The Vic Public House

Been there many times, very inconsistent. Sometimes the food is great, next time the same dish looks and tastes totally different. Not very creative menu, standard gastropub fare.
Patio is amazing, lots of great trees and shade. Sometimes staff are great other times they seem to wander around lost. If you like to gamble, it might be great or just average, you never know.

2 stars for the nice patio, but that’s about it. With all the places to eat and drink in the Village, you should be going somewhere else.
We went for brunch and almost wondered if they weren’t open. No one was there to greet or seat us, and they acted like it was a major chore to do so once they finally got up to the podium. Once we were finally sat, it took forever to get menus and get served. Not sure why, as we were the only people there at the time.
When the food came, it was highly overcooked. Please don’t think their chicken and waffles «keepin’ it southern in southern Ontario» are in any way, shape, or form like the same dish in the south. My chorizo hash was supposed to come with a side salad, which never arrived. After the server brought us our food, he disappeared and couldn’t be brought back to refill drinks or even bring us our bill. We had to go hunting.
They’re asking far too much money for what they’re delivering.

Food wasn’t extremely delicious, but the atmosphere was wonderful, servers totally friendly and happy to help, cheap-​ish domestic beers on tap for the portion, and best of all… glasses are pre-​frozen!!! YES. That’s how you do draft.
Outdoor seating has shady and sunny spots, and heat lamps for winter time-​something for everyone! Our waiter was adorably Canadian and nice eye candy during our meal ;)
Bathrooms are inside down this sketchy dark stairwell behind the bar, but was really clean. Lots of stalls so probably really convenient if you’re there drinking late.
Mac n cheese (M&C) burger didn’t have as much of the M&C croquette as I would’ve liked… and it was kind of dry/​not very cheesy. Wouldn’t order again.
Wifi password is their phone number.
Tldr; come on a sunny day and sit outside, drink some ice cold beer, and ogle the hot blonde waiter!

I give this place 3 stars ONLY for the outstanding, beautifully shaded patio. Honestly, between 2 people, the bill should not be anywhere near $ 50, even with tip included. I was kinda shocked & decided to go dutch when I saw the final tally. $ 6 for fries that were soggy & tasted like old oil. $ 8 for 3 dinky veggie tacos that were splatter happy & difficult to eat like a lady. $ 7 per pint, per person= $ 14. My sister had $ 15 fish & chips platter with a salad instead (an upgrade that cost an extra $ 3)= $ 18. The presentation was great, the fish was very nicely seasoned & tender, but the batter was soggy & peeled off at the slightest provocation by the fork tines. Altogether, it was about $ 53 ($ 46+15% tip) & next time, we’ll probably go to Jack Astor’s or something. Ah! The highway robbery consequences of eating anywhere downtown. How do people live here?

I have been going to this location for some time now, and I have to say that the food is really good.
If you are hungry and want to taste one of the best burgers in town, ask for the Vic Burger. Hope you enjoy it.

I suggested this place for lunch with a couple of work friends, and then read the other Unilocal reviews and immediately regretted it. Once we got there, Sandy was an amazing server who did everything right. One of the people I sent with spent almost 10 minutes ordering a 5oz glass of wine and mineral water so she could make her own spritzer, and Sandy was great. Same friend spent 5 minutes trying to order a club sandwich (which they don’t serve). It wasn’t a test, that’s just the way she is. Sandy was a pro the whole time. Fast service, polite, friendly, joking but not insulting. Patio was totally worthwhile. Food was mediocre. I had Grilled Lemon Chicken Sandwich which arrived dry. One of my friend complained about the angled bowl the salad arrived in, said it made it hard to eat from — which made us tease her. Definitely going back based on this experience, and on great service from Sandy.
As an aside, remember that this is the gay village. One of my (straight) friends loudly asked me «What is the Men’s Sex Maze?» as she pointed to a flyer stuck on the back of a parking sign. «Where? Where? I can’t see it?!» shouted the other.
Always be prepared for dining on Church St.

My friend and I decided to stop by The Vic for drinks one recent Friday after work. We were drawn to the patio, as we liked the music they were playing and the vibe was good. Our server sat us quickly at a table for 2 and brought us our menus.
We ordered a bottle of wine (overpriced — as usual in this city), an order of hummus served with pita triangles and olives. The hummus and the olives were delicious, but we could have used more pita triangles. Half way through our hummus and wine, 2 of our friends messaged us that they were going to join us. We quickly informed our server and he moved us to a table for 4 without any fuss. We ordered a second bottle of wine and our friends ordered a pitcher of Pimms for — wait for it…$ 48! Oh well, it’s their money I guess.
The night, while initially pleasant, quickly grew chilly and we asked our server to light the propane heater above our table. This provided us with quite a bit of entertainment, as he struggled to light it… a guest from another table helped him and they finally got it lit yay!
The service was good, the vibe was cool and the food was tasty, however the drinks were overpriced and the bathrooms were pretty far away, deep in the dank, dark basement and most of the stalls were out of toilet paper.
Overall, the service, great vibe and food made it worth it. I will likely return because the patio is so awesome. Though the little Italian place right next to it has a cute patio, and I found myself checking out their menu board…

This gets 1.5 stars only because of the well-​shaded patio, which provides a pretty nice atmosphere, but I’m rounding down to one because of the disaster described below.
I had the mac and cheese burger, which sounded interesting, but the mac is baked into chunks of cheese, one of which is in the burger and the other is stuck to the burger with a toothpick. This should have been fine, but they also DRENCHED the top of the bun with sauce. Why would you do that? I realize burgers can be messy, but when there’s sauce on top of the bun there’s no way to eat it without getting sauce all over your beard and your pint glass! It was a disaster! I probably used 10 napkins and felt like a complete idiot! I’m glad I was just there with a few guys from work. In terms of taste, this didn’t really work for me either. Nothing special about the beef patty or the mac and cheese.
The beer list is ok but nothing to write home about. The service is friendly but inattentive. In general, this restaurant is way too expensive for the area and what’s being offered. There are better pubs in the area.

Drinks are so expensive! A draft runs for about 7 bucks. Service is OK. Food is definitely pretty good.

Still sticking with 3 stars.
Came back last night for a team function. There was someone sharing the upper floor with us, but they weren’t in our way or anything, so it wasn’t a big deal.
I ordered the mac and cheese this time around since the sweet potato fries failed me the first time. It wasn’t what I was expecting when it was delivered to my table. They were deep fried nuggets of ooey gooey mac and cheesey goodness. I looked at them kinda funny when I first got them, but once I tried them, I was sold.
One of my friends did order the sweet potato fries again and they were still soggy. I think it’s safe to say that their sweet potato fries are consistently soggy. Big thumbs down.
They also ran out of Mill St and they don’t have a wide selection of beers. No ciders at all (BOOOOOOO). Luckily, they had the kronenbourg blanc.

Have been having some good nights here, and as usual the bartenders and waiters are awesome friendly people. Dirty Bingo is always a good time on Mondays. FML Monday was upstairs after dirty bingo, really fun party for younger gays, tho even a near-​gay death gay like me had no problems fitting in ;-) The patio is huge, and sure to facilitate some awesome summer days in the near future.
After it’s rebranding from being Fuzion, maintaining the original ownership, I’m left feeling a little scarred from past experiences (note my previous 1-​star review) and maybe a bit hesitant to return, but thankfully it seems change was in the wind at this excellently located church street victorian home converted bar, no complaints today.

Imagine you’re on a plane descending rapidly and the runway is nowhere to be found… that was my dining experience at the Vic. If you’re scared of heights or have a fear of flying, just stop reading.
This meal was an unequivocal disaster. I’d been eating out a lot in my first month in Toronto and was craving some green vegetables, so I thought, aha, I’ll order a salad. Oops, wrong move…
I ordered a mixed greens salad with bleu cheese and nuts in a balsamic vinaigrette and my friend ordered the fish and chips. The waiter was training a new waitress, so we had tag-​team service… promising prompt delivery of a pitcher of average beer. The waitstaff team approaches with our food and then the waiter notices something and says, «wait, I brought the wrong salad, your food went to the other table.» So, we wait and alas, he also took the fish and chips with him. Well, the fish and chips went on holiday for about 10 minutes to a countertop while my new salad was prepared.
The waitstaff return with fish and chips and «correct» salad in tow… but I’m a bit puzzled as I can only find spinach and no bleu cheese or walnuts in my dish (inside joke: yes Sam M., I ordered something with walnuts.) Meanwhile I notice an intense fishy smell from my friend’s now very soggy fish and chips. Upon asking the waiter about my salad, he said, «Oh, we were running low on mixed greens, so I just opened a bag of spinach.» Aha, so now i have the image of the waiter taking a sad bag of spinach from the fridge and dumping it in a bowl… why did I go out for dinner again? Why didn’t he just ask if I wanted something different when he had none of the ingredients for the salad I’d ordered. I did thankfully manage to finagle a thimble of bleu cheese and walnuts from the waiters.
Life is full of regrets, and one of mine is definitely eating at the Vic… yet again, I have to ask how pubs in prime locations can get away with serving expensive, yet terrible food. Tell me Toronto, where do I find good pub food?

The beer here is overpriced and tastes like the lines need to be cleaned, much like O’Grady’s down the street that is owned by the same owner.
The food was alright but I hope they get rid of the ants in the lower bathroom as no amount of dim lighting will cover that mess.
I also had a server who was very snarky and flighty. He got my order wrong and acted like it was my fault. I’m sure the attitude flows downstream as the owner is also infamously disagreeable.
The placed looks extremely tacky with the plastic beer ads everywhere.

After passing the Vic earlier in the day and as hunger set in, I decided we should walk back towards the Vic. The big house and sprawling patio called my name from the street; the perfect weather made the place seem even more appealing on that Sunday afternoon. The expansive patio suits the Toronto weather oh so well so it seemed that we were destined for a pleasant experience. However, no matter how much I wanted to love The Vic, I was left disappointed overall. The interior of the restauraunt was a quaint converted old house although the restrooms were rather frightening.
Our waitress was very friendly and conversational. Unfortunately, we could only find her about once every 30 minutes. I was completely famished so we decided to have a few beers first before diving into food. I’d heard about the Steam Whistle Pilsner earlier in the day so I thought I’d give it a try. I wasn’t a huge fan and I decided to switch over to Molson. After we managed to relocate our missing waitress we did get around to ordering food. I had the Fish& Chips which seemed to be the recommendation. The food came out piping hot and the fish was flaky and flavorful. There was a tad too much breading but not terrible. However, it seems like me, other Unilocalers felt the food was overpriced.
Overall, we enjoyed the evening hanging out on the patio and having a few beers and dinner. I truly wanted to love the place but there were just a tad too many flaws. If The Vic could improve the food quality to match the prices and spruce up their service, I think it could be a great place.

The beer is pretty expensive here (… really? $ 7 a pint?). However, the food is solid and the patio is the nicest in the area that I’ve seen.
Call me an alcoholic, but I value cheap beer over good food for a good patio… so… 3-​stars.

Went here for my friends birthday. I was surprised we could get a spot on the patio on Friday night for a large group of people. That was definitely a plus. The patio is pretty big and at a great location.
I found prices to be a bit high, but not too much. My friend and I shared the nachos. They were good, though not the best I’d ever had. Lots of cheese and interesting toppings you don’t see at many places for example beans and corn salsa.
Service was great. I would definitely go back.

We were here during Pride so, in fairness, I’m not going to comment on the über slow service or the fact that it was two hours from the time the server told us they were «switching over» to the lunch menu until we were finally allowed to order from it. Wait. I just did. Ok. I’m going to comment on it, but I’m not factoring that into my rating.
Factored into my two stars: draft selection is bo-​ring. Only major label stuff, when I was here. Sure, they have Guinness. Who cares? Everyone has Guinness. And local breweries do better stouts.
Other considerations: the food was terribly, terribly overpriced. Two of us shared nachos with chicken ($ 20). Now, I know that I should know better than to order $ 20 nachos, but I had just run a race and my body demanded nachos. No arguing with it. The serving size was paltry (they’re nachos, for goodness sake, not oysters — pile them on!) for the price, and the toppings, salsas, etc were mediocre — I’ll spare you the details, but we felt foolish for paying so much for what we received. That’s never a good feeling.
Positives: big patio, lots of sun. Server wasn’t outright surly with us and did try to keep the water coming. Great location. None of those are strong enough draws to convince me to return anytime soon, though.

Perhaps things are changing. I was there over Pride weekend — busy as hell. However, despite expecting strained service and hurried food both the food and the service were to die for.
In fact I told our server she was the nicest person I had met in Toronto on this trip.
The drinks — to die for!
Cheers.

Since the death throes of Local 4 on Dundonald, I’ve been in search of a new watering hole to meet up with friends after work, some place I could linger on a patio on the weekend, and a place where the food holds its own.
To date, The Vic checks all those boxes.
Perhaps in response to some of the early reviews and comments, the staff have stepped up their game, at times almost hovering to ensure your every need has been met.
I have always had decent service, which will only improve with time, and the location can’t be beat in terms of people watching.
I was last there Saturday for a late brunch, and a baseball team had taken up 3 or 4 tables outside, but my server was still on top of everything, including our orders.
My friend didn’t appreciate the hovering service, but as I explained to her, the server probably wanted to get our brunch order in before the 3pm kitchen cut-​off.
A full pub menu with all the comfort foods you could possibly crave complements their many beers on tap (I’m still enjoying the Mill Street Stock Ale on tap, a worthy step up from the Mill Street Organic).
If you want my best advice — and I offer this at my own dining peril — get thee down to The Vic Public House before the rest of Toronto discovers it over Pride weekend. Because once July rolls around, you will have to queue for a table.

Food: 4 stars
Service: 1 star
I was excited to hear about the revamping of Fuzion and the opening of this more modestly-​priced pub in the Village. The outdoor patio is really nice and is the main draw.
The food is actually quite good. It’s definitely a step above your average pub grub. I got the steak sandwich ($ 14.50) with salad ($ 1.50 extra). It was really tasty, and the meat was actually a decent cut of beef. My friend had a burger and fries ($ 12), and he said the patty was seasoned really nicely.
The service is a different story. Our waitress seemed entirely lost. Basic items like cutlery and glasseseither didn’t come at all or had to be asked for. We learned that there was no point asking our waitress for anything because it would never come anyways.
Everything took long to arrive, and we were told repeatedly that the kitchen/​bar was backed up. The owners should over-​staff this place if anything, particularly since it’s a new venue and people with a bad first experience might never come back (like us!).
We settled up and went elsewhere for dessert, as we’d grown impatient and annoyed by our very sub-​par experience. Maybe we should have gone next door to Sugo instead =P.