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The Great Hall
Category: Event Planning & Services Venues & Event Spaces Venues & Event Spaces [Edit]
1087 Queen Street WToronto, ON M6J 1H3
Neighbourhoods: West Queen West, Beaconsfield Village
(416) 537-0803
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
9 reviews for The Great Hall
9 reviews in English
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Review from Jay M.
Toronto, ON
2/15/2012
Great venue! Maybe I've been going to too many clubs with too high of prices for drinks lately, but when I go to a show and can order an imported 500ml tall boy of Stiegl for $7 or a bottle of Mill Street Organic for $5, I know I'm usually in for a good night. The bartenders were all on point so kudos to them for their role.
I enjoyed the layout of the main room as the stage was a good size. It was big enough for a decent sized band or even more than enough space for a dj setup. You could see what you wanted to from pretty much any point of the floor. There is also a balcony surrounding the main room a floor up which provides a nice view down on things as well. There is a second room available which is a smaller, square room. Nothing really worth talking about there though.
The venue itself is a good size on the whole, a bit bigger than Wrongbar down the street but smaller than Revival on College St. Personally I think the Great Hall is probably the best of the bunch although the sound is probably better at Wrongbar.
The one thing that could use some fixing up is the bathrooms, perhaps some dividers between the urinals or a layer of paint (just because its an oldskool heritage building doesnt mean you can't make the inside look new!) but as a guy this is less of an actual issue when going out, so yeah, 4 stars!
I hope more Toronto promoters make a point of using this venue for special events! -
Review from Tara E.
2/27/2012 3 Check-ins Here
I have to admit something. I shouldn't be the duchess for this venue. I DID go here two Friday's in a row, but when I went to "draft review" on my iphone, it additionally checked me in a third time. It was an accident! I didn't mean to! (I feel only slightly less guilty because I HAD been here before. Before I had my iPhone. Like when we held our high school semi formal in this venue. A. Long. Long. Time ago.)
Accept my apologies for my fraudulent check-in. I am a liar and a thief.
Now, for the venue... It can be hard to separate a venue from the events that happen in it. A week or so ago I checked out the Big Sound dance party, which was incredible! $12 cover at the door, and I loved that it was an older crowd. The music was hopping, there was dancing, and while it was very full, it wasn't so packed that you couldn't move. A fact I appreciate.
Went this Friday for a Hooded Fang Show. The openers were... horrible. The venue still was fun, but that post modern electro yelling with tambourine... Let me never experience that again.
My friend has her wedding booked here next September, and I can't wait to see how it varies from this experience (although I WILL be back to check out Big Sound before then!) -
Review from Melinda M.
Toronto, ON
11/17/2011 2 Check-ins Here
The best thing about shows at the Great Hall is they are almost never packed!
In the last 2 years, I have gone to the Great Hall for the following shows/events: X as part of NXNE, J Mascis and Luke Doucet for the Sleepwalk Guitar Festival, Martha Wainwright as part of Jazz Fest, and an Art Battle. The only one that I would call overly crowded was Art Battle (that gets crazy!). I don't think these events are poorly publicized, it's just a pretty big space and it's not in the mainstream. Fine with me!
Sometimes the venue is set up with seating at tables of four, and sometimes it's all standing. Either way, there is a balcony with seating, but the few times I've checked it out they haven't let you bring beverages up there.
Good acoustics, cool older theatre, up one flight of stairs on Queen St just east of Dovercourt. The times I have been there they've had a full bar with a good selection of domestic and imported and craft beers. -
Review from Fern H.
7/10/2011
Checked out the Great Hall on Friday night for a new party called the Big Sound Motown dance party created by the guys who do Loving in the Name Of and Shake a Tail.
The hall was a nice space but it was so mofo hot...AC possibly broken?
Drink prices around $5.75 for mixed drinks, tall cans of beer (PBR) and $10 cover at the door.
It's an older hall so when every one is jumpin' jumpin' you can literally feel the earth move under your feet (and the skies tumbling down).
3-stars for the venue.
5-freakin stars for the Big Sound band. Please, please consider adding a second set to your next performance. -
Review from Vivek S.
My first foray into the Great Hall was for Canzine 2010 and I was immediately taken at the grandeur and feel of this charming venue. Your ascent up the entry staircase rewards you with a well-lit and airy event space decked out in Old Wood and natural light. It's not often that you see theatres with huge windows. The main hall seems to be about 2,500 square feet, with a stage at one end and a ring of balcony seating above. Just adjacent to the event space is the Conversation Room, which is much cosier and also has huge windows to let in a lot of light.
I thought it was a pretty solid venue for Canzine, though I empathize with exhibitors who would have wanted more space. I'd love to see a concert or play here someday. For charm and character, this is definitely a top venue in the city, and in a cool neighbourhood too.
Obligatory Title Pun: It's GRRRRRRRRREAT!
Menu Readability: Nope.
Need to mention: They are affiliated with the Crème Tangerine café next door.
What this place teaches me about myself: I'm actually over Frosted Flakes. They're so 1988.Listed in: Queen Street Address
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Review from Dishan W.
3/9/2011
I came in here for a fantastic acapella concert by "Straight No Chaser" put on by Groupon Toronto (it's first Toronto event) and just for the record our Yelp events are far more awesome!
But strictly keeping to the venue, I'm not sure what else they have going on in that building but the second floor room the event was at looked like a converted old church (very much like the Berkley Church Venue but less glamorous and smaller). They had a bar at the end and chairs set up in a very compressed manner which brings you in to very close contact with fellow event goers.
The did have staff walk around with drinks so you didn't have to get up and line up at the bar.
My big complain was the set up of the washrooms, they are small, not the cleanest very awkwardly set up so that women lining up for the washroom have a clear view of the men's urinals thus making the men line up for the stalls all in a very narrow corridor. This is just on that floor, maybe the situation is better elsewhere in the building.
It's a nice looking venue overall but I would not want to attend what would be a high attendance event in here. -
Review from Anonymous A.
11/19/2010
I like the venue, and I bet the acoustics sound awesome...but they turned up the volume so much that you could hardly make out the lyrics, and the individual instruments. ALL of the bands I saw were forced into that, and it degraded their music.
The wait times between bands was long. The first band played a single song but it took them an hour since the venue opened to do that. Then the next band came on an hour later. Finally, the band everyone was there to see went on at midnight (a 1 to 1.5 hour wait). I've gone to late concerts before, that's fine, but waiting so long in between sets? Ridiculous. I would understand if the area had more of a night life because then people could wander around and check things out, but here you had a 15min walk before you could find some semblance of a nightlife.
The video projections were cool, reminded me of Ratatat concerts. The drink prices weren't too bad either. The area's pretty nice as well. -
Review from Adam B.
4/26/2009
Came here for a party that was held in conjunction with a conference I was attending. Scene itself was cool right down to the video projections on the specially made screens but was it HOT!! Felt like a sauna in there. I remember talking to a girl and I was sweating profusely. Not because I was nervous. No, really. I wasn't nervous. It was just soooooooo hot I couldn't take the heat! And the only beers they had at the bar was Budweiser and Corona?! Where am i?! Toronto or back in Los Angeles? Really weak, guys. Get at least some Labatt in there but better yet some Amsterdam or Steamwhistle. Geez.
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Review from Jimi S.
ON
11/26/2008
Walk along Queen street west at Dovercourt and if you are attentive, you might spot The Great Hall. it sits within a tall brick building on the second floor and is mostly unadorned from below, less the large white letters on two glass doors bestowing its name.
the hall itself has a quiet greatness to it if that makes any sense. alongside that greatness is a certain degree of humility. i think that combination comes from its age and therefore (in this case), charm, and its large ballroom/theatre setup.
what they suggest for those of you that are getting married (i have hosted a wedding there and looked at it for our wedding as a venue possibility - we didnt take it because we needed more space god help us.) is to have a quaint ceremony in the small room which rests alongside queen street. anyone who lives in a downtown home that still has its original mouldings and such will have a sense of the charm that this place carries with it. the windows are large enough, lightly shaded with gossamer drapes and letting in a fair bit of light and if its summer, the possibility of fresh air.
the ballroom has a nice size bar, gleaming hardwood floors (not brand new but looking good), a stage for a band let's say and room or about 200 people maybe. maybe less. you can also use the surrounding balcony that runs the circumference of the ballroom perhaps for pictures, or i think as an alternative setting for the ceremony.
the staff at the great hall seemed affable enough, but something doesnt quite work with the setting up/ changing over of the small ceremony room i talked about earlier. for example, after my friends ceremony was done, we did a large group photo on the stairs that lead up to the hall from Queen Street, and that was done almost instantly. (the stairs are enormously wide and can accomodate many folks at once, though we didnt manage to get everyone in the photo). So after the photo was done, all these people had nowhere to go because the small room was being set up for cocktails and hors d'oevres, and the large ballroom was being kept off limits for the big reveal later with the receiving line. so me and a bunch of other groomsmen had to help set up the the cocktail room. its a wedding and it was awesome, so no big deal, no one will remember that, but it is worth considering as a challenge when planning an event.
the ballroom, once decorated, was incredibly romantic. it housed a very large buffet table with much room around it and once cleared, offered an equally large dance floor for cutting rugs.
with the right planning and for the right event this can be a great venue; in fact, if not for our own wedding size, this would have been among the first couple choices.
