pure spirits oyster house & grill

absolutely great oysters! was my first time trying, & i must say ny friend was right, she frequently visits thisplacefor oysters, i can see why! also, we tried the 2-types of mussels they have...both amazing! i will definitely be back.

not a single bad thing to say! the staff is amazingly attentive and sweet. whether you're an oyster lover, or are a oyster virgin, this is theplaceto go! their wine selection is amazing as well.

my love of oysters and the ambiance of thisplacemade for a perfect combination. we allowed our server to bring us the best options and her selections were superb. there are almost endless varieties of oysters to be had.

if you are ever in the distillery district and in the mood for seafood, pure spirits is theplaceto have. if you are an oyster aficionado like my friends, you will definitely order the sweet bc kyushu oysters which are small is size but pack a powerful flavour of the great pacific ocean. while i usually am more critical of soups, the spiced mango gazpacho has the perfect touch of heat and tropical sweetness for a summer lunch on pure spirit’s beautiful patio.

would give 3.75 out of 5 for the visit. good food and service overall. strolling in distillery district, wanted to go try the seemingly trendierplacewith 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 thisplaceinstead.
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 had fresh oysters and the mac and cheese with salmon, which were both good. also ordered the salmon with quinoa and were not that impressed especially with the tiny piece of salmon we received. it came with so much arugula it should be changed to the salad section. other than that, good wine but very lacking service... from the host to our server, all seemed very messy and unorganized... you wouldn't expect that from a priceyplacelike this.....

overpriced and lousy. we had friends visiting from australia, originally from the gta and they hadn't been back to to in 5 yrs. i picked thisplacefrom the great reviews and the menu looked promising. we enjoyed the potato fries and the oysters appetizers. our salt and pepper calamari had no black pepper. our main courses were bland, pasta was crunchy and flavor was lacking. our waiter asked my husband how he wanted his braised meat: rare, med rare? we all looked confused because as far as we knew you could only get braised meat one way - braised, but what do we know.
perhaps it was an off night but the outrageous prices for our main meals with the lackluster flavor in almost all the dishes certainly left a bitter taste in our mouths.

wow. wow, there's a lot of negative reviews here on urbanspoon ....i can't say i have experienced bad service in my times of eating here. i would say the service is ok (not bad but not a standout either). i would recommend thisplaceif you like shucking raw oysters. thisplacehas excellent oysters (order the virginicas, these are good)! it's a bit pricey in my opinion thats why i dont go that often. patio is also good in the summer. we had our puppy time one time and they sat us down at at the edge of the patio so we can tie our puppy to the side, so that was nice.

great winterlicious experience. i had been to pure spirits once before, but this time was for toronto's winterlicious festival, which i will admit can be hit or miss. sometimes you feel like you are getting rushed through your meal, but i didn't feel that way at all here. the waitress was quite friendly and helpful, and overall it was a great meal and experience.

the menu for winterlicious was good - there was a nice mix of options to choose from. sadly there were no oysters though (which i have only recently discovered that i like so was excited to have them again… plus how can you go to aplacecalled an oyster house and not get them?!?) we ended up ordering half a dozen malpeque oysters along with our prix fixe appetizers, and they were delicious. the oysters were served with 3 sauces to choose from: a traditional seafood sauce that had too much of a horseradish aroma for me to even attempt, a spicy option with chili flakes marinating in it (my sister toyed with this and said it was certainly hot, but wasn't anything special otherwise) and then my favorite - a red wine reduction with shallots in it. the shallots are a nice addition to the oysters and work well with the wine. the oysters themselves were a nice size (not too big), were especially salty which i love and tasted super fresh.

there were 3 of us at dinner and surprisingly we each ordered a different one of the 3 available appetizer options. i had a very nice clam chowder; creamy but not heavy. only thing i would change would be subbing some of the potatoes out for more seafood, but it was still a good soup. the spring rolls were a let down, but i guess if you want good spring rolls, you should stick to asian style restaurants. the spinach salad was just that - nothing exciting but looked like a decent salad.

for my main course i had the baked filet of sole. it was coated in delicious provençal bread crumbs, but was very lightly breaded and was absolutely delicious. it was served with whipped potatoes, some wilted spinach, a beet, and then the best part: was covered in baby scallop and shrimp butter. it would have been even better if they were large scallops, but the small ones and the baby shrimp were still a nice addition. and no one is sad about a butter based sauce…

the prime rib was also apparently delicious. it was a giant piece of meat that looked like it was cooked to perfection, and was also served with the potatoes and veggie sides that mine was.

by that point i was beyond full, so when my dark chocolate gateau served with milk chocolate sauce came, i really didn't want it at all… i am more of a savoury than sweet person anyway, so typically i would rather eat more dinner and pass on dessert, but given that it was winterlicious i had ordered the dessert. the cake was alright… frankly it was a bit of chocolate overkill. it should have been served warm with a side of plain vanilla ice cream. maybe then i would have finished it. instead i just had a few bites and passed on the rest. the bread pudding was pretty awesome, it was warm and sweet but not so much that it was painful. overall for $35, it was a fantastic dinner and i would certainly go back again. there are a lot of things on the regular menu that i think sound pretty awesome (seafood mac and cheese???) and a seared ahi tuna that i'd love to try. it is a little on the expensive side, but i would say well worth it. a definite recommend for anyone that likes seafood!