Here's a look at the best new and renovated venues in Toronto such as corporate event venues, party rooms, conference centres, restaurants with private rooms, unique venues, and more. These event and meeting spaces can accommodate groups large or small for fall entertaining including business dinners, cocktail parties, conferences, and private and corporate events.
The Living Room is a new gathering space at the Windsor Arms Hotel available to guests as a casual meeting spot for drinks or meals as well as for private events. The shabby-chic, cozy decor from Dinel Designs includes oversize chesterfields, leather seating, and original art by Canadian painter Charles Pachter. The space includes practical amenities such as a charging station as well as whimsical touches with games such as Jenga and Deluxe Super Scrabble. At a self-pour draft table, guests can serve their own pints of beer such as Amsterdam’s Pale Ale and Mill Street Brewery’s Organic. For receptions, the space fits 150 with another 50 on a seasonal private patio. The fine-dining back room seats 34, and the casual area seats about 50.
Designed to feel like a luxurious penthouse, the Chase is a fine-dining restaurant of small plates from executive chef Michael Steh. The space, which opened in August, occupies a newly built fifth floor atop the historic Dineen Building in the financial district. It has an 80-person rooftop terrace, and a private room accommodates 18 guests boardroom-style.
A private event space from Distillery Events, the Boiler House Loft opened in May on the mezzanine level of the Boiler House. Distillery Restaurant Corporation provides catering and staffing for the space, which comes with audiovisual capabilities including an iPod-compatible sound system. The room fits 100 for seated dinners or 150 for cocktail receptions.
EFS, shorthand for "Everything’s For Sale," opened earlier this month in the busy King Street West neighborhood. The venue can host events for 600 guests in its new 5,000-square-foot main level. The space has polished concrete floors, pop art on the walls, a dance floor, and unique lighting design: hundreds of exposed light bulbs line the ceiling, and 58 larger bulbs, forming an asymmetric design, glow above the dance floor. In addition to V.I.P. areas, EFS also has a seasonal rooftop patio that fits 300 guests.
The America-theme Home of the Brave opened on King Street West in August. With its slogan "Join or Die," borrowed from a Benjamin Franklin political cartoon, the lively restaurant and bar features vintage cocktails, spiked slushies, and root beer on tap. Executive chef Jonathan Hamilton's menu tweaks classic American fare such as lobster rolls, fried chicken sandwiches, beef and pork ribs, and banana splits. For private dining, the chef's table seats four. Buyouts of the 73-seat restaurant are available.
The Cage 292, a new bar and dance club, is available for events. The space's signature feature is a group of cage dancers who entertain guests inside as well as passersby on the sidewalk below. The venue holds 224 people for receptions and has a V.I.P. lounge that seats 30 or fits 60 for receptions.
Chef Matt Kantor's seasonal menus are influenced by Basque and Spanish cuisine at Bero Restaurant in Leslieville. The dining room is available for private events and accommodates as many as 30 guests for four- or seven-course seated dinners or 40 guests for standing receptions.
The first Canadian outpost of Wahlburgers is slated to open early next year at the SoHo Metropolitan Hotel. The burger chain from actor Mark Wahlberg and brothers Donnie and Mark, the executive chef, will emphasize locally sourced and house-made ingredients. It will also serve sandwiches, salads, and homestyle sides such as "mom's macaroni salad," sweet potato tots, and fries and onions rings. Desserts include alcohol-spiked ice cream frappes.
Element Vaughan Southwest, an eco-conscious brand from Starwood Hotels & Resorts, opened this month. The 152-room hotel just outside of Toronto is the first of the brand to open outside of the United States. The hotel has 3,500 square feet of meeting space with modular furnishings, a flexible layout, and audiovisual equipment. The space can accommodate events for 150 people.
