Reviews of The Piston (Night Club)

Neon Thrush

Disco isn't dead at the piston

David Davidson

The Piston is a fun place to go dancing. DJs rotate every weekend and play a specific style of music. It's popular with university students. Empty before 11pm, heaving by 1am. Really good fun, relatively free of attitude and assholez.

Michael Bass

Casual local pub with great variety of beer on tap.

Patrick Diep

Event description for a live DJ said no cover. We get there and there's a $10 cover that doesn't include coat check ($2.5). Dim lighting and 140dB blasting music sets the mood, but can be pretty hard to see anything and hear any sort of basic conversation. Shout-in-ear-to-hear sort of place with minimal seating on a busy night. Might be different on calmer nights.

Kelsey King

Line was too long and did not budge. Not a good idea when its -10 outside.

Kamoy Nicola

Lots of fun in their back area. Only serves drinks, wish they had a kitchen. Good gin and tonic.

Chris Baboolal

Great spot for a Xmas party in May

Joseph Viola

Great place, 90s night!!

Alicia J McGill

Always amazing. Great music. Great service. Great vibe. I love this place.

Julia Sommer Godinho

Nice place and music, but staff was very rude to us, especially the one who was charging at the entrance... we just asked if we could pay with card and she misunderstood us and was incredibly rude. If we weren’t in a good mood we wouldn’t even enter the place for such a treatment.

Max Steinman

Great disco beats. Great dudes.

Aaron Sutton

Good location and fine selection of drinks at reasonable prices. Have been here numerous times for concerts, but went on a Friday night to meet some friends and dance a little. Arrived after 12 and was surprised that I had to pay cover to enter a nearly empty back room. I get that the DJ wants to get paid, but I nearly walked away because it feels silly to pay money to go to a bar with 10 people.

Diego Delgado

Terrible music. Empty as hell with a line up in the front just to make it look busy.

Stefan Sommer

Good tunes, good vibes and the beer is cold.

Melody Sandoval

Me snd my friends were there for a night and they played 60's music.. the best night!!!

Christopher Hollow

Very cool spot. Normal, not overly-hipster. Has a nice, dingy tavern feel to it...but not seedy. Good selection of beers. Concert stage in the backroom with a capacity of about a hundred or so.

Hayden Petrie

Great people and dance parties here. The beer is a little expensive, but hell, it's the price of a good time.

Derek Williamson

Friday nights for Beam me up Disco is the only time you'll find me at this place!

John R.

Disco nights are excellent.

llijah pearce

Always good for a good late night dance party.

Mitch Ribeiro

Great location with great music. Enough said. Definitely worth trying it out believe me.

Alexander Stone

Great Venue for Live Music!!!

Michael Rosario

Great venue, friendly staff and amazing atmosphere.

Lucas O'Gorman

Great Friday night.

Clay P

Good place for a drink, good music and good vibes.

Janelle Falconer

This is one of my regular spots to dance. Their DJs are great. Their food is top notch. And a decent tap selection. THERE ARE VEGAN OPTIONS! (guys your jack fruit sandwich is off the hook. So impressed)

MASQUE

Ew, needs more people who know how to dance, yo.

Pauline S

Love indie night tuesdays! Great bands and great atmosphere! Highly recommend checking out a show here

Marta Borowska

Nice live shows here! Very dark, cool feel. Old church pews for seats.

Adrian Middleton

Check out their Northern Soul night

Noel Jago

So far my favourite burger in Toronto

Wesley Nelson

Had a great time. A Sat night. Caught up with an old friend and ended the night with some dancing. DJ played some great way back jams

Charlotte Parkin

Had amaazing night dancing to britpop at juice box. Very dark but I like it dark.

Pavlina Michailidis

Super fun! Went on the third Thursday of the month for a '90s video dance party. Lots of great old hip hop, r&b and dance hits, with even a few alternative hits thrown in. Bar is a bit dark though (could barely see my friend's face), and it was really, really hot and sweaty on the dancefloor, but that's usually a good thing. Crowd was fun (no posers), staff was friendly (especially the lady at the door), and the dancing was non-stop. Would go again.

Beard

Over priced beer but hosted an absolutely amazing show.

L K

Nice spot for live tunes.

Sean Martin

Go dancing make a fool of yourself, they make it easy here.

nathaniel cox

So good

Suyash Kumar

Nice and festive. No air conditioning though

Liane Vaz

Great music, but get there early otherwise you'll be squished or in line forever. Small dancefloor but it will do!

Ashwin V

Nice vibe, the dance floor is small but we had a great time. The DJ and music were great.

Taylor Cook

Good drink specials and healthy food portions

ludovic procope

Little gem in the annex with great night's on Saturdays. Drinks,music and large dancefloor. Great for big groups

Naryan Wong

Lots of fog and a dominant disco ball. What more can you ask for?

Gil Paul

Been enjoying live music here for years.

Tanya Tomkiewicz

Always a good time when I'm here!

Yalin K

Disco nights are so fun!

Sharaf Qaisar

Great food! Good music and whatever is on tap is good as well. Love the place!

Stephan.G Graber

Had a fab time dancing the night away. Great music. People of all shapes, sizes and ethnicities. A melting pot of fun! No judgements. Friendly and great fun.I’m going back as soon as I can.

Josh Horner

Pretty good sound, have played and watched shows here quite a bit. Love the old cash monitors and have a good beer selection.

Benjamin Lowrey

Decent venue for some drinks and local live music

the wood tiger

Great atmosphere in Bloor and Ossington area. Hosts live acts and DJs.

Daniel Goetz

Went here on 90s night, the place was packed and the music was on point

nadeen el kassem

Super fun live music and friendly staff! Their indie nights on Tuesdays are a must!

Sebastian Oort

I just went to dance late on a Friday night. Fantastic DJ spinning only Reggae 45s on a Friday night. Older crowd (I'm 44) was perfect for what I'm down with. I'm told every Friday and Saturday night is a similar vibe in the back where the DJ does their thing for the room. Great whisky shelf at the bar.

Dick Fairthorne

Awesome sound. Live music on Tuesdays.

Florjan Gjolaj

Nice selection and variety of live music. The drink menue is good and service is friendly and fast. Venue at the back is small and has booths, the sound system is well arranged

H Ro

Good location, nice venue--understated but funky. Plays host to a variety of live music/djs so its a good place to keep your eye on if you want to throw together a fun night quickly.

Sara Fung

Went for the first time on a Saturday for 90s night. The crowd was aged 30-40. DJs were great, drinks fine, lots of fun! $10 cover. I do have to subtract a star because a girl in my group lost her coat check ticket and they refused to give it back to her, so she had to go home without it!

Tim Hay

Sweaty funk night! Good sized crowd, good tunes, good dancing. Great night

Dr. David Koivuranta

Spent a Tuesday night here listening to a friend's band (F105...check them out, great sound!) on Indie night. Good energy, ok drink options, great back room for live shows...the Piston's got it goin' on!

Rebecca Walsh

Juice box so fun!

Georges Kadja

Thank you guys for this amazing night ! It was just awesome ! ????????

Em

The people that hang there are chill, but the place is nothing special.

Sabrina Nguyen

Felt like going back in time. To the 90s 80s vibes. Nice people People are respectful there

Chris Kemp

A great space for seeing live music. Friendly staff, reasonable prices. Good atmosphere.

Nicola Clarke

Amazing food and service even though they were packed.

Anton Polishchuk

Great place, good music

LeiLei B

The staff is friendly, the atmosphere is great, and they can throw one hell of a party. My inner live music junkie is happy to visit Tuesday nights, as well.

Laura Trop

90s dj set sent us back to school time) nostalgic and fun music and atmosphere. It's been packed, better to come earlier before 10pm to avoid lineups. Affordable prices for cocktails and drinks!

Lauren White

I love going to the piston to see Beam Me Up. Their music is amazing and the dance floor is always well decorated with laser lights. There are a lot of drink options from beer to mixed drinks and the front of the bar has seating and booths if you need a break from dancing. I’d recommend going earlier than 11:30 to avoid a lineup and cover is only $5 before 11pm, but becomes $10 after 11pm.

jdyyz

OK I am biased, but the Piston burger is awesome!

Jose Guillen

Great local spot for local music. Great sound! The beer selection is not very different from other places in this neighborhood but it's still solid.

Leanne Fry

Great patio experience doing the pandemic, good vibe, friendly service.

Camostealth

Myself and my band played a show here. Very friendly staff and a great venue for music!

Vinh Le

Nice Place to hang out and dance or sit and listen to the party as it goes

Sina Momtahan

I love this place. Amazing sound and a very open attitude to new acts and acts that fall outside of the usual box. I have played at this venue and love all the people and the vibe.

Darryl Spencer

Decent place to go dancing.

Agnaldo Coelho

Great place there

Barry Baichoo

Nice little hang out spot

Rob R

Awesome place! 80ths Synth Jams are on point!!!

Edward Trejo

This is my favourite type of venue. Relax low key bar with occasional dancing. They host interesting events.

Bunny, Easter

Great comedy shows, great beer, and great bartender!!!

Michael Luke

The best sounding small venue in Toronto.

AARZOO BATHLA

Was okkk... i had good time though

Josh Tzventarny

Great place for a drink and live indie music

Sean J. Kent

CHECK WEBSITE FOR THEME NIGHTS the management of this bar does a great job with theme nights!!! Check theIr website, you won't be sorry you did! The only downside is the size of the bar, which limits the size of the group you can get into the bar at any one time...

Kyla Konopka (OK. MK. CK.)

Amazing

Purab Sark

Disco night on the Friday is alot of fun

Mark Fingerhuth

Great atmosphere and awesome Friday nights with vinyl only disco music.

Alex Young

Great, intimate venue

Corey Glover

Me and my friends stumbled upon The Piston last night. It is now my new favorite place to eat in Toronto. I'm still craving some waffles. The live music was awesome. The service was friendly and the food was just spectacular!

Sasha P. Stefanov

Fantastic spot for a weekend escape or a night out. I was there for the 90s dance party and it was like going through a time machine. Great music, great atmosphere and great people! Can't ask for more than that!

Marie

Nice bar to go to on a weekend night. Relaxed but nice enough to go to on a date. Not too many vegetarian food options, but their jalapeño waffles were great!

Tanya Buelow

Great disco night

Clive Roberts

Had a great time. Music was fun and lively on s Saturday night.

Elana Harte

This a great space for live music!

ehtesham jalali

Nice place

Stephen Hoff

Great local live music venue

Danielle Jolley

My friend made a reservation 3 weeks ago for her birthday here and they gave us a table for 10 when we have 25 people. They blamed her for expecting them to honour a reservation (?!) this is how this place respects people on their special occasions? No thanks.

Andy Schmidt

Great vibes, tunes, and staff. A great local watering hole for whatever you're looking for.

Antonina Doucette

Great music and staff, if you want to dance to disco this is the place to be.

D Dee

Good for live music

Nemo

Sweet live music venue

Eric Brown

It's been a great place to hang. It's small and intimate. Quiet enough to have coversation. Service has been excellent. Decent food. Highly recommended for hanging out with a small group of friends.

Carolina Gonzaga

The Piston is a hidden gem with an amazing space in the back of the bar. Perfect for shows and dance parties! Wax Candy on Friday nights draws a very cool crowd - awesome lights and even a smoke machine to set the mood. If you want a less pretentious place to party - The Piston is perfect!

Michèle Breton

This place is a bar, with a large room at the back for events. It was very comfortable and interesting.

Tim S.

Great live music venue

Aisha Babb

Grear music, atmosphere and people - drinks aren't too badly priced $10 entry.

Sergio Garcia

People and music are pretty nice

Mike Luke

Amazing sound system. Fun DJ dance parties on Fridays and Saturdays. Great bands during the week. Awesome food. Reasonably priced drinks. I love this place!

Corbin Smith

Pretty good drink selection. Excellent BBQ options.

Andrew Nimeck

9ps night was a blast

James Law

One of the best venues to perform in Toronto.

Steve Jacome

Easy to walk by and miss... was lacking a sign outside for years.... but it's great. Very friendly staff and great drinks and brunch.

Aaron Molnar

Went out dancing, was gonna head to church street and then came across this goldmine, it was Motown funk night, danced for 3 hours straight! Me and 7 of my friends. Can't wait for disco night!

Saeed Hashi

Arrived at the venue around 11(ish) to enjoy '"All good 90s Dance Party." Unfortunately, we waited in line for almost 1 hour. It genuinely felt like, “Well we were just going to go to the Roxbury, but we couldn’t get in.” Butabi Brothers - A Night at the Roxbury) A friend inside the venue indicated the venue was following capacity limits, but were certainly not full. My wife commented, "probably understaffed, and could not accommodate the growing crowd." Ultimately, we decided to go elsewhere. My rating is 5 stars, because I support local businesses and do not want to undervalue this magnificent venue. The venue is Awesome! Wonderful owners, talented DJs, affable crowd, affordable drinks, (some of my favorites actually). The Wax Candy Disco, 60s Soul Party, and every third Saturday its 90s Dance Party, are the best in the city. I hope to return soon and contribute to the last authentic bar in Toronto. -- I just hope management has the time to read this and are able to accommodate us next time. Or, or, listen to me for a second. "Make the inside look like the outside and the outside look like the inside." (Butabi Brothers - A Night at the Roxbury) Until next time, keep my draught chilled, will be seeing you real soon. Cheers

Cara Dillabough

Accidentally stumbled into this bar and ended up having a great night. Very high energy and all good vibes!

Robbie Ridderstap

Awesome vibe!

Shae R.

Very cool, multi-functional indie bar. Came here on a whim and I'm glad I did. My partner and I enjoyed the cozy booths in front of the bar and the dark, rustic feel to the place. The music was also great, and the drinks were reasonably priced. Looking forward to coming back and sampling some food, or possibly a DJ night the next time I'm around.

Kimberly G

This is a definitely a cool place. Drinks aren't too expensive and there's free cover if you're on the guest list. The crowd is pretty chill and the dance floor fills up nicely after midnight. I only have two complaints. The first is I ordered a whiskey sour and basically got a cup of pure lime juice, which upset my stomach. The second was the music, I went for disco night but the DJ just put disco lyrics over typical house music. I'll probably go back and see how a different night goes.

Anita Neufeld

Great dance nights for less mainstream music! Good friendly unpretentious crowds! Beware of their tab practices at the bar, was charged for others drinks once & had to argue with the manager to remove them. Dive bar galore!

MAS Al

Great place to chill out and get some good drinks.

Kyle Cartwright

Good small venue to see local bands play

Ricardo Barrientos

Fun night with great music

Julian Morgado

Until it becomes a music venue and dance hall again it's just another patio like many in the same area

George Treheles

Cool bands, good times

Carlton Rose

Not as formal as would like. More like a college crowd type but good tunes on specific nights.

Shane Kelly

Cold beer. Kinda cramped and dark though.

D'Anae Lewis

Price for drink are a little higher than I'd like dude at the bar totally missed me 3 times after making eye contact twice prior. Other than that, great place for live shows. And fun place to go to. Just walk with a wee bit more than you intend to spend.

Rob Behrend

The in-house smoked bbq is spectacular.

Taylor Price

Have had 2 awesome times at the indie nights.

John Clark

Would have had a good time but was kicked from the bar...after having zero drinks there. Was targeted as being "drunk" but again hadn't had a single drink. Got kicked out while my friends had a bday party. Will NEVER go here again....

Steph memories

Amazin dancing disco!!

Cassie Sandler

Came here the other day and the person at coat check tried to kick me in the face.. obvious to say the staff is not very friendly

President Ontario

It's been a great place to hang. It's small and intimate. Quiet enough to have coversation. Service has been excellent. Decent food. Highly recommended for hanging out with a small group of friends.

Robyn Somers

cool spot, good music, coat check woman nearly made my friend cry

Jeff Chevrier

Great place great burger great bands

Angeline Fernandes

Broken glass all over the floor. Not just one glass broken, multiple glasses in different areas. The bus boy didn't bother cleaning and just walked over it. Went on a 90s night. Super crowded. Won't be going back.

Joel

I just went to piss and the bathroom was so surprisingly clean at 12:30am on a Saturday night I just felt compelled to review it.

Astrid Burgess

Beam Me Up on Fridays is basically mt home away from home.

Denise Bogdanov

Good time

Philipp Gehlen

Great music, great times!

Umang Detroja

Amazing music and atmosphere

Jonathan Oh

First time there. Decent atmosphere. Music plays really loud, hard to converse with friends. But the staff are really nice.

Ja ONe

Great spot for music

Ellen Hartley

Love the ambiance in the booths and the crowd.

j aldridge

Went for Friday disco night. Be aware the DJ only plays ‘rare disco’ (while it was good it was nothing we knew) and would firmly not take requests for anything popular.

Jay Pollock

Great indie bands during the week. The best sound system (for a room this size) in all of Toronto. Try the food. They a smoker and they know how to use it!