The Curzon

Closed — Now — Rock Lobster

I’ve tried going to this place 3 times and each time the experience sucked. The mood and vibe is dark and depressing and you get strange looks from the staff as if you’re not cool enough to be in there. Seems like the kind of place you could score drugs at. Not friendly at all and the music system sounded bad and the fact that it was WAY too loud made it much worse.

This is a great place, fun, décor newly renovated, furniture all new, excellent dj, environment is not snobby or too ritzy/​shi shi. It is dressy/​casual. Everyone is friendly, excellent vibe.
JJ the bartender is back !! He is charismatic, funny, friendly and makes this place. We stopped coming when JJ left, but he has returned. Excellent prices and food.
One of the places to come out in the East end (really no other bar is comparable-​have been to all the pubs/​restaurants/​bars in east end-​nothing is like this place)
Everyone spread the word and please come check this out. Absolutely love love love this place because of JJ. I also like that it’s good mix of ages

Searching for a night out in Leslieville that is tasty, tipsy and not pretentious? The Curzon is the cure.
Move over, Ceili Cottage, you’re not the mega-​patio on Queen East anymore. The patio at the Curzon is seriously large and in charge. You don’t think this massive, cutely lit patio is enough? Cool your jets, guys, there’s a secret one in the back, too.
I came in here for a meet and greet with one of my besties and the rest of her bridal party. We sipped gin and tonics with grapefruit slices until we got loud… and then louder… and then, you know, the loudest. We snacked on their wedge fries, scallops on bacon on salmon (riiiight!) and a fried avocado made especially for the veg-​head bride. It was all delicious, but I’m pretty sure their menu is going through an evolution, so you might not be able to order above mentioned. I did notice that their menu is pretty meat heavy, which is fine by me. Gin and meat? A perfect pair.
Later in the night there is live music and/​or a DJ and the place turns from laid back people watching to a rager. It’s fun. Go to here.
PEPPER’S PISSED at the bride for making me shoot Jameson. What a loon.

This is exactly what’s needed in Leslieville. It’s not a replicated English or Irish Pub, nor is it a pretentious wannabe place with inflated pricing. Instead, it’s just a great bar, with great food and drink, great music, and great service.
It’s jumping on Wednesday and Saturday nights, both with a completely different feel. Wednesday’s they have an incredible house band playing a number of old and current hits and on Saturday it’s a DJ (think 2 Cats before they relaunched with the bigger space maybe…) If this place was in King West, there’d be lineups out the door.
It’s a real hidden gem in the neighbourhood.

For the full review, visit
Located on Queen Street East in the heart of Leslieville, the Curzon has recently undergone some changes, which included a facelift from the popular TV show Restaurant Takeover (from The Food Network) and the introduction of a dynamic menu that primarily features locally grown food.
The overall vibe of The Curzon is warm, framed in it’s exposed brick and tree-​themed wallpaper. It’s right up the alley of my personal style as far as interior design goes so I loved it. The owner, Mike Homewood, has retained the loungy feel of the place, with a couple of chic seating areas located inside the front windows.
This particular date night was more about drinks and music, as opposed to dinner. (Wednesday nights at The Curzon feature a jam session of musicians and if you love live music, this is a great place to be). However, after seeing the menu at the Curzon, we decided on the Winter Welcomer Special which was offered throughout the month of February. In a nutshell, you take your choice of 3 taster plates from the menu and 2 glasses of wine or beer for only $ 30. Amazing deal, especially considering Deron Engbers is the mastermind Chef behind it all.
We chose the Grilled Pork Loin w/​green onion relish & jerusalem artichoke hash, the Grilled Flat Iron w/​roasted marrow purée and the Vanilla Cured Rainbow Trout w/​dupuy lentils in an orange reduction. All three were absolutely fantastic. For photos-​that-​turned-​out-​better-​than-​mine of these dishes, visit The Curzon’s Facebook page.
What capped the night off was the gang of musicians that came in and got the party started at around 10 pm. I’m officially sold when there’s live music involved, especially good live music.
In short: Great crowd, amazing service, fantastic food. A definite must try.
You can follow The Curzon on Twitter: @TheCurzon.

Dropped by this place last night after dinner and was shocked to find it’s been totally renovated. The waitress explained they’re going to be featured on Restaurant Takeover and that the reno was recently completed. All I have to say is that the place looks awesome. All the old furniture has been replaced with more contemporary décor and everything comes together really nicely.
Not going to go into great detail about the drinks and service, but both were solid. Beer selection is really good and the cocktails came out in cool mason jars.
Bottom line; if you’re in Leslieville looking for a place to grab a couple drinks, check this place out.

(the following is an actual text transcript. Initials used to kindasortanotreally protect the innocent)
A: «hey, you around? I’m at… wait for it… THE CURZON!»
B: «AGAIN? You’re a regular… bonafide!»
*pausepause, 4AM text response*
A: «Curzon is my happy place, btw»
Let’s not mince words: this place is great. Drinks are cheap, bartenders are high energy, and the music is grand (with DJs who accommodate even the most ridiculous of *cough cough Ja Rule duet* requests). It often just feels like I’m bopping around with friends in a dimly lit room with a lot of accessible booze. WHAT COULD BE BETTER?!?
The Curzon is not super slick, and this last Saturday — if you were dancing under a portion of the ceiling — you were regularly assaulted with drips of water from above (plumbing? A/​C?). These are unnecessary details: what matters is that people head to The Curzon to have fun. And to encourage the whole bar to do ‘the pony’ along to the beats of Ginuwine.
It’s rare to find a bar in Toronto that is cool without being pretentious, fun without being hokey, and friendly to the max. Never have I come away from a night at The Curzon without speaking to someone new; the vibe feels to me like we’re all in on this little gem of a spot at 1192 Queen East together.
Unilocal note: for some reason, I find the bathrooms spooky. They’re down the back stairs, and I keep on imagining an opening scene out of CSI when I’m there. You can always do as I do: bring a buddy!

Have I REALLY not reviewed the Curzon? This has become the goto bar for our friends in the east end. when we want something more bumping than the cottage.
This place is NOT for everyone. A girlfriend of mine commented that it «smells like old furniture.» And it does. The crowd is a mixed bag. Sometimes you get a fun and friendly crowd of eastenders, sometimes a bunch of hipsters and hip hop peeps. last time we got a bunch of very very drunk girls in baseball caps and a grandma in leather pants. Really you never know, but its part of the charm.
The bartenders are nice, drinks reasonable, no cover. Good patio space on the back and on the side.
Note that the music is LOUD and some of the djs are terrible. Like TERRIBLE mixing skills (isn’t it all MacBook these days? how the eff do you mess that up?) but you can retreat to the patios for some quiet. People here love to crowd the tiny dance floor.

This place is like an alcohol-​fuelled time machine. Pass the Courvoisier.
Wandered through on a weekend night. The place was packed to the rafters, with the dj playing a fun mix of 90s and early 2000’s hits –think MJ and Run DMC. It’s a bit of an older crowd, (that is, there was a definite absence of 19-​y/​o biddies). 20– and 30-​somethings mostly. but those 20−30-somethings seemed to be having as much fun as we did when we were 19. There were bachelorettes, birthday celebrations, and gatherings of friends seated on the mismatched vintage furniture along the right wall, even some dancing on said furniture. There’s a patio out the side door and back. Nothing special, mostly a smoking area though the farthest back corner seemed to be populated by giggling stoners.
Down the stairs to the washrooms, on the doors there hang pictures of awkward-​looking children to indicate which is the little boys & little girls room. I swear to god, the one on the Girls Room door could be a picture of me hahahahha.
Drinks were average price ($ 7ish?) but were pleasantly strong. There was no cover the night I was there.

Beer choice could be much better, and often they are out of most things. What’s happening there, I don’t know. If you have no beer, you are not a bar. You are a wine house, or a martini joint.
Place is nice. Can get busy on weekends. Weeknights are nice and chill. Music guys know what they are doing and the place can seriously rock. Back patio, side patio in summer. Friendly staff, having got past the previous issues, including some stupid kids. They have more direction now, with live music on Wednesdays, and some pretty experienced musicians in the back corner. Good times.
I’m not a club fan, but this is as close to a club as you’ll ever find me in. Leslieville has an excellent attitude amongst those that go out evenings, and there are some super friendly staff and regulars in the joint. I do suggest you check it out, and file any gripes with the manager/​bartender. He’s a good dude.

I love this place for a number of reasons. It’s small. The décor is eclectic, the crowd is mixed, and the DJ is excellent. The bar staff are really friendly, and, lastly, it’s really close to my place. What more could a girl ask for?
Well. Maybe I don’t LOVE it that much. The journey to the bathrooms is a bit perilous. However, I do enjoy a good time, and each occasion, this place delivers. Go with friends. Go in jeans. Go tonight.

The Curzon is a nice neighbourhood watering hole.
The mismatching sofas, armchairs and couches does looks welcoming and cozy.
Came in on a Saturday night while the Leafs game was on, bartender unfortunately said that daily Happy Hour specials won’t be available! Stupid Hockey game! I want to have my $ 6 Martini!
Beers on draft though limited but for $ 6 is A-​OK.
Unfortunately, we ended up cannot enjoy our comfy sofa for long as the bartender announced that a big group would be arriving with reservations at 8 pm… Boo…
Luckily, Leslieville does have a lot of other options! NEXT…

The positives:
Good service, good food.
Nice patio in the summer.
They show some sports during the week.
The negatives:
Too loud to carry a conversation on weekend nights
Limited food on the menu (but what’s there is good)
Seeing the server pet someone’s dog in the bar right before serving your food is a turn off.

The crowd is a mixed bag here; hip Leslieville folks, local lesbians, and wandering Unilocalers but the bartenders are consistently hot.
Park yourself on the vintagey furniture and if you come on a Friday night, you can get mixed drinks for $ 4.50 till 11 p.m. (Double check this as it might’ve changed.)
They also have a patio.

JJ (bartender) is the man.
The east side patio is open now.
Food is alright for snacks and appetizers… wouldn’t eat a meal here.

I came here with a few friends during the holidays.
My only big complaint — and its a big one — is the bartender situation. The girl behind the bar didn’t know the first thing about making drinks. She didn’t even know what Tanqueray was. WTF. When I explained to her how to make a gin and tonic, she put in a ½ oz of gin and a ton of tonic. So lame. She swore to me it wasn’t her first day on the job — yah right.
As far as the music was concerned, it wasn’t too bad. There seemed to be a random dude who would play tunes of his iPod and the volume kept changing.
All in all, not a bad spot. It just needs to get its act together.

This is pretty much my new local.
I’ve come here almost a dozen times in the past few months and it’s consistently been a solid good time. The décor and mood are sexy, vintage/​preloved and old-​timey, with those plush velvet couches that have «button dimpling» accents and regal armrests. There are chandeliers and soft candle lighting at the tables.
The seating is ample, with proper tables, coffee tables and seats at the bar, so take your pick, although the regular crew of regulars may have beat you to the prime spots surrounding the bar.
Every time I’ve come here the vibe has been welcoming and unpretentious. You get the feeling that people here appreciate a quiet, relaxed, non-​douchey atmosphere with really great music unobtrusively playing in the background. I’ve heard Massive Attack, Portishead, Beck and lots of other favourites here.
One of the guys working the bar is a dead ringer for Jeremy Sisto (Billy from Six Feet Under:
), but was decked out like a member of Run-D.M.C., no joke. I dig. Last night when I stopped by, another bartender (Joe) happily charged my iPhone behind the bar while I sipped on my tumbler of Pinot Grigio. I can’t say this kind of generosity is a common occurrence at other bars.
They have DJs on some nights and I also learned last night that they do karaōke (Sundays!). And have a full menu for finger type bar foods like potato skins, chicken wings (ahem: a visit from wing aficionado Sarah L is required!!), hummus and chips and sweet potato fries.
See you soon (tonight??)!

This is a great little place to have some drinks with friends. The place was packed and they had a live dj (though he was kind of stuck in a corner being crowded out by patrons) who played some good music.
Now I just need to go back to try the food!

I had a great night here and would go back anytime. A couple friends invited us, and they knew a few people, who knew a few people so it seemed like everyone in the place was my buddy somehow (I could’ve just been drunk though).
The place was super busy the Friday I went but never seemed too crowded or nuts. The flow was good with a few places to sit and chill or a long table to stand at with your drinks. A few people were dancing while the DJ spun old tracks mixed up with modern beats.
All-​in-​all a good crowd and a smooth night. Was pleased when the bartender, who was friendly and could usually recall what I was drinking, reminded me to check my tab since I’d let a few too many people add their drinks to it. The girl behind the bar wasn’t quite as good but I’d say it’s better strategy to hit up the opposite sex for your order anyway.