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The City Of Toronto
Categories: Public Services & Government Local Flavour Public Services & Government, Local Flavour [Edit]
100 Queen St WToronto, ON M5H 2N2
Neighbourhood: Downtown Core
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
3 reviews for The City Of Toronto
3 reviews in English
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Review from Olivia M.
1/16/2010
The first time I went to Toronto was in1980....when Nashad & I went to visit his folks for the first time after we got married. I remember his whole family were all at the airport to meet us....they all live in Scarborough, a nice town in Ontario,.with a lot of space...greens, trees, highways..fresh air...nice malls, beautiful parks..plenty of diverse cuisines, ......that was then....
Now ..a lot of new housing clogged the once spacious horizon...new malls..The Pacific Mall is a total knockout...Wow..it is huge...you can hang out there the whole day and won't be bored!!!...so many eateries...and shopping places!!.. the big vacant space facing their house is now a "mini Chinatown...everything is right there...you do not have to travel downtown for a good cuisine...
I just love Toronto....and the outdoors... we visit once a year.. and we always have a good time.....try different cuisines...it was here that I was introduced to Sri Lankan food by my brother-in-law...very tasty...I think it s a cross between Indian &Thai...they have a very distinct culinary flavor and spicy,spicy spicy...love Tim Horton's..I am not really a coffee drinker but Tim Horton's is an exception....I like it better than Starbucks...I guess its the pastries, dougnuts, bagels and sandwiches they offer as well.......Toronto, my home away from home........ -
Review from Kat F.
6/17/2009 1 photo
Review #400! What else to review than the badass 416 and all the wonderful things it has to offer?
WHAT'S TO LOVE:
1. Live music. Junkloads of it. Free outdoor music festivals like Breaks & Beats, Harbourfront music series, Yonge/Dundas Square (who was at that free R.E.M. show some 5 years ago?) and the MMVAs. Other notable music fests like VFest, Olympic Island, NXNE, CMW and more. If an internationally known band is coming to Canada, Toronto is the main destination, so we're lucky that way! (much to the disdain of other Canadians) We're also the home of a million renowned "indie" bands like Broken Social Scene, Metric, Alexisonfire, Neil Young, Crystal Castles, Platinum Blonde, etc.
2. Toronto Island & Ward's Island. Beautiful outdoor landscapes and an awesome escape for relaxing. Take a bike, go to the nude beach, ride the swans, eat at the cafe, bring the hibachi, whatever! The best part is Ward's Island, the tiny, untouched cottage community of locals. To be avoided on weekends.
3. Parks! High Park and Trinity Bellwoods stand out as the best parks to bring your dog, hike, have a picnic, watch a Shakesperean play, ice skate, play tennis, swim (public pools) and generally lounge and get fresh air.
4. Porter Airlines. A badass alternative to Pearson for flying short distance. Take a quick shuttle from the Royal York Hotel and glide through checkin and security. Marvel at the beautiful skyline on your way home - you don't get that kind of waterfront view landing at Pearson!
5. Awesome "tourist" attractions. What's not to love about the newly renovated AGO and ROM? Plus there's The Ex, Harbourfront, St. Lawrence Market, Ashbridges Bay Park, High Park, Ontario Place and which are all regular attractions for local folk as well as tourists.
6. Food. So much of it! You can find pretty much any type of cuisine imaginable in this city thanks to the fact that 50% of our population wasn't born in this country. Senegalese, Ethiopian, Cuban - whatever you're into, you can find it here, not to mention scads of specialty markets that sell random ingredients like chickpea flour, asofetida, kaffir lime leaves and other unpronounceable items.
7. Sports. We've got seven sports teams and have a love/hate relationship with three of them (in order of fairweatherdom, Leafs, Jays and Raptors). I don't think there's any other city that has such a wild discrepancy between ticket prices, either. A Jays ticket will run you $5, but a Leafs ticket (if you can even get one) can run you $300. Good luck with TFC tickets.
8. The PATH. Allegedly North America's longest underground pathway that connects external transportation (Greyhound, VIA station and GO), tons of shopping, boutiques, and subway stations.
WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE:
1. Public transit. The TTC is reputed to be third most used transit system in North America (after NYC and Mexico, which is apparently counted as part of North America? Who knew?), yet it's unwieldy, unreliable and expensive (one of the most expensive monthly unlimited passes I've encountered). Toronto's area is HUGE and it takes forever to get across the city. Couple that with how unreliable the TTC is, and you have a long trip ahead of you.
2. Speaking of getting across the city, cabs are wayyy too pricey. Cabbies are generally rude, unhelpful and unprofessional. There doesn't seem to be any sort of umbrella organization governing cab companies the way there is in other cities so they can just do whatever they want. It's not unusual for a typical cab ride to cost $15-20 and a cab to Pearson Airport is $50 one way. Absurd!
3. Early closing times. I'm a 24 hour kinda girl. There need to be more late-night restaurants, bars and cafes in this city. Things close too damn early!Listed in: The Most Random Things I've…
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Review from Kat T.
11/1/2009
A solid 4 stars to the city I now call home.
When describing my new-found home to foreigners, here are some things I like to point out:
* This is one of the most diverse places on the planet. Not sure about statistics, but as a relatively new country, Canada is still actively recruiting new immigrants. Can't say that about the US. Being so diverse has given us a city full of restaurants which I can review on Yelp. Indian, Chinese, Thai, French, and Japanese food can all be found in quantitiy and quality comparable to the native places. (I couldn't find Thai food in Bangkok as good on what we have here!)
*Compared to the US and most US cities, Toronto and the GTA is less selfish. This is something I value because it allows all members of society equal access to marriage, health care and other basic rights. In most US cities, it's all about making sure you take care of yourself. Pay more taxes to support public health care? No way! In Canada, though, people are OK with that, whether they realize it or not. It makes me cry to see poor, injured people in San Francisco who probably won't get proper health care. In fact, I just back from the Emergency Dept and paid $0.
*An active downtown area. In many US cities, downtown shuts down at 5pm and don't even bother trying to find a cup of coffee in Downtown Detroit or Columbus or Atlanta on a Sunday morning. Although not quite as active as some Asian cities, Toronto has plenty of restaurants open til 4am. And they are full! Listen up restaurant owners- stay open later.
*Easy living without a car. As a Zipcar member, I love that I can walk most places, each neighborhood in TO has it's own cute neighborhood shops, post offices, hardware stores, clothing stores. There are Subways and streetcars that take you to most places. Granted, this system is not nearly as extensive as NYC or Tokyo, the San Francisco Bay area is quite a similar system of buses and streetcars. Now, if only our city would make all the buses gas-free and streetcars more efficient.
*Govt support for music has provided Toronto with an abundance of independent musicians such as Feist, Patrick Watson, Metric etc... as Kat F said. This also gives support for the free outdoor concerts at the Harbourfront Centre. So many cool bands every weekend of the summer for free. Some of the shows I've enjoyed- Kid Koala, Orchestra Baobob, Dwele, Los Invisibles, The Dears. These are shows that travel to Montreal and charge $30 or more for tickets and we get to see some of these folks for free! Thanks parking ticketers. You've paid for so much entertainment.
Areas for improvement:
*Weather. Once you know how to dress for the winter, it won't be so bad. But, still winter is too long and by mid March I'm ready for some sun and light-weight coats. Summer is decent.
*Prices- when the price for a book south of the border is 25% less than it is in Canada, and when electronics are double the US price, it frustrates me to no end.
*LCBO/Beer Store- This monopoly for sales of alcohol in the province limits the choice of beers, wines and liquors. I try to stock up when I leave the country. I would love to see more local wines, too.
Overall, the city's diversity, food options, and love of all things local including people makes me smile, even as I walk through the winter wonderland in my La Canadienne boots.
