Nirvana

I came for brunch on a Sunday around 12pm. The restaurant gives off a vibe similar to Red Room, dimly lit and littered with mismatched furniture and light fixtures. Everything is a little dirty and worn down but spacious. I ordered their sausage and eggs (over easy) brunch and coffee, which came quickly enough. The coffee was hot but watered down. Sadly, the food is nothing to write home about either. Served with two half slices of whole grain toast, the eggs were a little over cooked and there was a small helping of cold yam fries. The side of fruit was almost pitiful; a drying half slice of orange, a small piece of banana, cantaloupe and one grape. At least the banana wasn’t brown, I guess… I really don’t think I’ll be coming back for brunch. The only upside was that they had lots of seats available. Mars Food to their right probably does better brunch.

I really enjoyed my visit here.
You just seat yourself when you enter. It can kind of be confusing since there isn’t any signs stating if you should wait to be seated.
It’s a very laid back place and kind of dark, which I don’t mind. I just love the atmosphere.
As for food, my friend and I shared the fresh shrimp rolls. It was OK. I found they put way too much lettuce in it and it was just too large. Couldn’t really enjoy it.
I ordered the Pad Thai with Tofu. It wasn’t that bad for the price. What else do you expect for $ 9? It’s better than going to Thai Express though.
My friend ordered the Nirvana sandwich with sweet potatoes and she enjoyed it.
The service was pretty good, too.
I would definitely return to this place. Great prices and decent eats.

Thinking about my first (and last) meal at this place makes me nauseous again.
I had the smoked salmon sandwich. The avocado slices on the sandwich were massive and browning. While I like avocado, if all I wanted to taste was avocado I would have ordered an avocado. I couldn’t even close the sandwich properly, everything was falling out, hot mess. What’s more is about 30 – 40 minutes after our meal, I felt like my stomach was going to turn itself inside out — ended up laying in fetal position in bed til the next morning (when I wasn’t throwing up). Not fun.
My roommate ordered some sort of chicken/​bacon wrap (‘bacon’ was in the name of the dish) and somehow, they forgot the bacon. Once she let the staff know, a waitress bought her two tiny pieces of bacon on a plate. I don’t know about you, but I would expect most restaurants to take the dish back and add in the forgotten ingredient in the kitchen instead of bringing it out on a plate and asking the customer to do it. Or is that too much to ask? Anyway, when she unwrapped the wrap to put the bacon in herself, the entire thing obviously fell apart. Another hot mess.
Not quite sure what the deal was the night we went, all I know is I wouldn’t come back or recommend this place to anybody.

By far one of the most casual and inexpensive spots in the city. Great for small get togethers, drinks and/​or large parties. The décor is definitely very zen yet super stylish. Even though I wish the patio was larger, there is more than enough room to accommodate large parties. There is something really charming about this place. The staff is always friendly and really attentive, and the food is always on point. I’m a huge fan of the stir-​fry! Definitely worth checking out.

I absolutely love this place.
After just moving into the neighbourhood a couple of weeks ago I thought I’d try a new place. It doesn’t appear to be much from the outside but on the inside it is warm, welcoming and homey. It is very spacious, you never have to wait long and the food is always prompt and delicious.
I must say, after trying other places in the neighbourhood this is my favourite. The servers are always extremely friendly, although it does seem like they are somewhat understaffed they all are smiling and polite. I especially love the sweet potato fries and the BLAT sandwich. Everything is incredibly cheap for the large portion sizes and quality of food which you receive.
I could not be happier with this place and I would recommend it to anyone I know especially students who are looking for cheap quality food.

Food is okay if you need a quick bite. It’s cheap and plentiful, I’ll say that. The mojito that I had was delish. Not too sweet and you can get 2 oz. cocktails for a little it extra– it’s really the better deal.
Music is always an eclectic mix and I think they happened to be playing Fleet Foxes upon this lovely August afternoon. I met a friend here for some drinks and a little pre-​chat before dinner elsewhere.
The thing that pissed me off was that we were sitting right by the inside patio and there was no one else out there. A table of three people who seemed to have just finished their shift working there sat directly in front of us (despite the fact that there was lots of room everywhere) and began drinking, cackling and taking louder than the sirens on the street. No prob if you guys wanna rip it up and get loaded– I’ve been there, but I don’t plonk myself down directly next to the one of the only other tables in the joint. We ended up moving because it was just too much background noise and what they were talking about wasn’t interesting enough to overhear.
It probably wouldn’t have amounted to me even making a comment about it in a review but for the fact that they seemed like staff, which is a reflection on the place itself.
Overall, a solid place for lots o’ drinks and a snack.

Really great place. Cheap prices and big portions, would definitely check this out again. Very dark and had a great vibe!

Great place to hang out — daily drink specials are a good deal.
The shrimp roll with rice paper is pretty bland tasting — it had a strange aftertaste to it. Have had better — make them at home and it will taste more fresh.
Burger was decent and the sweet potato fries were a treat.

Chaque jour il y a une promo différente et super avantageuse, comme les cocktails à $ 4.50 le mardi, la cuisine y est ouverte assez tard, donc toujours moyen de commander quelque chose tant que c’est ouvert. Les sandwichs né sont pas extra mais les burgers et les quesadillas sont corrects. Toujours bon à savoir aussi il y a un ATM à l’intérieur si vous né voulez pas traversez pour aller à la RBC.
BREF ! Un bar sympa à Toronto ou l’on peut boire et manger pour un prix plus que raisonnable !

Surprisingly a very delicious chicken sandwich with sweet potato they served. Everything were very fresh and perfectly cooked in a surprising price!!! The grilled chicken was pretty thin but I was ok with that (for this price, it is not a big deal) anyway I prefer more veggie than meat. You can’t always count on reviews and you can’t judge it with just one try. Hope they serve everyday like today and not disappoint me in next try.

Good place for brunch, or a quick bite

While the Saturday night shooters special is a great deal, the service and food leaves a lot to be desired.
They lost our reservation, and we had some of the slowest service I think I’ve ever experienced. One of our phones was stolen as well.

Great Loungy Vibe… $ 15 for pitcher of SteamWhistle…
Daily drink specials (see attached)

The only 19^th century opium den I know with $ 6 wings! If you are on a date there, expect to be going dutch on the cab back to their place, or doubling on his fixie.
Also, somebody toss a urinal puck in that bathroom tho… PEEYEW!
Friendly owners! 4 Stars!!!

Another College and Bathurst Haunt (I seem to spend alot of time here) It hasn’t changed much since my student days. (Once a friend got kicked out for falling drunk asleep in one of the booths). Came here last week for a Brie and Avocado sandwich and a Chai tea. Both were delicious and the prices here are very reasonable. I think it was $ 6 for the sandwich and $ 2 for the tea. My friend had a Pad Thai and that was pretty good (not authentic in the slightest though) and it was only $ 9. If you are looking for something not too fancy for a decent price, this seems like a decent bet.

This spot is the perfect little spot for cheap yet great food, servers are on the ball, even if your sitting in the corner out of sight. The food Is really good (for the price)
Only issue is that it’s very dark inside, had to use my cell phone a few times to look at the menu, my eyes did adjust after a bit!
Avocado and Brie sandwich is one of my favourite! Pasta is okay, avocado salad is also really good, starting to think I have a thing for avocados :)

Nirvana can be a little touch and go. I’ve been here multiple times over the years and received varying levels of service and food. They are far from consistent and it shows in their drink specials and food — they make a dazzling Mimosa, but their Sangria is very watered down and not worth the «special». Their Pad Thai is pretty good, their sweet potato fries are like crack and their perogies are legit. But the chicken avocado wrap is beyond meh and their standard breakfast is beyond ‘buh’.
I was here twice in the Month of August and service was generally atrocious. The first time our server was inattentive and we had to flag him down multiple times to re-​order drinks, and then he later forgot a drink order as well. And this was a relaxed Sunday afternoon with the patio basically empty and the restaurant even emptier.
On my more recent visit, a different server was just as forgetful and seemed nervous… and also had to return because he forgot my drink order. When I ordered food, I was brought the wrong order, and when I politely inquired why I received sweet potato fries as my side instead of the salad she awkwardly and nervously told me that «it was probably a mistake from the kitchen.» And then she stared into deep space… After I politely explained that I ordered salad instead of fries, she tried to argue with me. Like what? All she had to do was say «Oh darn, sorry about that, let me bring you out your salad.» It’s really not that hard. Your kitchen, or server screwed up the order, and I asked like a nice lady would to have the order fixed. After 5 minutes she brings me a plate of salad.
And when we get our bill, she charges me separately for the salad as well as my main order they had screwed up. She charged me a dollar… and I was just like, you know what, this is dumb and I am not even gonna say a damn thing about this but ugggghhhhh, it was tres annoying and not cool.
If you’re coming here for relaxing drink on their patio, then you might be in for a good time. Aside from that, Nirvana… surprisingly…blows.

It appears that many of the cocktail bars in the Kensington Market area don’t open until 5:00 p.m. Since we were in the area in the early afternoon, it was a relief to stumble upon Nirvana, a bar/​café with a nice cocktail menu and reasonable prices.
It was pretty busy in the middle of the afternoon, but we grabbed the last table near the patio. The tables around us ate their lunches and drank pitchers of mimosas, but as for me, I came for the drinks!
Our waiter was a friendly, hipster-​ly gentleman who recommended «The Bicycle,» to me. The service was a little slow, but the raspberry grapefruit concoction was worth the wait. I followed with the Watermelon Wheat beer on draft. Holy summertime, just hook me up to a keg already.
I also had a few sips of the sangria (meh) and the Sunset, a cocktail of SoCo, amaretto and cranberry.
It took awhile to pay our check when we wanted to leave, but this was otherwise a total day drinking success!

3.5÷5
food
–got pad thai and it was great! Portion was quite generous too!
drinks
–cheap shooters on fridays, costing 3.75 per shooter with a wide variety!
décor
–really really dark in there, but the chandelier lights were very nice
service
–average
final verdict: i’d come back for the food (cheap) and drinks again!

Quaint, cool and cozy, this place is so laid back that I’m surprised it doesn’t fall out of its chair.
I’ve only been once, but judging by the menu, they’ve got awesome drink specials every night. The food is also really well priced for what you get (I ordered the Nirvana sandwich), and I’m a sucker for good value. The one exception was the nachos, which had a serious lack of cheese and whose entire topping portion was dumped dead centre of the plate. Apart from that one letdown, this is a pretty solid place.

Nous y sommes arrivés pour rejoindre avec un peu de retard un groupe assez conséquent. Une dizaine de personnes en somme. Nous avons eu l’idée saugrenue de vouloir commander quelque chose alors que certains de nos amis avaient déjà reçu leur addition. À la bonne franquette quoi.
Mais non, que nenni ! Vous êtes en retard, on refusera de vous servir, on né vous proposera même pas le café, allez vous faire voir ! Voyons, l’addition est globale, le service est déjà inclus alors on né dérogera pas, pas question de vous accommoder, on vous regardera de haut et on vous méprisera avec cette distance hautaine du hipster qui né bosse que par obligation …
Soit, nous sommes allés manger ailleurs.

I think I was one of the first patrons Nirvana ever had. They’ve been serving up cheap sangria and beer with decent food for about 6 years now, and are right around the corner from my old place.
I enjoy their fried tofu and avacado sandwich, both very reasonably priced, but neither really wow. Others seem to enjoy their Pad Thai, but I’ve never sampled it. This place is more about reasonably priced drinks and large tables for group gatherings.
The major downside to Nirvana is the service. The servers must pool tips, because no one tries to impress. Either that, or they’re all suffering from some serious hipster-​itis. (A disease that has been sweeping Toronto for about 5 years now.)
MUST MENTION: Their small front patio is great for people watching.