Toronto patio bucket list
miss me with the end of summer slander!!!
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but it’s the beginning of August, not the end of summer!! Don’t even think about uttering the F word (you know the one). We’re only half-way in, so let’s all collectively get a grip and get our cute butts to a patio, pronto. Yes, any patio will do, but you’ll find the Toronto patios doing it better listed below (in no particular order).
For me, a great patio obviously has to have great food, drinks, and service. But there is one more thing… it must have (forgive me) a vibe *dry heaves.* Anyone can put a table and some chairs outside. Not everyone can create an intentional space that feels entirely its own, a little escape from all the construction and chaos. So, without further ado, here are…
The best patios in Toronto (according to me)
📍Bloorcourt
Chantecler is a perfect restaurant, the kind that treats a late night walk-in like the first reso of the evening and brings you two glasses of bubbles because they heard it was your anniversary. The service is so personable and warm, and in the summer, the whole place sweats, but in a chic, we’re-in-Europe way.
A wall of French doors open to their street-side patio, so the two spaces feel connected, but you gotta sit outside. Their tree-lined patio is cute as heck and you’ll schvitz less while stuffing your face with piping hot fries and pan-roasted, honey-brined Cornish hen.
To keep things chill, start with their raw bar. You can order the shrimp cocktail and scallop crudo (in a champagne brine I basically chugged) by the piece (“two shrimps, please, yes, two, thank you”). Oh, and half-priced bottles of wine on Monday!!
📍Dundas West
Bar Vendetta
Well, well, well, if it isn’t the coolest covered back patio. I had dinner out here during a summer storm and it was magic—there’s even a chandelier and skylights so you can watch the clouds go by as you pop olives in your mouth (ok diva!). Come for the pasta (yes, the crown cacio e pepe is worth the hype) but keep coming back rain or shine because this patio has you, well, covered.
🍝 ICYMI: My favourite Toronto pastas here 🍝
📍Ossington … but not that Ossington
Actinolite
Go a few blocks north of the buzzy Ossington strip (you can do it), and you’ll find this backyard escape. There is no written menu, and there never will be. Once the sun sets on a season, so do the dishes that once filled it. What stays constant is a celebration of local ingredients—many found foraging in Actinolite, Ontario—that tell a story of where we are right now.
The patio also carries this sense of impermanence: makeshift tin roofs resting over wooden awnings, wood-burning grills that are ash by morning. It’s one of the most unique places in the city. Reservations are recommended for their six-course progressive tasting menu ($135 per person), and they also have a more laid-back, homey three-course menu for $60.
📍Little India
Lake Inez Mystery Patio
Lake Inez is a good time. It’s a little eccentric (the menu reads like a fever dream), but it’s also original AF and actually has a personality. They call it the Mystery Patio because, well, you never really know what to expect, but meet in a secret alley at 7 pm sharp, and you’ll be whisked away to a tasting menu experience unlike any other.
I don’t want to give too much away, but there shall be drinking. There shall be fables. There shall be dishes both weird and wonderful. There shall be merriment and revelry and probably a hangover the next morning.
$159.99/pp for 6 courses (price includes wine pairings). Reservations are released on the 15th of each month at 7:30 pm for the month ahead.
📍Little Italy
Conejo Negro
One of my favourite summer evenings was on Conejo’s vibrant back patio, complete with a retractable roof (the SkyDome did it first). Everything was exceptional: the service, drinks, food, music, atmosphere. The staff are so genuine, it felt like we were at a friend’s backyard barbecue.
The food is based on a mix of Creole, Caribbean, and Latin American cooking that sticks to your ribs. No teeny, tiny tweezer food here. Just big plates, big flavours, big energy. Do get the firecracker shrimp and jerk chicken.
📍West Queen West
Henry’s *hosted
Home of the sexiest butter (and the best pancakes), naturally, Henry’s is going to do it right when it comes to outdoor dining. By Toronto standards, the back patio is surprisingly big (there’s an outdoor charcoal grill!!) yet tucked-away and unassuming. She’s elegant, painted in all black, and west-facing so the late sunlight makes everything (and everyone) look golden and hot.
The food and wine are both interesting and excellent, and I love that their menu doesn’t fall under a specific cuisine, though having a Brazilian chef sure helps when it comes to punchy flavours. Shrimp toast (divine) is right at home next to pomme purée and roasted picanha (tasted like prime rib without that prime price tag). Speaking of deals, we went for their Tuesday Prix Fixe, which consists of several courses and sides for $40-$55 per person.
📍Little Italy
Bar Pompette
One of the most precious patios in town. It’s got all the markings of a perfect summer night: twinkly lights, incredible cocktails, no time limit on tables. Lingering is a lost art and you can stay all you’d like, as long as you’re sippin’ on something delish (their Nitro Colada, perhaps?). Walk-ins only, how chic.
📍Beaconsfield Village
Taverne Bernhardt's
Name a better feeling that eating Bernhardt’s famous rotisserie chicken with your own personal gravy boat on their light-strung patio? Ok, wait, how about sitting on their patio while sinking your spoon into their swirly crème glacée? The definition of a neighbourhood spot, I tell everyone who hasn’t been it’s like Swiss Chalet with dress pants on. And if you don’t know what Swiss Chalet is, I can’t help you.
📍Bloorcourt & Geary
Paradise Grapevine
I really admire the community and spaces the Paradise Grapevine team has built. They make natural wine feel fun and funky like it should be, not stuck up. You can enjoy these easy, breezy vibes at both locations. Their OG Bloor West patio is more laidback and lush with a canopy of vines. The Geary Ave spot is like the rowdier sibling, and seems to be a safe space for the 30+ crowd to frolic in the wild without feeling ancient.
📍Little Italy
Bar Raval
I will never stop preaching the wonders of Bar Raval. Shrieking around a wine barrel covered in Spanish Fizzes (their signature vermouth-cava spritz) with my girlfriends on their patio is PEAK summer. Keep sipping, and you might just think you’re really in Spain. Anchovy lovers, get the Kitchen Bread, I beg.
📍Kensington Market
Sunnys Chinese
Follow the scent of Sichuan peppers down a dilapidated hallway in Kensington Mall and you’ll be rewarded with a restaurant and a hidden back patio that will leave you all tingly and euphoric. Maybe that’s the baijiu talking? Anyways, I love the energy of Sunnys’ patio. We always end up eating and drinking more than we should, but I never regret it nor the inevitable second order of Dan Dan noodles.
📍West Queen West
Jamil’s Chaat House
Dine out enough in Toronto, and you’ll start to see the same dishes over and over again (Burrata? Ground breaking). Jamil’s and its bright, sky-blue back patio (also with a retractable roof!) feel like a breath of fresh air, where you can escape to somewhere between Lahore and Toronto.
Sip on something cheeky from their extensive natural-leaning wine list while you crunch into chaat (savoury snacks). Their dahi puri remains one of my all-time favourite Toronto bites: deep-fried balls of semolina (Google it) loaded with tangy cilantro yogurt and slightly sweet tamarind.
Bonus (because I haven’t been to their patio… yet)
📍Harbord Village
Bar Eugenie
What this Harbord house lacks in size it sure makes up for in bold flavours and big-hearted hospitality courtesy of some lovely industry vets. And now it has a cutie patio that looks downright angelic. If it’s anything like the indoor experience, you can expect seasonal share plates (that are difficult to part with) à la chef Rebekah Bruce, creative cocktails by bar maestro Lee Bonds, and a chocolate cake that’s already gained quite the cult following.
What a trip!!!! So beautiful these places and food 🫶