Pure Spirits Oyster House & Grill
3/5
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Details

Cuisine type

  • Canadian Cuisine,

Dishes

  • Seafood,
  • Fish,
  • Oysters,

Features

  • Restaurant With Terrace,
  • Wheelchair-accessible Restaurant,
  • Oyster Bar,

Atmosphere

  • Family,
  • Casual,

Products and Services

  • Organic Food,
  • Comfortable Booth,
  • Historic Venue,
  • Pre Theater,
  • Fresh Market,

Languages Spoken

  • English,
Location
17 Tank House Lane, Toronto, ON M5A 3C4
Useful Information

Opening Hours *Holiday hours

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
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Rates:

  • $26 To $60,

Methods of Payment:

Ratings & Reviews - Pure Spirits Oyster House & Grill

How would you rate this business?
3/5
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Restaurantica12
By

Poor costumer service, even worse food

Went there for dinner with my husband our appetizers were less than appetizing, my crab cake seemed rushed and thrown into too hot oil, the only good thing were the oysters, I guess making ice to keep them cool is not too demanding of the staff. Our entrees were a disaster, his lamb chops were over cooked and my black cod on "fresh, seasonal" summer vegetables looked like a bag of frozen peas and carrots had vomited on my plate. The cod was drenched in oil and the size was ridiculous, I have bigger pieces of cod in my freezer! We sent our meals back and decided to give them another chance. I opted to change my meal to what my husband was having, this time around the meat was made to order but our green beans were RAW and sweet potato overcooked, we tried to overlook this because things were just getting too ridiculous but after several attempts to eat the raw veggies we finally brought it to the attention of the staff, they re-fired them up and came back slightly more palatable. Still trying to give the restaurant a chance to redeem themselves we decided to order dessert thinking this could make up for the previous dishes. While we waited for dessert the manager sent over some complimentary chocolate strawberries, this was nice, or so we thought. We ate the strawberries and dessert arrived, we shared a cheesecake topped with fruits and raspberry "compote" which was more like a runny raspberry sauce and then I cut the inside of my lip on egg shells!! This dinner could not get any worse!! We finally asked for the bill only to find out that we were billed for those "complimentary" strawberries! They did take off a small portion of the bill but the vibe we got from the staff was that we were looking to be compensated and were somehow sabotaging the meal ourselves due to the ridiculous amount of incidents we encountered. That negative vibe coupled with the insulting slap in the face charge for the strawberries was that last straw, we demanded to pay for the full bill (minus the strawberries) and vowed never to return to such an ill managed establishment. We did tip the waiter only because the poor sap really was clueless and didn't know what to do with himself once it all started to fall apart around him. When we tried to explain to the "acting" manager why we were suddenly and rightfully way over due in being upset with the whole situation he too was clueless. He just could not wrap his head around why it would be insulting to a customer to bill them for "complimentary" strawberries. Save your time, appetite, and money do not go to this restaurant or risk being treated poorly.

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Restaurantica12
By

Definitely Recommend

The atmosphere was amazing, sitting on the patio on a hot summer day. It was very relaxing and the view was great. Our server was not very good. She made a few mistakes and didn't know the menu well. We also had to ask for water a few times. The oysters were perfect, out of 50 only 1 had a few pieces of shell in it. The calamari was okay but nothing special.

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Restaurantica12
By

Portions are TINY literally we went there for...

Portions are TINY literally we went there for winterlisious and were extremely disappointed.Added to a restaurant been extremely cold and waitress having chipped black nail polish on her hands(seriously you can not monitor your stuff appearances in a place like that?) We left hungry and upset,dinner lasted no more than 30 min as they were asking us all the time if we are done with every course, and considering tiny food portions like 1!!!!!!! oyster and one piece of pork belly for and appetizer considering there are two people at the table we had to share! Never again.

Atmosphere: 3/5
Food: 3/5
Service: 4/5
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Restaurantica12
By

The food was great and the service was excellent...

The food was great and the service was excellent. There was always someone asking if we needed anything else and someone else clearing things away. The wheat beer on tap (Chambly ?) was excellent. We had fun there and we will be sure to come back!

Atmosphere: 5/5
Food: 5/5
Service: 5/5
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Restaurantica12
By

Very romantic atmosphere in the evening, the...

Very romantic atmosphere in the evening, the chicken supreme was delicious, and gateaux delightful, a must for anyone who enjoys oysters! A little expensive for me personally but the service was great overall... would recommend to anyone visiting the distillery

Atmosphere: 5/5
Food: 4/5
Service: 4/5
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Restaurantica12
By

Terrific Experience

This restaurant was not our first choice but the other 2 places weren't serving food so by default we ended up here. So glad we did, it was fantastic. Everything and I mean every last morsel was really good. The soup tasted homemade and decadently rich. The greens had a nice sweet dressing. Meat was perfect. Bread was outstanding. Yukon Gold Fries had that Jake's chip truck taste to them. Wish we'd saved room for dessert. Only complaint was we were seated in the middle of the room and had servers rushing past the whole time. It was pretty busy. We'll return when we visit Toronto again.

Atmosphere: 4/5
Food: 4/5
Service: 4/5
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Restaurantica12
By

Not worth the price...

I booked my reservations before I read the reviews above but decided to give it a shot anyhow - the menu online looked interesting and the location is really what mattered most. Perhaps I was biased by the reviews here but I can safely say that they're not far off. We were greeted by a less than enthusiastic hostess who informed me that my reservation was on her list. Now, I had only phoned it in about 6 hours earlier and called 30min later to change the time on it and spoke to a different gentlemen. That means two people got it wrong. After an awkward pause and me glancing around noticing the near empty restaurant, she said she would look to see if she could find a table for us. It seemed like forever before the waiter arrived. I think I read the 2 page menu about 4-5 times before he came to just offer us water. A few notes here - maybe I'm just not experienced in dining enough, but when someone asks me if I would like some water, I don't expect to be charged $7 for a bottle unless I specifically ordered it - bring me tap water please. It took much too long for him to return and then finally take our drink order. From there, we had a rather uninspiring dining experience. The scallops were tasty, but didn't digest well. The mussels were rather boring and somewhat gritty, although the accompanying frites were pleasing. The Halibut was reasonable, although quite dry for what it should have been. The beef tenderloin was rather unimpressive - it tasted great but the portion was absurdly small for the price. And you should love garlic if you order the tenderloin - every garnish was thick with it. I didn't mind, but I know some would. The wine list was as someone mentioned, rather over priced. The desert list might as well not have existed as it was the same type that you would expect at a much more reasonably priced restaurant - nothing inspiring, so we skipped it. I really wouldn't go back here any time soon. It's unfortunate as it does have the opportunity to be a great place, but the food and staff need to change to take it from below average to great.

Atmosphere: 3/5
Food: 4/5
Service: 3/5
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Restaurantica12
By

very impressed with the food. very tasty and well...

very impressed with the food. very tasty and well presented. would visit again

Atmosphere: 4/5
Food: 4/5
Service: 4/5
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Restaurantica12
By

From the moment we arrived to the time we left we...

From the moment we arrived to the time we left we were taken care of like family. The food came out looking beautiful and tasting even better. I have not had a dinning experience like this in a very long time. Thank you so much.

Atmosphere: 4/5
Food: 4/5
Service: 4/5
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Restaurantica12
By

Despite the poor reviews on this site I decided...

Despite the poor reviews on this site I decided to give this a try with some out of town guests. It was a lovely evening. The service and food were very good and the restaurant has a decent wine list. I have no complaints. The fish was perfectly cooked and the timing was excellent. Definitely a place we'll visit again.

Atmosphere: 4/5
Food: 4/5
Service: 4/5
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Restaurantica12
By

I agree with the other reviews, the service at...

I agree with the other reviews, the service at this restaurant is TERRIBLE! From the first person we talked to which was the hostess on the patio, right down to the busboy who cleared off our table, all of the staff looked as if they hated their job and did not want to be there. We were told by the hostess to sit at the bar and wait for our table, which we did. We sat in front of the oyster preparation area where the oyster chef was slicing lemons. We tried making some friendly conversation with him, but he made it clear with his facial expressions that we were bothering him. As goes for the bartender who looked at us as if we aliens and should not be there. When we finally got to order, our food was mediocre. But I think we would of enjoyed our dinner more if we didn't feel like we were being treated like second class citizens. At first we thought that we were the only ones who were being treated that way, but so were others there that night and according to these reviews it seems that this has been happening for long while now. So please do yourselves a favor and don't ruin your evening by going to this establishment. We will definitely NOT go back there!

Atmosphere: 1/5
Food: 2/5
Service: 1/5
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Restaurantica12
By

Although the setting is lovely on a summer...

Although the setting is lovely on a summer evening, this was hands down one of the worst dining experiences I've had in Toronto. Soup was so thick, creamy and oily, you had to stop eating after only a few bites. The poor cod, normally a fine dinner fish it would take a fool to destroy, was wasted on a bland, greasy slop of fried soggy vegetables, with virtually no seasoning. Louis Jadot wine, a mid-value french quaffing wine that can be had at the LCBO for a fraction of the price, was vastly overcharged at $90 a bottle. To top it all off, we had significant digestion problems from the food the next day (I'll avoid being graphic...).

Atmosphere: 1/5
Food: 1/5
Service: 2/5
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Restaurantica12
By

Was there as part of a birthday celebration. The...

Was there as part of a birthday celebration. The food was greatly overpriced, took FOREVER to come out, and the various people in our group were served over a half hour apart. They were clearly running out of deserts, so much so that they were only serving slivers...one had a forkful already missing, one had a thumbprint in it. On informing the waiter, we were told that they were the last peices so what do we want from him. The icing on the cake was when a customer came up to us saying "the hostess says that we can't be seated because your group is taking too long. Will you be hear much longer?" Just imagine that. The manager brushed us off when we complained to him. Eat here at your peril! Ironically, the boiler house across the street is owned by the same people and has absolutely fantastic food and service. Go figure!

Atmosphere: 1/5
Food: 2/5
Service: 1/5
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Restaurantica12
By

Food was just excellent - was in company of a...

Food was just excellent - was in company of a trained Chef who agreed - service was a little wanting. Decor was great, great location, clean facilities - overall I'd recommend it. I think Summerlicious is a great way to try out new venues, as long as the servers don't consider us 'second-class citizens', because that could mean that they'd lose future customers.

Atmosphere: 5/5
Food: 4/5
Service: 3/5
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Restaurantica12
By

A dining experience of missed opportunities. On...

A dining experience of missed opportunities. On the positive side, the food was tasty and well presented and the restaurant is very attractive. However whether it was the service (no bread service, no water, no drink refills), the kitchen (15+ minute wait for our desserts) or the facilities (the washroom looked like it just hosted a fraternity party with paper and water all over the floor and the near sweltering temperature inside at out booth) we were left with the impression of a restaurant that didn't much care that we were there or that we might ever came back.

Atmosphere: 4/5
Food: 2/5
Service: 1/5
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Restaurantica12
By

The food was below average for a winterlicious...

The food was below average for a winterlicious menu, but the service was absolutely atrocious. The waiter seemed malcontent to serve us making snarky comments about getting water and ruined the entire atmosphere with his nasty looks all evening. Granted, we're only paying the "winterlicious" price...

Atmosphere: 4/5
Food: 2/5
Service: 1/5
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If you have been looking forward to a glass of mulled wine all year, you’re going to want to check out Pure Spirits. Traditionally referred to as Gluhwein, wine is steeped with a blend of spices and fruit, and then served warm for the ultimate winter beverage. This year you can also try Amaula Cream Liquer. New for 2017: Reyka Vodka Ice Hut!

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