Kensingtons

Kensingtons has closed. April 1, 2015 has a for lease sign in the window. It’s gone.

Very much enjoyed this place! Cute décor, reasonable prices for a healthy breakfast, and the service was friendly, giving me anything I needed. And I enjoyed the coffee, will be returning.

short version: go to Moonbeam instead.
long version:
went here to meet a friend for the convenience of the location. that’s probably the only reason this place is still open.
the atmosphere is cute and the desserts look readymade but nice. i ordered a regular drip coffee and it was old, cold, and just plainly terrible.
i went back a second time today, over a year later. i hadn’t hated the place originally but it definitely wasn’t great so i avoided it since my first visit.
the staff are pretty standoffish. i work in CS and jeez, isn’t «hello» pretty standard?
i ordered a double Americano to go (3. 65 $), waited five minutes by the door and then had to ask for a To Go cup… kind of annoying but whatever.
the coffee itself was made properly (I’m a Batista) but is just of poor quality. it was overly bitter and just yucky, even when i added milk & sugar.
hey, i tried! and won’t be going back. especially after reading these other reviews about the owners and food — yikes!

Yeah, this place is bad.
But not frustratingly bad. It’s a strange experience. The cheap «gourmet» breakfast is anything but. Cold damp potatoes, vegetables obviously cooked the day before, and the toast– they gave me the end pieces! But the eggs were ok and the coffee hit the spot.
Service was… the latin uncle kindly convinced me to use debit because the cost for credit cards was too much. So I PAID FOR THE .65 cent charge.
The trip to the washroom is a must. There’s a Area 51 access door you have to go through (check for the flashing light for a go), the spacious empty halls filled with doors for godknowswhat, and the soap filled in the ketchup bottle.
And is it Kensington’s or Kensington?

I really didn’t have a good experience and would agree with a lot of the negative reviews on here. The old guy at the register wasn’t inviting, and my simple breakfast order took so long that I thought about leaving without it. I got the advertised special for $ 4.99, and it looked totally different than the picture advertised; I would agree with the caption for the photo that’s on Unilocal: «Bleahhhh Bleahhhhh… compare to the photo in the window of the restaurant and tell me what you think!!» They also charged me $ 5.95, though it was $ 4.99. The food was not worth it, and I was quite sad that I didn’t pick a different brunch place in Kensington Market– because there were plenty of other places I was considering.

I have no idea why people gave this place bad reviews. A german friend of mine took me to this place on an extremelllyyyy cold snowy evening. The coffee shop is very cozy and super crowded. Our coffees were perfect and no one rushed us despite the rush! I love this place. Very, very quaint and cute.

Plain bad. Bad. Bad. Bad.
Customer service — very bad.
Food — bad. (how can you mess an Eggs & sausage breakfast?)
It was all so bad…
No reason to go there. Kensington is full of wonderful alternatives

Two stars. The first star for very friendly and inviting staff. The second star for edible/​almost decent food. Ultimately a breakfast for two that included an omelette and the all day breakfast plus 2 coffees and an Arizona Iced Tea ended up costing $ 23+ and was not good. Omelette was ok. Regular breakfast not so much. Americano was decent. Too costly and just not good. Reviews on this one are right on. I usually always look up reviews before going somewhere, but because Average Joe’s was closing for an hour… just walked in here. An experience, but won’t be there again.

Ok so I asked for a grilled cheese sandwich, you know, bread, cheese and butter, grilled. I had to explain it to them FOUR TIMES! Apparently a food industry place that specializes in sandwiches had no clue about what a grilled cheese sandwich is. The girl charged me $ 7 for it, and assured me it would have «gourmet» cheese. By gourmet they meant two slices of processed cheese. Suffice to say the employees gave less than a rat’s ass when I called them on it.
That being said, the owner and his wife were quite apologetic about the whole thing and even refunded me the difference. But the customer service from their front line employees was atrocious! I hate to say it, but I think I’m done here

I did not enjoy my experience here at all.
By the looks of it from the outside, it appeared as though it would be high quality, flavourful products, but it was the exact opposite. The service was mediocre, didn’t really acknowledge my presence. Even when I was ordering my food, the lady seemed so uninterested (can’t really think of a better word), and kinda annoyed that she had to take my order.
The food was crap, Iced coffee was horrible, I don’t think I’ve ever had such a bland, watered down version of an iced coffee… even McDonald’s can make a better one!
It was also really hot in there, which leads me to believe there must not be any air conditioning.
The only good thing was that they had free Wi-​Fi, and the connection was actually good, but it’s not worth coming back here… better off trying a different café in the market.

It is no exaggeration to say that this is the single worst restaurant in Kensington Market. It doesn’t even deserve the name «Kensington’s».
We ordered two all-​day breakfasts, and asked for no meat. They told us we’d get extra grilled veggies instead. The grilled veggies consisted of three one-​millimeter-​thick slices of soggy zucchini, and three rotten slices of what could technically be classified as eggplant. The potatoes tasted like cardboard, and the eggs had a nasty greasy brown film all over them. We were rudely refused refills on our tiny $ 2.25 coffees.
I’m amazed that this place is still in business, especially since it occupies such a prime piece of real estate in the market. Kensington Market would be better off with a Tim Horton’s on that corner. Or a McDonalds. Or even an abandoned storefront.

Just terrible. If I could give it zero stars, I would. I can’t even remember the last time I had a worse breakfast than this.
Their sign advertises a $ 4.99 breakfast. I asked for my eggs scrambled, and they said that it was $ 2.00 extra because they use an extra egg, and they give you more of everything else on the plate (more meat, more bread, etc). My girlfriend opted for the $ 4.99 breakfast, and the only difference between her plate and mine was that my eggs were scrambled, and hers weren’t. So I basically paid almost 50% more than she did for them to scramble my eggs. After reading the other reviews here, it seems this is a technique they’ve used on quite a few other people.
Unfortunately, this isn’t where my bad experienced ended. Everything about the breakfast was bad. The eggs and home fries were extremely dry. The eggs were slightly cold, and the home fries tasted awful. The grilled veggies were super dry and seemed like they were «grilled» days ago. The sausage was ok, but they didn’t even give me a full sausage (so much for more of everything on my plate as promised). Even the ketchup was terrible. It was probably the worst ketchup I’ve ever tasted.
The coffee tasted little better than Folger’s, which is pretty bad considering they charged me $ 2 for it.
This was one of the rare times I checked out a place without looking on Unilocal first, and boy did I pay the price. I live in the neighbourhood, and it seemed like a cheap breakfast, so why not? Don’t let the $ 4.99 breakfast fool you. It ended up being more like $ 10, and you couldn’t pay me to eat a breakfast like that again.
Stay FAR away from this place.

I also came in here thanks to the sign claiming ‘the best coffee in the city’. I should have known better– it was like that part in Elf, when Buddy takes his date for the best coffee in New York. And it’s disgusting. Yep. Just like that.
I spent $ 2 for a tiny cup of coffee– added my cream and sugar and gave it a taste… It was so weak that the tiny bit of cream I had added turned the coffee a pale grey colour. I felt bad, so I waited till I was at the corner of Spadina to throw it out.
I’d rather drink Tim’s– it was THAT bad.
Other than the crappy cup of coffee– the place was ok. It was a little depressing to be honest– I don’t know why I didn’t just walk out upon entering– I knew it wasn’t going to end well.
The bathrooms are a pain in the ass– the staff were nice but distracted.
I will not return.

NO MORE.
I used to come here for the incredible sandwich. But service has seriously gone downhill. They are just plain rude now and will yell at paying customers.
Also, the tables always feel kind of sticky.
I ordered an iced tea. It was warm water with a hint of lemon. The lady came around about 3 minutes into the iced tea experience and urged me to drink more so she could pour more tea flavour in… WEIRD or what?
I did as instructed. She poured more warm tea in.
It tasted gross. I had to coerce my friend into trying some. She was not down with it. Even though it was free. And she loves free things.
Anyways, pretty much, don’t come here.

Not quite a review, but more a simple explanation of why I will never go in this dive again. Everything in the other reviews is true… rude aggressive owner, surly… probably because of owner and bad pay… staff, stale overpriced baked goods and, sorry, but the coffee sucks.
My first bad experience, a couple of months ago, was when I went in and asked the owner for the $ 3.99 breakfast special… which, suddenly became a $ 4.99 special. The explanation? «We do our eggs over easy… sunnyside is extra. I couldn’t believe my ears, so I asked the obvious question: «you are really going to charge me a dollar for NOT turning my eggs over» «yes»
At that point, I left.
Today, I walked in and didn’t feel like their terrible coffee, so asked for a diet coke.
Scowling young woman behind the counter «Is that takeout, or for here?»
My obvious question: «Why? is there a difference in the price?»
Young woman. «Yes, its $ 1.85 if you drink it here and…»
I never did get the take-​out price, I was already out the door.
Speaking of doors, this pit needs to close theirs… and the owner needs to go back to his former trade of of torturing birds and small mammals

First of all, what’s the deal with the name? Is it plural? Is it missing an apostrophe? I’ll vote for bad grammar.
Anyway, we were headed to Dag’s across the street, but unfortunately it was closed unexpectedly this Tuesday morning. No worries, we spied the «All Day Breakfast — 3.99» sign across the street at Kensington… s, so decided to give it a try. Oy, what a mistake. The entirely empty restaurant should have been our first clue. I wish I had hooked up to their wifi (it worked!) and checked out Unilocal before we ordered.
The horror show that was Kensington (s) is described pretty well in the previous reviews, but let me highlight a few lowlights;
–Firstly, we were told to order at the cash and the food would be brought to us. The same guy took our orders, made the food and brought it over.
–My food was cold. I guess he made it first.
–2 of us had eggs «over easy». They were «over hard».
–Those who had bacon, couldn’t really describe what the meat-​like product that was served actually was. When asked how it tasted, I got a couple of shrugged shoulders.
–The potatoes (i was expecting home fries), were boiled potato chunks.
–I asked for a bagel instead of toast… he didn’t give me a choice of bagel, but how did he know whole wheat is my LEAST favourite?
–One friend had yoghurt and granola in a parfait dish. No parfait spoon, so she couldn’t get to the bottom of the dish.
–Want jam for the toast? .35 extra.
–Want a coffee refill? No refills, full price. The coffee was better than at most establishments that serve a breakfast like this, but nowhere near as good as a decent coffee shop. They brag about their coffee. Have they ever been to i deal coffee around the corner on Nassau?
If you want a good diner breakfast in the market, go to KOS, 300m away at Nassau and Bellevue.
NB The pastries, made off-​site, looked pretty good. If you want coffee and a tart, this place will suffice.

NOPE NOPE NOPE
What’s worse than the coffee here?
Only the service. Rude. Everyone.

Coffee is good. Terrible costumer service and over priced baked goods. The washrooms are extremely hard to get into because of all the locks and deadbolts and having to be buzzed in.
And the amount of fruit flies makes me think there is something seriously rotten around here.
Just sayin’

Oops, bad choice for lunch. Oh well, I’m from out of town and didn’t read Unilocal first, so that’s my excuse.
The restaurant looks nice enough, and the staff were fairly friendly at first. Unfortunately, it went a bit downhill from there. They have a $ 3.99 all day breakfast special with eggs, bacon/​sausage, potatoes, and vegetables. Ok, sounds good… breakfast for lunch.
The eggs were generally pretty tasty, although already a little bit tepid. The potatoes were one step below cardboard, no seasoning at all, and then the saddest bit were these veggies on the side. They had clearly been cooked some number of hours ago, if even cooked the same day and were flavorless, cold, and rubbery. The toast was appropriately done, but came with no jam. Aha, I’ll just go ask for a bit of jam. The woman takes about 3 minutes to get me jam and then charges $ 0.35 for a tiny cup of crappy strawberry jam… ugh.
Anyway, the space is nice and airy, and they don’t have wifi themselves, but I was able to get wifi from some neighboring business. Definitely won’t be back.

I was channel surfing one lazy night and happened to come across that show Restaurant Makeover… I tuned in and was surprised to see an old favourite coffee shop of mine being made over! Kensington’s, once a tiny, kinda run down little place was demolished, right before my very eyes!
This was a place I’d come to and sit with a coffee for hours on a warm fall day, people watch and take in the sun and music in the bubbly community. Many memories float through my mind every so often about this great little spot, and I felt a twang of hurt as I watched it being torn down. I actually turned the show off before I saw the makeover complete. Maybe a part of me thought that if I didn’t see it, it wasn’t true.
No such luck.
On a recent trip down to the market, I happened to see the newer and sleeker Kensington’s sign as I turned the corner at Baldwin and Augusta. UGH, I thought, so it was true. I went inside and found it clean and much larger than before. The counter space had been cut by about half, but was replaced by a spacious dining room with a lot of comfy seating. The menu was larger and updated, but Kensington’s still has their coffee, tea and hordes of delicious deserts… Ok, so it wasn’t so bad.
The food I ordered was wonderful; a hearty pea and mixed veggie soup that was $ 4.99 and all kinds of good. I recommend it to anyone. As I ate, the place filled up with a number of people, some there for grub, some to grab a coffee on the go. I have to admit that I am nostalgic for the older Kensington’s, but it seems that the makeover has done it some good, aesthetic and business wise.
I’ve heard people say that since its June 2008 makeover, it doesn’t seem to belong in Kensington anymore. It’s too sleek, too clean and too new, and I can see this point, especially when you start hearing rumours about Starbucks and Subway ventures trying to get in too. But, I also believe that Kensington is a place where the «one love» lifestyle rings true; it’s truly a place for everyone…