint. The food was pretty average, but that was expected.
Bonus star for the wait staff who were very accommodating and friendly.

Le Black Bull fait partie des multiples etablissements type irish Pub que vous trouverez vers College and Queen St W. Vous pouvez vous poser en salle ou bien sur leur immense terasse.
Restauration de bar typique et grand choix de bières.
Si vous venez en groupe vous pouvez aller commander votre conso directement au bar, ça vous évitera de faire les calculs avec la bill commune par table.
/​/​The Black Bull is one of the many irish pub style establishments you will find in the College and Queen St W area. You can enjoy a pint inside or try to find a spot on their huge patio.
Food is typical for a pub: burgers etc plus they have a great choice of beers.
If you come in group and do not want to calculate on how much to pay with you friends, just order at the bar.

We wandered Queen W from Ossington heading east in search of a patio. Why didn’t we go west, we muttered as we slowly passed places we deemed not good enough. Then we got to the Bull. A known Hell’s Angels tourist trap. We were thirsty, it was sunny. We swallowed our pride and waved down a surly busser, «Two for the patio, please.»
Huh. Not bad. Not great, as we were served by the notoriously bitchy staff cash-​n-​carry style, but not bad.
The app platter with cheese things and perogies was greasy pub food (yum), and the drinks weren’t as marked up as I thought. $ 6 cocktails = average for Toronto. Hooray. Though a double was $ 12, and I’m a firm believer in the bulk purchasing principle.
Mad PEPPER POINTS for the biggest, sunniest patio in all of the land. Hooray for beers before shopping.