Reviews of Woods Restaurant & Bar (Restaurant)

Marine

Awesome dinner. Only complaint is not much vegetarian choices. But the live music was awesome.

Ryan Bender

Might be the best dining experience I’ve had. Service was fantastic and the food was incredible. I had the seared elk and my wife had the seared tuna…both were amazing. Atmosphere is on point..we loved the exposed beams. Definitely worth checking out this place, you won’t be disappointed

Mathieu Deck

That's a beautiful place, cozy, waiters are sympatic and helpful, the food was excellent (beef carpaccio ans chicken cordon bleu was perfect), the dessert are really good too and finally the cocktails are delicious ! Dont hesitate to reserve and discover this place !

Dot Routledge

Our company hosted a team holiday dinner at Woods and had a fantastic time! Everyone there was friendly and made us feel so welcome. The food was delicious and the space is beautiful. This was our first in person gathering since the pandemic began and the team at Woods really made an extra special event for us. Highly recommend!

Binh Minh Pham

Service

Janet Kar

Every once in a while I like to take myself out for a nice lunch and a little day drinking. I am particularly fond of Woods for these extravagant little outings. The food is delicious, the wine list is superb (even by the glass) and the service is always warm and friendly. Here we have oysters and bubbles. Then scallops and grapefruit. Followed by their (rightfully) famous chicken cordon bleu with roasted wacky carrots and a glass of chablis. And a happy finish of cinnamon donuts with chocolate sauce and coffee.

Juan Carlos Marin

An amazing restaurant on all fronts. I’ve lived next to this place for years and from the outside it doesn’t look like anything special but a step inside reveals a beautiful and tastefully decorated restaurant. The service was impeccable, servers were extremely knowledgeable and friendly. The menu was amazing, farm to table type food. We had the Rack of Boar, the Halibut, and the Butternut Squash Ravioli. All amazing. Fresh and filled with flavour. This hole in the wall spot is going to be on my top recommendation lists going forward, nothing to complain about, but everything to recommend 10/10

Claire Lam

We had a nice lunch here. We ordered dry aged steak n tuna. They were in great portion. The potato wedges were crispy but were a bit dry. The service was professional and it could be nicer if there was more friendliness.

Maggie WD

Meal type

Kurtis Kelly

Fantastic service, food and ambience. Good selection of wild meat - will definitely be going back!

Shanna Pritchard

A wonderful selection of Canadian themed foods and really delightful cocktails as well. Great find. Was a bit hard to flag the checks down when we had completed our meals, but it was busy when we were there

Laure SA

The food was very good. I had the pumpkins ravioli and they were delicious. Other positive point, we went with our 5 years old and when asked if they could do pasta with butter or cheese they accepted. It was delicious and my son was very please. We paid less than $10 for this which is very reasonable. However what is driving a 3⭐️ rating is the customer service. We spent almost 3 hours in the restaurant for a main and a dessert. The server was nowhere to be found most of the time and he did not have a friendly attitude. We asked if the coke were free refill, were told yes and then had the surprise of seeing 4 cokes total in our check (for 2 people). When we did tell them, they did take all the cokes off the check though. I recommend for the good food but that is it.

Cheryl Rowe

The food is so delicious! The chef should be proud of themself. All the staff are amazing and their attention to detail is impeccable. Great food, VIP service, definitely a hidden gem in Toronto

Erik Jacobs

The duck breast I had was expertly prepared and tasted nice. Maybe a little under-salted. But the portion size seemed small for the price. The crispy kale tasted great, but seemed a little pricey for what it was. The cocktail was excellent. It's a solid 4 but, for 15% cheaper, would be a 5-star place. Maybe Toronto is just expensive, but 75CAD for a drink, a main, and a side seems strong.

Michael Lu

We went as a party of two on a Friday night with reservations. The restaurant was moderately busy. The thing that stood out to me was the professional decor and the service. Everything from the waiters taking our coats to pulling out our chairs and offering sparkling water with free mini appetizers made us feel very special. The food itself was portioned rather small and fairly pricey, but for a finer dining experience it was definitely worth it. The chicken cordon bleu was a tad too salty, and the pumpkin ravioli had one piece which contained a pumpkin seed shell; however, these minor grievances were not enough to detract from the amazing service. I would certainly come here again for a special occasion.

Gregory Colford

Woods is a fabulous place along Colborne St near the King Edward Hotel. We're all beginning to nervously step out again. The atmosphere at Woods is gentle and comforting with a quiet understated elegance that warms you. The service and food merit the reviews given to date - both extraordinary. If you need a gentle re-entry, this is a wonderful spot to make your first foray back to public dining!

Ryan Deen

It was fantastic - we had our kids - treated us like celebrities. Owner bought us desert. Wait staff was incredible. Food was 5 Star. Really nice memory for us - we will 100% be back.

LV RB

Excellent menu selection and quality dishes. Can't wait to try the other meats. The burger was quite moist and the duck was perfectly cooked.

Andrew Komar

The food was great! They have a bottle of Rip VanWinkle 12 lot B. Recomend the Scallops and Seared Elk. If you are looking for another Antler but something new go. 4.8 stars from me.

Usman Khan

This place is one of the best places to eat in Toronto. The food is so good and so unique, the portion sizes are quite big for a fancier restaurant - like we had 2 1 app (charcuterie), and 2 mains and had to take leftovers. …

Mikaela Moran

We had an incredible meal here. The service was impeccable, Derek our server was amazing! I would recommend this to anyone for a wonderful night out.

Andrey Agapov

Very good quality food, drinks and service. Accessible location. Neighborhood could be more well lit though

Viktor Kral

Food was amazing and the service is really worth your tip. Their cocktails are one of the best I’ve had. Maybe just be prepared to wait a little longer for your food, we waited for around an hour as the place was full. Watch out for the washrooms downstairs - there was a leak in the ceiling and my girlfriend got hit. For such a high-priced place, I’d expect a little more, ouch!

Sanjeev K

I do not often write reviews for restaurants, but I would go out of my way to recommend that people do NOT go to this restaurant. To start, the food was very mediocre, especially the scallops (seared scallops were undercooked and fishy) and the duck (severely undercooked with an unrendered fat cap), and all of our dishes came out cold. The food is drastically overpriced for the quality you get in return. Additionally, I found their bathrooms to be unclean. I even had water drip on me from a ceiling leak in the bathroom. Finally, the restaurant did not seem concerned with following COVID protocols. They glanced at our vaccine certificates without proper verification, failed to keep tables and patrons 6 feet apart, and worst of all, all but one staff member were consistently taking their masks off when taking orders and serving food. I found this to be an uncomfortable dining experience, and mentioned this to the manager at the end of the night. The manager was incredibly rude and condescending, and even made a point of moving his mask further down his face when coming closer to talk down to me. His behavior was unnecessary, and the staff’s inability to follow basic COVID protocols was inappropriate and unprofessional.

Riana McBride

I had such a great experience at this restaurant. The food was delicious and the servers made us feel so welcome and were so happy to chat about the food and restaurant in general. I got the duck which was so delicious and I also got to try …

Jessica Chen

Ordered the Woods Signature Cheese burger tonight. It was unbelievable-juicy, flavourful and so.much.beef. Fries were outstanding as well. Great prices too. You won't regret ordering.

Sohrab Grewal

The ambiance, service and presentation of the food were fantastic but the flavours of the dishes did not live up to expectations given on aesthetics. Based on the costs of the meal and purely on the tastes of the food, I would say this is not a good value proposition.

Sonja Cori Missio

The best fish I have ever had. Their seared tuna is perfect. The staff is wonderful, the food is perfect, and the atmosphere is lovely. I wish my pictures weren't so terrible, because the food/drinks were flawless.

Joey Ahn

Impeccable service! Visited here in January for my birthday dinner and had a wonderful time. The food was great and the menu options were unlike any other restaurant but what really made the dining experience memorable was the service. It’s a shame that I don’t remember my waiter’s name anymore as it’s been a few months now but he was so pleasant, welcoming, and definitely made us feel comfortable despite being a lot younger than the restaurant’s usual demographic. The complimentary gnocchi served between appetizer and main dish was so delicious that it should be available to order as a main entree as well!

Kate Nichols

We experienced issues with service when we first arrived at this restaurant. When we addressed the concerns with our server, he did a great job of improving the service for the rest of the meal. The food was tasty -- especially the beet salad. However... My partner and I were both VERY uncomfortable with the lack of covid protocols at this restaurant. The check of our vaccine certificate and ID was a glance (at best) giving us no confidence that the manager is actually ensuring all guests are vaccinated. Tables are not spaced six feet apart (more like 3-4 feet apart). The servers more often had their masks under their nose or pulled down below the chin then they had them on properly. We had to ask for servers to wear masks properly when coming to our table. When servers were at the bar they removed masks entirely. This restaurant has potential but without significant improvement in following covid protocols and improved customer service, they fall short and I would not recommend this restaurant to other diners in Toronto.

Sean Robbins

i had a dinner here with my girl friends. Granted they were busy, but the waiters were loud, snarky and did not bother to cover their noses with the masks when they spoke to us. Food was so so, underwhelming and presentation was not that good as well. The bread was bland and too burnt. 2 of my friends ordered custom drinks and the drinks came out flavourless and quite disappointing. One of the water glasses was not cleaned properly and even smelt fishy. The washrooms downstairs were dirty and definitely should be cleaned more regularly for restaurants of this kind. It's the whole experience!

J.J. Bresolin

Classic places with excellent services and food. Pricy but worth it. Nice environment, good music choice as it is not loud.

Tommy Lam

Service: 5 - My girlfriend and I were taken care of from start to finish from the moment we stepped in the door. Our server was professional and had great interpersonal skills to keep the night fun and effortless. Food: 4 - We has the Valentine’s Day 5 course preset meal. (Look at photos for food we ate!) highly recommend trying their seared scallops if you get a chance! The wild boar tasted much like a thicker pork chop and was slightly dry towards the middle. Alcohol: 5 - They have a large selection of wine to choose from to satisfy most wine lovers needs. Atmosphere: 5 - Dimly lit, small, intimate dining area. Perfect for dates, anniversary celebrations, casual dinner arrangements.

Sara Boers

Update: we ordered the burgers to go during lockdown, which were exceptional. We were now able to dine in which was even better! The menu had so many excellent options, if I could eat more I might have ordered one of each... We had the scallops and I ordered the pumpkin ravioli. Everything was made in house and it was honestly one of the best meals I've had. I cannot wait to go back and see what changes come to the menu as the seasons change! Original review: The whole meal was amazing. Everything from the buns to the sauces were made in house!

Frankie

Great bar and bartenders, great spin on Canadian food and style. Would definitely bring guests to the city here

Jamie O'Toole

Foods are good. Vibes are good too. But the service is too slow. Maybe they are short of staff. And some of the staff were not wearing mask properly & took it off from time to time.

Dhaval Shah

Great experience. Went here for my bday and they took extra care of my wife and I. The drinks are very unique and tasty. We had the duck breast and pacific halibut. The flavour is unbelievable throughout. The combinations of ingredients shows depth and creativity. Definitely reccomend for special occasions

Maria Guerts

The Elk was amazing. However, the restaurant needs to update the price on their website. The price on the menu in the restaurant is $4-5 more than the one listed on webpage for main courses and $2 more for desserts.

Cocakoala

The Woods was awesome. We went during winter holidays so it was quite empty - normally this place is packed! Lucky us because we get to enjoy our food with less crowd. Always recommend folks to eat at popular restaurants during holidays. Woods has private rooms in the basement - great if you're hosting a get together. The tartare was delicious. The foie gras was small so it wasn't a good idea to share that between 4 people. I recommend 1 per 2 ppl to the very least!

Brent V

Had high hopes for this place based on the carefully curated website and menu, both of which were very enticing. Alas, all style and no substance. The first clue should have been when our waiter did not know what an old fashioned was. The drink delivered approximated a boilermaker in that it was half bourbon, half water. Okay, rough start but not an automatic fail. Decided to test the waters with the tartare. Took one bite and decided to play it safe with the rest of the meal. No dice. The burger was just, well, bad. A large underseasoned, uncharred chunk of blah. No questions were asked when we left our plates half eaten and make a hasty exit thereafter. The place was full of people who appeared to be on tinder dates, which makes sense. It’s got a “scene” feel - a little slice of Yorkville in Corktown. Come get some fodder for the ‘gram. Don’t come for the food.

Aeriel Benjamin-Kent

We found the overall experience to be incredibly underwhelming. While attentive, our server was snarky, brought dirty flatware, and didn't ask how we'd like our proteins cooked. The seared elk was wonderful, but incredibly rare. To add insult to ~$300 pre-tip injury, when given the option of still or sparking water, our server, without asking, brought us still bottled water to the tune of $9. We saw other tables being served tap water, so it seems like a glaring omission that we weren't given the option, nor told about the extortionate cost. Unfortunately, while the food was great and we'd love to return, we just cannot justify these prices for Jack Astor's-level service.

Rana biabani

Had a great time here celebrating an occasion with my family. I ordered chicken and it was amazing. Everyone loved their food and the service was amazing. Would definitely recommend this place for a great night of good food and experience.

Natalie Dash

Food was pretty good. Service a little frustrating. Decor nice. We booked a table but ended up seated at the bar, which was annoying.

Sarah Queale

Had an absolutely fabulous experience here last night with a large group. The food was amazing, the quality of wine and cocktails was impressive and the only better thing I can say is that the service was exemplary. Will 100% return. Highly recommend.

Beittney W

I came here on New Year’s Eve for dinner and my experience here was horrible. I had high expectations for this place because of the good reviews online and the ambiance of the restaurant, but my expectations were to high for this place . I arrived at the restaurant around 8:30, I ordered my drink which came quickly, after getting my drink the waiter brought out 3 slices of small bread and a tablespoon of butter. My boyfriend and I had to wait about 30 minutes to get our appetizer, about an hour past and we finally got our second appetizer. We were at the restaurant for about two hours and we did not even get our main course meal. No one came to our table to offer us refills on drinks or give us an update on our meal. The entire restaurant was sitting down with empty plates. The waiter was nice but I think they could have done a lot more to accommodate their customers. We ended up leaving angry and hungry. One of the worst restaurant experience. The service was below average. I was very disappointed ..

Jason Nissen

Dinner

S B

Easily one of my favourite restaurants in the city. Wait staff is always extremely attentive and accommodating! As for food, everything is such high quality and very large portions. I always go with whatever my wait staff recommend.

Mike Salter

We had a great dinner with friends visiting for a conference. The meal was excellent from the foie gras and the oysters through to the smoked elk. The elk was spectacular with a terrific sauce. The servers were very friendly and attentive. Overall and excellent experience

mia h

BEST EXPERIENCE EVER!! These are the nicest people I have ever met along with the most amazing food I’ve ever tasted!! Couldn’t get enough!! We were treated like royalty, would go back a million more times! Big shoutout to Derek and Robin as well, we are so grateful for the unforgettable dining experience!!

Jessica R

The elk ragu was the best dish next to the scallops * single scallop *. The seared elk was unfortunately quite tough. The seared tuna was not tender. Croquettes along with it were spicy and tasty. Dessert was nothing to rave about with cold dry donuts and a chocolate mousse that they call a s’more. Sadly underwhelming. Nice atmosphere. Derek was friendly, but slow service.

Yvette

Beautiful intiment setting. Very romantic, and the service was outstanding!! Thank you Derrick for your amazing service. We had the Elk and Boar, and would highly recommend these dishes, so flavourful, and tender. Great job chef!

Rachel Gupta

We had been to Woods before and had a wonderful evening, hence the reason for returning. What a disaster. I’m not sure what was worse - waiting for drinks which took over a half hour, and that would have been longer had my friend not gone and asked where the drinks were, or trying to hear what my friends were saying — I get that a busy restaurant has a noise factor but this was beyond noisy. Then the wait staff came to deliver sour dough bread. The stale crumb put on my plate wasn’t large enough to support any butter. We thought we’d enjoy a charcuterie board - wrong! Typically there are bread or cracker substances that accompany a variety of meats - nope. A bunch of different meat, and a lump of mustard. Our friends had the ceviche and scallops - uncooked tasteless lumps. This brings us to the person looking after us for the evening…. I have been to many restaurants over the last many moons, and I must say, in all seriousness, I’ve never been more uncomfortable or annoyed by someone waiting on me. There is banter and then there was this individual. Obnoxious would be too kind. So very disappointing Woods Restaurant.

Laurie Gordon

The Elk. That alone is worth a visit. Eat it slowly my friends, savour every bite. The tortellini paired with it are stuffed with a delicious surprise as well that makes this the showstopper at Woods. Subtracting a star for the service, which could not get the appetizer order correct and openly squabbled. Great homemade bread and butter; enough to pique your palette but not for you up. Would also love to know more about the food, such as where it was sourced or hunted, especially for woodsy things like rabbit and elk. Not the animal's life story, but a bit of info to contextualize. Check it out people!

Mitchell Messer

Dine in

Ken Bascom

There's only one way to describe Wood's: esquisit. From the moment you walk in to the food presentation, everyrhing was superbly delicious, balanced and farm fresh. Modern decor with a splash of character gave the place a warmth to it. Perfect lighting and background music. Their home fresh baked bread was good, chewy almost like a tapioca style and tasty. Started with their fresh mushroom soup, nice creaminess to it and good start to the meal. I had the Chicken Cordon Bleu, tender inside with a crispy baked outside. Wrapped beautifully from the inside out with a good proportion of cheese, ham, chicken and breading. Paired with root veg, it added a nice sweetness to it. Wait staff were superb. Professional, knew when to leave and come back without disturbing you or your guests. Overall, an amazing experience. Definitely a place to check out.

Maggie Mak

The elk and burger were really great.

Mel __

Disappointing. We were really looking forward to a nice dinner out at Woods and left disappointed. We arrived just after 7 for our reservation (we called to notify we were stuck in traffic and were on our way and would be a bit late - no problem). We waited for water. The table seated after us were poured water. When we were finally given water, we were served bottled evian water. At no point did anyone at our table request bottled water - the carafe water was fine. Ordered drinks, those took about 15 minutes to come. Ordered our food. Our appetizers arrived about 1.5 hours after being seated. The foie gras was the winner, albeit for seared, it was closer to room temperature, as was the scallops, ceviche and tartare. The beets lacked flavour/acid. Seemed like our food got stuck sitting at the pass for a while before making it to our table. We waited a while for our main dishes - the wild boar was the table favourite, the duck was a bit disappointing. Frites and crispy kale were yummy. We didn't have dessert, at almost 10pm we were asked if we wanted to order dessert and this was after about 40 minutes of finishing our dinner. We all declined. Seemed like tables seated after us were getting food before us - but glancing around the restaurant, it didn't seem as though most people were pleased. When we left, we had asked what was going on. We were told they only had 3 servers, one person at the bar, and 3 staff in the kitchen. They were understaffed and over subscribed with people showing up with our reservations, and they had a large group in a private room - as such, service fell apart for them and it showed. Washrooms were not the tidiest either. Perhaps some communication would have helped, perhaps turning away some of those without reservations would have been a good option (I understand with all the shutdowns due to the pandemic how difficult of a decision this can be). Tables weren't distanced well from another either (unless this requirement for pandemic dining has changed). Overall, it was a disappointing dining experience. There are loads of great dining options in the city, this sadly wasn't one of them.

Seongtaek Hong

Fantastic food, service and atmosphere as usual. The live music was the bonus this time. One of the best Valentines day dinner we have ever had.

Emmanuel Aruwa

Very nice and cozy restaurant with all locally (Canadian) sourced food. Most have is the charcuterie plate, Chicken Cordon Bleu, Artisanal Cheese plates with some Ice Wine

Rupp Carriveau

Went to Wood's for a combined birthday and anniversary celebration. A truly outstanding restaurant! The food is modern Canadiana, and quite spectacular. I started off with a foie Gras that had my tastebuds dancing, while my wife had elk tartar that came with a quail egg on top and just a hint of smoke - loved it. For a main I had seared elk with sunchoke raviolis and crispy roasted oyster mushroom, while the missus had rack of boar on a bed of mashed potatoes and greens. As implausible as it seems, even better than the appetizers! The elk again had a perfect amount of smoke, while the ravioli was a delight. My wife was ecstatic with her meal, and the bit of boar I tasted was amazingly tender and sublime - possibly better than the elk. And the desserts - let's just say they meet or exceed the Wood's standard! And now let's talk service. Our server, Derek, was personable, professional and knowledgeable, and made us feel welcome and well looked after from the moment we walked in. But the service is a team effort, and the entire team managed to find that delicate balance between being there the instant you want them without hovering. We were also fortunate enough to meet Robin, the owner, who made us feel we were the most important people to enter his restaurant all week. A truly outstanding evening out