pure spirits oyster house & grill

i was pleased to see a patio ready for pouring at pure spirits oyster house . after locking up my bike i hopped into the dining room which offered an industrial vibe featuring metal bar stools and dining chairs. i was joined at the table by my good friend from corby’s  wine expert  penelope irving . we hadn’t seen each other since before i left for my trip to south africa last fall so had a lot of catching up to do! we spent the next two hours chatting about toronto’sfoodscene, blog life, our favourite wines and exciting upcoming travel plans. we enjoyed a light lunch featuring shrimp, chop salad and savoury spiced squash cannelloni. i peddled away inspired by the promise of patio season. rush into me summer i’m ready for you! the feast: grilled jumbo black ti

it was like a pricier red lobster. very large and loud. impersonal. service was... just fine. brisk and didn't check in much.foodwas fine. i had the brussel sprouts side. it was very dry. the duck was very nice. well seasoned and cooked just right. wine list is generous and great range of prices. dinner mates enjoyed their meals. one had the burger and shake. shake was good. burger was dry and over cooked. over all... meh.

cute little distillery place. great ambiance, feels like an oyster bar. service was overall good even though i think they should utilize the staff better. our waiter was hustling but there were a lot of staff having around or polishing glasses rather then speed up service. foodwas great, oyster fresh and tasty. favorite dish was the lobster papparedelle, full score. the overall feeling with the dishes was that they were quite rich, heavy and full flavoured but very tasty.

great spot in the distillery district. we came to the christmas market tonight (which is beautiful by the way!) and ended up waiting in line for dinner at pure spirits oyster house because some girls were craving oysters. thefoodis pretty good, lots of delicious fish selections and great selection of oysters. reasonably priced wine list and great atmosphere.

avoid if going to theatre. atrocious service. avoid at all costs if you have a theatre reservation.

made a reservation 3 weeks in advance for dinner with my parents before going to soulpepper. when we arrived at 6pm, told the waiter that we had tickets to the show at 8pm. we were told at 7pm that our meals would take another 20 minutes because the kitchen was so busy. when we had received nofoodby 7:25 pm (1.5 hours after arriving) we demanded to speak with the manager. he said that our mains would still take a long time, so offered us free appetizers of our choosing in lieu of the meals. we asked for a few specific appetizers.

at 7:35 he brought us a handful of appetizers, not the ones we had ordered, explaining "that's all he could get from the kitchen right now".

really and truly a terrible dining experience. will never return. do not go hear if you are headed to a show afterwards.

disappointment. went for dinner with my little son and was rather disappointed. service was decent, we ordered ground brisket burger and sweet potato fries. ordering healthy drink for a child was a problem (bottled water comes only in big bottles, no organic drinks) my chamomile lipton tea cost as it was sourced out of gold and i wouldnt complain if at least that would be organic. sweet potato fries were good, i wish they have any healthy alternative to all mayonnaise dipping sauce, so we had to eat it dry. burger was absolutely tasteless, no flavor, no juice, dry, just nothing, but loaded with mayo (again). i hope they will taste what they serve and improve, because its quite a shame to have that kind offoodin that kind of location. we live right here, next door and feel that is kind of embarrassing for our distillery neighborhood.

poor service and bad food. never coming back!. i went here to celebrate my engagement back in june 2013 and was not impressed with the service. the waiter didn't make good recommendations when i asked what are the most popular dishes. the dessert was not very good and his recommendations were not good. he didn't to ask me if i liked thefoodor not and didn't seem to care as they were busy. i told him that i didn't like myfoodand the dessert was way too sweet, one of the worst i have had which he recommended. he said everything on the menu was good. he didn't bother to suggest another dish or dessert as an alternative like the other restaurants that i have been to and didn't bother to ask if i want those bad dishes removed from the bill. i should have demanded him to change my entree and dessert to something else. usually at the other restaurants that i have been to where i complain that thefoodsucks. they would ask to change the dish to something else or remove it from my bill since i barely touched it or ate it. thefoodis not good here anymore. the service andfoodused to be way better back a few years ago. when i said thefoodwas not good, the waiter defended himself and said he thinks thefoodis good. overall it was a mistake coming her to celebrate an engagement. i should have gone to a better restaurant with better service such as the ones from oliver and bonnacini such as biff's bistro instead. i would never go back to this place. the only thing that is good here is oysters, that's it! everything else sucks. don't try their dessert (creme brule) and seafood (octopus)...it was crap! we spent $200 for 2 of us her and it was a waste of money!

would give 3.75 out of 5 for the visit. goodfoodand service overall. strolling in distillery district, wanted to go try the seemingly trendier place with a nice patio right across called el catrin, since the weather was beautiful on this sunday afternoon, but had to wait so we turned away across the pavement to this place instead.
we got a nice window booth seat and an attentive waitress. good start.
had an assortment of oysters, fresh and clean. ordered grilled octopus in entree. came a meaty one, wondering if it would be chewy, and not crispy enough on the surface by the size and colour of it. but nice surprise that it turned out to be perfectly tender. could be grilled slightly more for the perfect crispness, but the one we had did just fine. the veggies base was also a refreshing compliment.
had their mac n cheese. a bit too oily, but tasty. they were not niggard on the cheese though. the seafood inside was a bit overcooked. an decent one overall.
also had their lobster pappardelle. good pasta but great truffle sauce, nice mushrooms. best of the meal.

we headed over to  pure spirits  the other night for a quick seafood bite. its located in the heart of  the trendy historic distillery district.  the fabulous patio allows you to take in the urban gentrified  neighbourhood. the interior is quite tight but very cozy and lively making for a good summer and winter spot.  thefoodwas fresh and tasty we enjoyed it from beginning to end. we decided to share a dozen  french kiss oysters.  they were perfectly shucked and fresh and robust in flavour. we also shared the tasty  green curry mussels.  the mussels were tossed in a spicy green curry with lime leaves, sweet basil and coconut milk. the broth was full of rich vibrant flavour and went perfectly with he plum juicy mussels. the mussels came with a heaping mountain of   fries  with parmesan cheese and rosemary. these salty potatoes were gone

sorry i ordered sea bream and not sea bass as mentioned in my previous review! cheers


-----13 jan, 2013-----

went there last week for a party and the oysters were good and offered some good sauces to go with them. service was good in the beginning when only 4 of our 15 guest arrived. when more people came everything went down hill!foodtook about an hour to come despite we were the only other table there! ordered the sea bass for $27 and it was totally not worth it! the fish was dry and the sauce was subpar. the portion i would say is fair for its price. at the end of the night the server was rude and refused to give us separate bills! did not understand this since the majority of us didn't know each other! i understand for groups you add tip to the bill but you can still split it the bill for people and still add the 15% tip on top! if you ever go please stick to apps and drinks only! not recommend for large groups and if you get an old man server please be weary! for other people who doubt my review please try yourself and post one of your own! cheers!

terrible service. we waited for 2 hours and still had not received our meals.
so , we finally gave up and left without ourfoodbeing served...walked across to the cafeteria style bakery
and ordered panini sandwiches.
would never go back. pathetic.

good food. mediocre service. we've gone here several timed over the last 9 years as we live across the street. consistently thefoodhas been good. i liked my branzino a lot. and my companion liked her duck on our last visit. but the wait staff just isn't up to par. they forget to refill wine glasses, neglect to take orders in a timely fashion and while polite just don't seem to be on the ball. because its regularly crowded it doesn't appear that they have to work hard to make their tips. management doesn't appear to care since they make do much money anyway.

similar experience. after reading some of the reviews on urbanspoon i was reminded of my experience at this restaurant in august of 2011. we had similarly poor service and were treated with disinterest by the hostess and the two different waiters who served our table. thefoodwas so-so but the service was below standard and we left feeling dissatisfied. we have not been back and after reading the above mentioned reviews, that is not going to change.