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Henry VIII Ale House
Category: Restaurants British British [Edit]
2469 Bloor St WToronto, ON M6S
Neighbourhood: Swansea
(416) 792-5456
3 reviews for Henry VIII Ale House
3 reviews in English
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Review from Eva T.
Toronto, ON
12/29/2011
Henry the VIII is another pub that recently opened. The interior is decorated in a very English style, burgundy velvet banquets, dark wood paneling and wainscoting, there is very little advertising décor on the walls which is a nice change. The bar is at one side and is well stocked with the usual suspects; they have several beers on tap. For me, the décor is missing something, although I cannot put my finger on it. It's almost like it was temporary -- not sure why I think that, everything seems to be full size and permanent. The pub is empty when we arrived at 2:15 on a Wednesday during the Christmas holidays. When we chatted with the bar tender he mentioned that today was their slowest day yet, they've been open 4 weeks. We chose a booth at the front by the large windows (they can open fully in the summer-time). It's a bit chilly, these types of windows are not great for winter weather and today is a cold, wintery day. The table is clean, although my banquet had crumbs left over from a previous patron. We order a Guinness each and it arrives promptly, although there is always a little wait with the Guinness because of the way they pour.
The menu reminds me of a typical English pub menu, but it's taken up a notch or two by some unusual twists to the same old (for example, Duck Confit Grilled Cheese, Chicken Curry Wrap). I had the roasted vegetable and quinoa salad; it is a warm salad of quinoa with roasted vegetables and marinated feta cheese served on a bed of organic baby spinach with a honey and balsamic olive oil dressing. It was a healthy serving and quite reasonably priced for $9.75 (same thing at dinner will set you back $15). It was delicious the dressing, the feta and the roasted vegetables (zucchini, yellow squash, artichoke and sun dried tomatoes) were fantastic together, and the nutty quinoa was a nice change to a typical pub salad. My partner had the Pulled Chicken Tikka Marsala which was chicken stewed in a red curry sauce with sweet apple chutney, jalapeño havarti, cashews and saffron basmati in a warm flour tortilla for $9.95 -- it came with either soup, salad or fries, The salad was also quite lovely with curly grated beets as decoration. The chicken curry wrap was also delicious, although I had a hard time tasting the jalapeño havarti. We each commented that we would have the same thing again, in fact, my partner mentioned he would also consider having my choice on another occasion. It is quite obvious that someone with knowledge is in the kitchen and it's not a deep fried plethora. The execution and presentation are above average; this pub will give the other 6 pubs in our hood a run for their money! They change up the menu a bit for dinner, we will give it another go again. -
Review from Katherine S.
North York, ON
4/15/2012
We were in the area and absolutely starving and I had a craving for pub fare, so this seemed to fit the bill, especially because it's had a few good reviews, but I found it only so-so.
Decor: Another reviewer mentions that the decor seems to be missing something and I agree. It's boring. The booths had gaps where the seat meets with the wooden bench part that holds the seat part up. Hard to describe, but looks cheap and crappy, like they're broken. Our table was very unbalanced and the waitress came and stuck a coaster under it so it would stop rocking. It's small and very cramped.
Food: Selection was pretty standard pub fare, but a bit on the expensive side. I ordered a chicken curry dish and when they asked if I wanted it to be spicy or mild I asked for it to be mild. Either their mild is just VERY spicy and I would hate to try their actual spicy, or they made a mistake. The curry comes with the chicken in sauce, rice and a sort of fried crisp, which was nice. The rice was bland however...or the spice from the curry killed my tastebuds.
My husband chose a burger, which was overall very good, although they charged him two dollars each for bacon and cheese on the burger, which is expensive when your burger is already $15. Not sure the bacon added anything, but the cheese, I'll admit was really good on this burger.
Atmosphere and Service: Service was fine. BUT, since this seems to be a trend...or the gods are intent on making me detest children while eating out, we had another loud, rude child/negligent parent situation (see post on Malaysian place). Another situation where children were screaming and running around and parents were sitting off, by themselves, ignoring them, while the rest of the people in the restaurant had to suffer. The group of older individuals across from us kept leaning over to make comments to us and the two ladies nearby grumbled under their breath.
Once again, this was a problem that could easily have been solved by the restaurant. The kids were part of a party and were in a party room, which is adjacent, but separate from the rest of the dining room. This room had doors on it...which CLOSE, but were propped wide open. All the waitress had to do was go and quietly shut the doors. That's it! Problem solved.
We were getting annoyed and so we didn't bother ordering dessert. Too bad, because they actually looked great. The group across from us ordered a few and were commenting on how good they were.
So yeah...I actually would have given this pub 2 stars even without the screaming kid, but if the screaming kid had not been a problem, we probably would have stayed for dessert and who knows, maybe these guys would be getting 3+ stars. That said, it just didn't do it for me. Overpriced, for only okay food and poor atmosphere. -
Review from Leslie-Anne W.
Toronto, ON
2/9/2012 1 Check-in Here
I've only visited the Henry VII Ale House once, I felt bad, like I was cheating on my favourite pub only two doors down, but I have to say, while the beer selection is not as exciting as Bryden's - the food I had was much better. The burger was on the most delicious bun, the burger was cooked through (not really to my taste) and still had good flavour. The atmosphere was 'pubbish' - it was very busy, and loud, but in a good way. All in all, a great addition to the village, especially in the Summer when the Bryden's patio is full.
