The Monkey Bar

Always a great time at the Monkey Bar, with delicious food and warm service. This time, I tried their pecan crusted chicken breast. I normally don't order chicken at a nicer restaurant but I had to try because of the positive reviews. I don't know how they do it but this is possibly the juiciest chicken breast I remember ever having. Literally cooked to perfection.

This restaurant is a must try!

Small menu with everything prepared beautifully. Simple but delicious. Service though is the highlight like being at your best friends house or maybe grandma's house.

Wine list is expensive and could do with a few choices for week night dinner.

Doesn't get better than this anywhere in Toronto. Fabulous food cooked perfect, great service. Their bison burger( only as a special) is the best burger in Toronto and frites as well. The rack of lamb is my wife's favorite and a perfect medium rare.
This was our last weekend in Toronto, celebrated with close friends and when we do return to visit this will be the first restaurant on our list. Thank you Richard and Melissa for all the fabulous memories.
Don't miss this family owned gem

Exceptional cusine. Everything tastes fresh and homemade. It is apparent that the owner/chef takes takes time in creating & crafting delicious & unique dishes to please anyones pallet.

Food was good, small tight space but service was not great, just enough to get a pass and they weren't even that busy. Staff was just friends enough with an air of indifference. Sometimes we felt like we were bothering them when we needed something.

Will not return again

I have been here twice now and both time with a business colleagues. Both times, it was a great experience.

The first time I had the braised beef short ribs and the second was panko-crusted eggplant. Both excellent. It's clear there is a deep passion for good food.

The last time we requested the warm goat cheese starter for three. The waiter rocked on his feet for a few seconds and said, "well it's really for two". He rocked for a few seconds again and disappeared. When he returned the Chef had made it for three. Well done sir, well done!

The ambiance is quiet, the staff is attentive, unassuming, and make it look very easy. Clearly many are returning as many seemed to know each other. Try to sit in the back during the cold months as the door opening can get your attention very fast. The place isn't very big, so I suggest you make reservations.

The Chef came out to us both times as were leaving, and he thanked us for coming.

Parking can be exciting so pay attention. There might be some opening on Snowden which is the next street south on Yonge.

Our Summerlicious pick this year in an effort to explore more restaurants near us. The set menu looked good for $35 tier.

Started with the grilled octopus which was very tender and came with chipotle aioli for dipping. My bf had the caesar salad which didn't really stand out as anything particularly special but he liked it.

For main course we both got rack of lamb. It was very good. Cooked a perfect med-rare. The garlic mashed potatoes were amazing! My portioning was great, but my bf noted he got an end piece which was mostly bone so it felt like he had one less piece.

Dessert was a nice conclusion to the meal. I chose the Eton Mess which was nice and light with a generous serving of raspberry sauce and a large meringue. My bf got the ice cream sandwiches.

All in all our food was quite enjoyable and we'll consider coming back. Service was a bit curt at times but they were really busy so perhaps on a regular dinner service they are nicer and less stressed looking

I'm kind of confused as to why this place is so highly rated on Yelp. After going through a few reviews, I noticed that the owner writes comments back on most of them, and when there are any not-so-positive reviews with 3 stars and under, his replies come off a bit rude and pretentious LOL - read it for yourself and see... Interesting!

Anyway, I'm giving this place a 2/5 - I came here for Summerlicious and I thought the food was alright, but certainly not worth $43 for their 3-course meals. I specifically got the Spring Rolls to start, the Veal Schnitzel to follow, and the Eton Mess for dessert. Eerything tasted pretty basic - seemed like I could easily make these things for myself at home.

The service was strange. I had successfully called in for reservations for 2 people at 6:30pm earlier on in the day, and the guy who was speaking to me was quite nice/friendly. I realized last minute that we were going to be a bit late so I called in again and asked if we could do 7pm instead. A girl picked up the phone this time around and told us they couldn't change the time and that "you must finish within a 1.5 hour limit, which the person you first reserved with told you, so you will only have from 7pm - 8pm". No one told us there was a 1.5 hour limit in our initial call though... But okay, whatever, that's fine - we ended up getting seated at around 6:45pm. When we got in, we tried to rush a bit knowing that they wanted us out by 8pm, but it was SO hard getting anyone's attention for water or to order. After we finally ordered, it took FOREVER to get our food. Our server was not very conversational or attentive - we had a much better experience with the food runner. I don't think restaurants should be giving time constraints to guests when they themselves are causing delays due to their employees' unresponsiveness. By 8pm, we hadn't even put in our dessert order yet because everything was moving so slowly. We ended up leaving around 8:30pm, and no one really mentioned needing the table prior to that, so I'm not sure why the first girl on the phone was so adamant and pushy about it. We rushed for no reason!

All in all, the food was okay but overpriced and the service was slow and a bit awkward. The food runner we had was amazing though! But ya, I probably wouldn't return to this place again.

Summary: a great choice

Service: 8/10
Food Quality: 10/10
Ambiance: 8/10

I've been to the Monkey Bar approx 20 times over 5 years as I live in the area. The quality of the food is outstanding - it's clear the chef/owner takes pride in what he serves his clients; with quality, fresh ingredients. The ambiance is average - nothing special. The service is fine. A summary of some of the items I've had include:

Planko-crusted eggplant - 10/10
Shiitake -mushroom egg roll - 5/10
Calamari - 8/10
Pistachio goat cheese -8/10
Penne - 10
Ravioli - 10 (superb)
Duck -9/10
Veal Chop -9/10
Rack of Lamb - 8/10

This is amazing overall - there was a couple of dish that I found ok: lamb chops and liver. Everyone in my group loved the soup, my goat cheese salad is amazing,and the steaks were awesome (according to my family). Lamb chops though is a hit and miss everywhere - it's very tricky to make.

I like the place overall. It's not a big place and there are enough servers to feed the hungry.

Street parking can be tricky - there's not plenty. But it's worth the trip and worth the hassle. My private was freezing because I was sitting beside the door and some people forget to close the double door, who does that? But freezing private (I know TMI) or not, I'll come back here.

I recommend this place - order steak and appetizer.