With planning for corporate and office holiday parties underway, these new and recently renovated venues provide suitable options for company festivities. The venues, which include bars, lounges, nightclubs, restaurants, private rooms, and hotel event spaces in Toronto can accommodate small and large groups for Christmas, Hanukkah, or holiday parties of any type.
The latest venue in the historic Storys Building downtown, the Cocktail Parlor opened in late July. The intimate lounge has a menu with 66 custom cocktails, and small plates. The second-floor space accommodates 160 people and is available for private events on Sundays and Mondays.
For a lighthearted or younger-skewing party, Castle Board Game Café offers more than 1,000 board games, including vintage editions. A private back room seats 50 people, and together with the front room the venue seats 95 people.
Stratus, the restaurant at the Toronto Athletic Club, reopens October 1 following an extensive renovation to the 36th-floor space atop the TD Waterhouse Tower. For holiday parties, planners can book one dining room (35 for dinner or 80 for standing cocktail parties) or both rooms (70 seated, 160 standing). Stratus also will have a private dining room in a wine cellar that seats 10.
The 10,000-square-foot Soho House Toronto opened in late 2012 as a members-only club, but it has event spaces available for small or large holiday gatherings. It can host intimate sit-down lunches or dinners in the House Kitchen or 40-person dinners or cocktail parties for 100 in the third-floor Pretzel Bell Bar. The historic building—it began as one of Toronto's first hotels—has been restored with a vintage design aesthetic. The venue requires that any bookings from non-member groups must be for organizations in the creative sector.
Woods, a rustic yet upscale restaurant, opened in St. Lawrence Market in May. Buyouts are available for the 60-seat main dining room, and a private dining room seats 14.
With water on three sides, Amsterdam BrewHouse is a 14,000-square-foot restaurant and craft brewery next to the Harbourfront Centre. The venue, which opened in July, seats 500 inside, plus an additional 300 on its patios. It has its own audiovisual system for use during private events.
Scaddabush Italian Kitchen & Bar, named after the concept of “a little of this and a little of that,” focuses on small plates and shared dishes. The eatery opened in July at Square One in Mississauga and seats 300 inside. In warmer weather, the patio seats 75.
Omni Hotels & Resorts took over management of the historic King Edward Hotel August 1, renaming the property as the Omni King Edward Hotel. As part of the change, the hotel is undergoing a $40 million renovation that includes an update of its meeting spaces. The 17th-floor Crystal Ballroom, which has been closed since the 1970s, will be restored as a party hall with panoramic skyline views.
The Beverley Hotel, a boutique property in Toronto's Queen West, opened in July. Its food and beverage program, which services the dining room and rooftop patio, serves global cuisine with local ingredients.
