Duffy’s Tavern

Great vibe, great music, great drinks– couldn’t ask for anything more perfect!
The food is homemade with love and from scratch. Had the meatball at Bobby’s recommendation and wow! We also had deep fried ravioli and deep fried pickles– can’t get enough!
Beers on tap are varied so you really do have a choice!
Live music almost every night. It seems like a local for a lot of people– lucky summ-a-na’s.

I like the décor of the front section, but the vibe of the pool section and downstairs is pretty grungy. The poutine is great, and honestly all the food I’ve had there has been fine, just nothing to rave about. They really need to update their drink menu though because half of the beers I asked for, they no longer served. Our server was very polite and courteous, but messed up drink orders sometimes (he had a bad cold though, so I think he deserves a little understanding for that). Overall, I would go there again. But it really sucks having to sit at the back tables and not the nice front section of the bar, feels like an entirely different restaurant.
Also, the band they had playing downstairs was ridiculously loud and bad. Like, my friends and I were wondering if they were being so bad on purpose or something haha. Does Duffys not screen their live performers?

We had a big group, we had big appetites, we had big expectations and everything was not what we expected. This place is pretty huge inside and there was tons of space, staff and food for lunch. The fact we came in early and the place was relatively empty made us think our food was going to come out 0 – 100 real quick. In fact it was slow motion for me as Juvenile would say because we waited almost an hour and a half for our food to come out. For an empty restaurant and a group of about 10 people, that’s kinda weak.
When the food arrived, it was greasy, wet and just didn’t meet the expectations of anyone on the team. I personally ordered the corned beef and sauerkraut sandwich, which I believe was a special not seen on their regular menu. Yeah, I like to live on the edge like that. When it came out, it seemed as if it was covered in a layer of grease and the corned beef, was straight out of a loblaws cold cuts freezer. The fries were decent, but they only gave me a kid sized portion.
The server was nice and polite, and probably only the bright side of the meal. We all left, hungry, tired from waiting and extremely late for work. Sorry Duffy, we won’t be coming backy…

Party of 12, orders wrong 5 times. Sent back and uncooked. Staff was apologetic but lost our business very quickly as we decided to move our group to a new venue. Cool atmosphere for a beer, food is overpriced and tastes microwaved.

Sometimes you just feel like a casual midweek drink in a cheap, grungy, divey bar, without the pretentiousness you get at bars in the financial district. If that’s what you are up for, you should check out Duffy’s Tavern.
Drinks and food are easy on the wallet ~ I think my bottle of domestic set me back $ 3.50 (the price of a soft drink in some restaurants). We had some chicken wings to share — $ 5 for 10 wings Wednesday special — that weren’t great but our expectations weren’t that high anyway. I like that the wings were regular sized ~ unnatural behemoth wings freak me out. Our wings were apparently cajun flavour (dry rub) but we didn’t taste anything cajun about them… they were quite overdone and dried out, but ok I guess. God bless the waitress who brought us a side of hot sauce without us even asking. Either she read my mind or knew how bland they were. Anyway, those little things count! There is no quicker way to my heart than hot sauce. Great service by our waitress.
Duffy’s tavern is not some amazing, bucket-​list bar that you must attend, but it is comfortable, friendly and unassuming. Adjust your expectations accordingly and order saucier wings and you will enjoy yourself. It was perfect for what I was feeling today.

Overall, I really like it here! It’s a fun atmosphere with live music every night which is cool. It had a nice set up w booths for seating. Service was fast and friendly. They have great deals for pitchers and drinks. I love the back where they have fooseball and pool tables which they charge by hour about 10 dollars per table. It has a diveish feel, and very old fashioned look to it. Only cons really were they lost out bill which took about ten to refund it and that when we got the bill they couldn’t split it because it was busy, ok. Then the owner refused to let us use cards to pay «because it charges them twice». So he’d rather we use the cash machine which I charges us. Hmm. Kinda annoying took us about half hour to pay because he refused to be charged by using a card and wanted us to be when he lost the bill in the first place.

I came here with some friends a couple of times for drinks. Service is friendly and they have a decent selection of beers. There is live music on the weekends (or at least there has been every time I was there). If you’re not into live music, you can sit in the back, where there’s a lowered area with yet another stage and a raised area with pool tables. Basically, it’s a split-​level bar. Both times I was there, the music was really good and played at an acceptable level so you can talk.
We ordered wings last time around and they were very very tasty. Crunchy, juicy and a good size. We ended up ordering another round, even though we were just «having a snack».
This is a neat and very casual spot with no pretension, which is apparently getting rarer and rarer for the area. Check it out!

We stopped in here for lunch. There were a handful of other people in there. Service was ok (if not a little abrupt). The food was mediocre at best. Frozen flat fish fillets in a pub for fish and chips? Are you serious? My one friend enjoyed her sandwich a little more than my meal. Absolutely lost me at no refill on fountain pop. Cheap and poor business decision. Basically costs you nothing but keeps people ordering if they have a drink. I won’t be back.

dive bar/​pub to the max
I get why some people rate it so low but they must have been expecting something else. If you go in knowing its a dark pub-​style environment then you can love it.
A) the live music always gets me. I’ll be thinking about where to go in the neighbourhood and Duffy’s will win solely based on the live music aspect.
B) the deep-​fried ravioli is so awesome. Delicious cheesy ravioli deep fried and then served with marinara sauce, yes please. Deep fried pickles with dill sauce, more yes. And the nachos are MASSIVE and delicious and come with 4 sauces (sour cream, guacamole, salsa, and black bean dip)… They changed over the kitchen about a year ago and did some major renovations too so I’d ignore any review that’s more than 7 months old.
Want some beer and yummy, gluttonous bar food and ALWAYS live music? Come here.

Entered the bar and waited ten minutes for a barman or server to present themselves.
Barman finally emerged from the back. We made eye contact. Instead of coming over to see me, he chose to clean a table, despite the fact that the place is nearly empty.
This bar has been fighting an uphill battle for a long time, you’d come to figure that hiring decent service staff would be a top priority.
Got so irritated I left before the barman finally decided to come over.
Really starting to loathe Toronto’s food ‘scene’.

Nice little après-​work spot. Some great weekday specials. Your basic pub food, quite a few fried options, including one of my favorite fried pickles. Good music selection, the interior is a bit dark but nice casual décor.

INCONSISTENT is how I would describe Duffy’s. They are always in and out of kitchen staff. Sometimes the mac and cheese is amazing, other times it tastes like cat vomit sprinkled with cardboard. Music on thursdays is quite good, but weekend rock shows are filled with under aged kids and it is hard on the hearing of anyone older than 30. Especially when trying to have a relaxing pub dinner at 7:30pm.
There never seems to be security at their events. Even at thrasher shows. I have witnessed at least two fights, and have since stopped giving this establishment my money. They often run out of booze and there are fruit flies everywhere. Beware of the wings… check to make sure they are cooked all the way through. Oh, and the emergency exit doesnt open! The last time i was there it seemed to be screwed shut!

Duffys is located a couple blocks down from where I live so I have given this place more then a few chances and have been disappointed time and time again. Not only does the kitchen close erratically (when it says it’s open until 2 everyday) but I have also ordered the same salad 3 times and each time have been given a different variation. The staff never make an attempt to engage or show any excitement to make experience pleasurable. It’s a shame because a good dive bar with a late night menu is just what this area needs.

I would not make any effort to come back as nothing here stood out for me, but this place was not too bad.
We had a terrible server… she was super slow, and we ended up asking another server to help us.
Food was ok. Nothing outstanding. Their fries are rather good, though. Not your box-​standard McCain fries.
Prices are lower than other pub prices, especially the ones downtown (obviously).

Had lunch here over the weekend. We were a group of 6 in an empty diner and our food took over an hour to come out. Burgers were dry, caesar salads tasted funky and sandwiches were caked with mayo. For the cost, the other food items were decent at best. Wouldn’t come back.

After seeing the show, Restaurant Take Over, I came to the conclusion that Duffy is an ungrateful douche bag! I see that you’re only a 3.5 star Restaurant, and I’m sure its cause of your shitty attitude. I wouldn’t visit this place if I were paid to. Let me help the community out by giving you my rating. :) Cheers

Another neighborhood pub. Mediocre pub food and cheap mini pints. Nothing too special about this place. Usually quite a bit of seating available here and it is easy on the wallet.
It’s a good standby when in doubt and not wanting to venture too far.

While walking around the BIG on Bloor Festival, Gord and I had a late lunch/​early supper today at Duffy’s Tavern. We like pubs and neither of us had been there before.
Gord and I split an order of macaroni & cheese. It was bland and dry. Plus the bread crumbs weren’t cooked in the cheese. The crostini was left out (though it’s part of the description).
Gord and I both ordered wings. Gord got his dry with Jack Daniel’s Chili Peach Sauce on the side (it was good). I ordered mine with medium sauce and they were good. There was six wing for $ 8 but they were big wings.
The service wasn’t great. I know it was busy because of the festival but they should have staffed up better. We sat at the bar and at first the bartender was fairly attentive. But after a while it was hard to get her attention to order another drink and something to eat. Once we were finished eating, our finished plates sat in front of us for about a half hour (they should have been taken away so much sooner). After I asked for our bill, it took about 15 minutes to get it.
If we are in the ‘hood, we’ll check it out again.

We were back for a drink last night, and ordered the nachos from their new Mexicana Menu. It was the only thing that appeared to be gluten free, so I was excited! When a staff member dropped it off, he asked us to let him know what we thought, which is fine by me as I clearly have an opinion on everything.
Sadly, halfway through eating I realized that the base wasn’t paper, but a flour tortilla. DANG — contamination city! So I had a word to our server, and asked her to send over the cook. He came over and we explained, and they were SO AWESOME about the situation. They were really apologetic about the situation, and were really eager to a) take the feedback and b) make amends. They thanked us for bringing it to their attention, and offered to make us a new batch (which we wouldn’t accept — my partner had already eaten over half and it seemed unfair). In all, three staff members came by and dealt with it, and stopped by over the course of the night to make sure the rest of our time there was pleasant and happy.
Now that’s service!!!

Duffy’s is… well…fine…I guess. It’s your regular neighbourhood watering hole. There’s nothing fancy, no gimmicks, just come in, grab a drink and hang out with your friends. The booze is cheap and they have a good selection on tap with some daily specials here and there.

Bar de quartier sympathique avec une petit scèné pour les concerts amateurs.
J’y étais pour le concert d’un ami français, il y a également eu une performance d’une chanteuse de soul avec un sampleur à la kt tunstall.
Il y a quelques billards au fond et pas mal de télés pour suivre les matchs de hockey, basket, football américain.