This year saw the opening of many significant event and meeting venues in Toronto. Here's a look at the best restaurants, party rooms, hotels, corporate event venues, conference centers, and private rooms to open in 2016. These new and renovated Toronto venues suit groups large or small for private and corporate events, business dinners, cocktail parties, conferences, weddings, and more.
An advertising and digital media school in Toronto’s Queen West neighborhood, the Miami Ad School began renting out its space publicly in June. With just over 3,500 square feet of space, the school features raw elements including exposed brick, original beams, and hardwood floors. On the walls, graffiti by Shalak Attack and Bruno Smoky create a visual feature. As a loftÂ-style event space, the venue has an open concept room that seats 90 or holds 150 for cocktails, and it's available for full buyÂouts. Standard audiovisual equipment is available onÂsite.
After an extensive renovation, Biff’s Bistro reopened in April. The new space includes a sound system, a brightened bar with high-tops, and leather banquettes in the main dining area, plus two private dining rooms. The intimate, 210-square-foot Grey Room seats 12, while the 612-square-foot Red Room, which seats 36, boasts 18-foot ceilings and spacious seating.
Private social club Wine Academy opened its doors in June, transforming a 6,000-square-foot former gym space into modern, industrial, and polished event venue. With the help of Cool Earth Architecture and interior designer Roksena Nikolova, the two-Âstory space features a stateÂ-of-ÂtheÂ-art private wine cellar, storage lockers, and lots of decorative old wine barrels. The space accommodates 150 for cocktails or 175 seated, with a multitude of event spaces for full or partial rentals, including 55 for cocktails in the main lounge, 12 for cocktails in the main tasting bar, 19 for cocktails in the banquette area, and 10 seated in the boardroom.
Noted Toronto chef Victor Barry closed down Splendido in December 2015, and reopened its doors on Harbord as Piano Piano in June. Interior designer Tiffany Pratt and her assistant Claire Gilbert were in charge of the design, which includes a graffiti rose garden facade that takes over the 3,200-square-foot space. The venue, which is available for full buyouts, seats 150 in the upstairs dining room and seats 28 in the 1,000-square-foot Piccolo Piano room downstairs. Barry’s inspired Canadian-Italian menu is fully customizable, and the venue is easily transferrable to any pre-set or function.
In response to Toronto's explosion of craft beer enthusiasts, Creemore Springs opened its own brew pub, Batch, in March 2016. Located in a former heritage building, the 2,500-square-foot space was designed by Tongtong and offers four different seating areas available for full buyouts, private dining, or semiprivate dining. Areas include the main bar, the café, a back dining room that features a stage for live performances, and a 50-seat private dining room on the lower level. The overall space, which holds 400 for receptions, has a typical sports bar feel with several large screen televisions for game-watching, as well as a ping-pong table downstairs. In the café, there is a coffee bar as well as a drop-down projection screen available for meetings.
Although Oast Breweries has been a goÂ-to for craft-beer lovers in the Niagara-Âon-Âthe-ÂLake region since 2012, its most recent addition has seen the company take on more events. Completed and opened in May, the Hayloft is the upstairs extension of the brewery that has more than 2,300 square feet. With vineyard views, the space is equipped with a theater projector and builtÂ-in sound system, and has a capacity of 100 reception-style or 80 seated.
Oliver & Bonacini’s Leña Restaurante, which is part of the debut of Saks Fifth Avenue's second Canadian store at the Eaton Centre, opened in September. Dedicated to the rich culture and feasts of South America, the three-floor restaurant boasts 11,000 square feet of space. Designed by DesignAgency, the restaurant’s concept is modeled on a stylish combination of historical and contemporary influences with art deco influences, backlit etched glass, floor-to-ceiling windows, and original marble-paneled walls. Leña’s private dining rooms include the 40-seat Sala Uno, the 20-seat Sala Dos, and the 70-seat Bar Lala, which also holds 100 for cocktail receptions. A semiprivate dining room seats 12 and is available for buyouts.
In March, Cresta opened in Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence Market. Spread out over 6,500 square feet, the space offers four event and dining areas: a bar, lower-level dining that seats 75, a 60-seat mezzanine, and a 150-seat patio. The venue can accommodate both private and semiprivate events. Housed partly in a 19th century heritage building and partly in a new building, the restaurant was designed by Lynne Krisfalusi and takes on a contemporary look and feel with floor-to-ceiling windows on both the ground and mezzanine levels, along with a circular bar.
In May, the owners of Bandit Brewery transformed an old 4,000-square-foot garage on a sleepy stretch of Roncesvalles into a beer garden. Using the glass garage doors from the original structure, the brewery opens to a tree-lined patio. There are currently no private dining options, but full buyouts or semiprivate dining options are available in the 80-seat space.
