Cool drinks, FILLING food and great music every night. They support musicians in a way not many places are these days...try the pork belly Cubano sandwich or the spicy pakora plate!
Clement Kent
Nice outdoor seating for the warmer months. I really enjoyed their spareribs (summer menu). Good place for enjoying jazz!
Jeff L.
Was served from some of the most happy, open minded people! Very happy with the cocktails (harvest moon) the smash burger is amazing! Live music 7days a week!
Talal Al Hamad
Alchemy Food & Drink is NOT a safe space for people of colour
Afraaz Adam Alnoor Mulji
Discrimination happened
Talal A.
Discrimination happened My friend Afraaz unfortunately had a discriminatory experience last night when we both went to the neighbor hood bar Alchemy Food & Drink. We mask up and walk all the way to the back as per the sign on the door and sat on a private table. The bar tender (white dude with a bun), says hi to me like hes known me for years.. Perhaps he remembered me as i played live there twice before. He comes over and asks to check passes , etc. He checks mine and then checks Afraaz's. Afraaz being a citizen of Tanzania had his first shot in Africa and 2nd in Canada with valid documents. The server then harasses Afraaz over his ID - suspecting it was fake, asking to see it a 2nd and 3rd time and that he wanted to try and scan it.. we both looked at him stunned .. I did previousely explain Afraaz travels international often before he saw it , to give context. Then he finally accepted it.. Afraaz at that point and myself were both feeling unsettled, his energy was awkward.. we sit down and start a convo and he comes to take our order and he mentions that he will add a 10$ cover to our bill - we look at him confused again and then he mentions theres a sign on the door regarding this. I apologize and said "sorry I didnt see that we are just here for a fast drink, not music, we will leave" - he then quickly goes no no its fine, ill change it to 5$ and split it between you 2.. We look at each other and go no thank you we will just go, apologizing for the misunderstanding again.. Then he just awkwardly says its ok for us to stay.. without paying... interesting.. so we went from a sudden cover charge to no cover charge in a minute.. we quickly finish our beverages and head out. At that point we head out, the 1 guitarist musician that was playing was taking a break. Now not many people know this but Afraaz is a world class prodigal pianist and multi instrumentalist who performs in very high end venues regularly, such as the AGA Khan museum and more.. hes a bit of a legend..Afraaz like myself is visibly brown. And at no point in todays interaction with the bar tender did myself or Afraaz display anything more than completely fluent English with no accent just FYI On our way out Afraaz spots a piano and he simply sits on the seat and was just observing it - as any fine musician would to his instrument. He lifts the piano cover top to unveil the white keys and simply sits silently staring at them smiling.. He hasent played or made any noise and in fact i was motioning him to get up as we were leaving.. At this point the White bartender rushes to him and yells in a broken english accent "NO NO MY FRIEND, VERY EXPENSIVE" and slams the piano top.. You would think Afraaz was his son that spoke no English the way he approached him.. Afraaz then gets up insulted at his approach and choice of words and mentions he owns several priceless pianos , and the bartender basically dismisses him mockingly and motions for us to leave.. It was very rude and unnecessarily aggressive.. "NO NO MY FRIEND, VERY EXPENSIVE" .. im sorry who the F*** are you kid? not even saying its not allowed you simply go off in broken english about it being expensive? Dude the kid can buy out your entire bar twice over ... and is a performing legend.. very expensive? Afraaz was stunned and so was I.. I didnt actually compute this as racism or discrimination until about 10 minutes later, thats how shocked I was processing this. A table of white folk on our right heard it and were also visibly displeased with his choice of words.. he kept asking why did he only mention its expensive that way? For the next 10 minutes I watched as my friend became increasingly unsettled at our experience... Afraaz's whole night was completely ruined and I was left feeling very confused and uncomfortable .. I message part owner Ben Swirsky who is (now was) on my friends list - who knows i performed there twice.. and the conversation was pretty disappointing, and you can find a copy of it below .. I approach him stating I need to speak with him u
Valerie Frizzell
Great service, good food, good music made for a fun way to spend my birthday!
Snehal
Great place to relax and listen to live music. They serve good cocktails and other drinks. Not sure about the food menu. We generally prefer to have dinner elsewhere and head to this place for post dinner live music and drinks.
Stacey Plays Bass
Played there tonight, they were so nice! Great vibe all around, they really went above & beyond. Food was awesome too! (I had the burger with salad).
Greg Babcock
Heard some great live music tonight - Alex Bird & the Jazz Mavericks. They played some classics, songs from their album ‘Whiskey Kisses’ and from their new album being released on Friday with the single ‘Fool for Love.’ The food at Alchemy was great with lots of sharables. Super friendly atmosphere and service. Nice date night! Definitely coming back for more! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Omg - the burger!! Nick and Andy are jokers. You’ll have fun. Bring your friends to impress. Great cocktails and a relaxing patio.
Lexi Allison
One of the best meals I’ve had in Toronto. We got the kimchi sandwich and the braised short ribs - both were truly unreal. The cocktails were decent as well, not the best ever but definitely up to par.
Zaur Ahmadov
Nice atmosphere and great live music.
Cindy Luong
A perfect live music option in the city! Very simple food options but all tasty. Perfect for a light bite and casual drinks with friends. Lovely side patio that's there permanently. If you are trying to get away from downtown King West craziness and are just looking for a really good, chill, enjoyable evening, this is the place. Came on a Friday night with a lovely singer-songwriter serenaded us & thoroughly enjoyed it.
Cool drinks, FILLING food and great music every night. They support musicians in a way not many places are these days...try the pork belly Cubano sandwich or the spicy pakora plate!
Nice outdoor seating for the warmer months. I really enjoyed their spareribs (summer menu). Good place for enjoying jazz!
Was served from some of the most happy, open minded people! Very happy with the cocktails (harvest moon) the smash burger is amazing! Live music 7days a week!
Alchemy Food & Drink is NOT a safe space for people of colour
Discrimination happened
Discrimination happened My friend Afraaz unfortunately had a discriminatory experience last night when we both went to the neighbor hood bar Alchemy Food & Drink. We mask up and walk all the way to the back as per the sign on the door and sat on a private table. The bar tender (white dude with a bun), says hi to me like hes known me for years.. Perhaps he remembered me as i played live there twice before. He comes over and asks to check passes , etc. He checks mine and then checks Afraaz's. Afraaz being a citizen of Tanzania had his first shot in Africa and 2nd in Canada with valid documents. The server then harasses Afraaz over his ID - suspecting it was fake, asking to see it a 2nd and 3rd time and that he wanted to try and scan it.. we both looked at him stunned .. I did previousely explain Afraaz travels international often before he saw it , to give context. Then he finally accepted it.. Afraaz at that point and myself were both feeling unsettled, his energy was awkward.. we sit down and start a convo and he comes to take our order and he mentions that he will add a 10$ cover to our bill - we look at him confused again and then he mentions theres a sign on the door regarding this. I apologize and said "sorry I didnt see that we are just here for a fast drink, not music, we will leave" - he then quickly goes no no its fine, ill change it to 5$ and split it between you 2.. We look at each other and go no thank you we will just go, apologizing for the misunderstanding again.. Then he just awkwardly says its ok for us to stay.. without paying... interesting.. so we went from a sudden cover charge to no cover charge in a minute.. we quickly finish our beverages and head out. At that point we head out, the 1 guitarist musician that was playing was taking a break. Now not many people know this but Afraaz is a world class prodigal pianist and multi instrumentalist who performs in very high end venues regularly, such as the AGA Khan museum and more.. hes a bit of a legend..Afraaz like myself is visibly brown. And at no point in todays interaction with the bar tender did myself or Afraaz display anything more than completely fluent English with no accent just FYI On our way out Afraaz spots a piano and he simply sits on the seat and was just observing it - as any fine musician would to his instrument. He lifts the piano cover top to unveil the white keys and simply sits silently staring at them smiling.. He hasent played or made any noise and in fact i was motioning him to get up as we were leaving.. At this point the White bartender rushes to him and yells in a broken english accent "NO NO MY FRIEND, VERY EXPENSIVE" and slams the piano top.. You would think Afraaz was his son that spoke no English the way he approached him.. Afraaz then gets up insulted at his approach and choice of words and mentions he owns several priceless pianos , and the bartender basically dismisses him mockingly and motions for us to leave.. It was very rude and unnecessarily aggressive.. "NO NO MY FRIEND, VERY EXPENSIVE" .. im sorry who the F*** are you kid? not even saying its not allowed you simply go off in broken english about it being expensive? Dude the kid can buy out your entire bar twice over ... and is a performing legend.. very expensive? Afraaz was stunned and so was I.. I didnt actually compute this as racism or discrimination until about 10 minutes later, thats how shocked I was processing this. A table of white folk on our right heard it and were also visibly displeased with his choice of words.. he kept asking why did he only mention its expensive that way? For the next 10 minutes I watched as my friend became increasingly unsettled at our experience... Afraaz's whole night was completely ruined and I was left feeling very confused and uncomfortable .. I message part owner Ben Swirsky who is (now was) on my friends list - who knows i performed there twice.. and the conversation was pretty disappointing, and you can find a copy of it below .. I approach him stating I need to speak with him u
Great service, good food, good music made for a fun way to spend my birthday!
Great place to relax and listen to live music. They serve good cocktails and other drinks. Not sure about the food menu. We generally prefer to have dinner elsewhere and head to this place for post dinner live music and drinks.
Played there tonight, they were so nice! Great vibe all around, they really went above & beyond. Food was awesome too! (I had the burger with salad).
Heard some great live music tonight - Alex Bird & the Jazz Mavericks. They played some classics, songs from their album ‘Whiskey Kisses’ and from their new album being released on Friday with the single ‘Fool for Love.’ The food at Alchemy was great with lots of sharables. Super friendly atmosphere and service. Nice date night! Definitely coming back for more! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Restaurantji Recommends
Omg - the burger!! Nick and Andy are jokers. You’ll have fun. Bring your friends to impress. Great cocktails and a relaxing patio.
One of the best meals I’ve had in Toronto. We got the kimchi sandwich and the braised short ribs - both were truly unreal. The cocktails were decent as well, not the best ever but definitely up to par.
Nice atmosphere and great live music.
A perfect live music option in the city! Very simple food options but all tasty. Perfect for a light bite and casual drinks with friends. Lovely side patio that's there permanently. If you are trying to get away from downtown King West craziness and are just looking for a really good, chill, enjoyable evening, this is the place. Came on a Friday night with a lovely singer-songwriter serenaded us & thoroughly enjoyed it.
Great live music!! Friendly and efficient staff.