Espresso Etc.

One of a very few places in gta where one can order a ‘long black’ (or long expresso) coffee of an amazing quality. Their Madeleine is awesome.

This place has a cozy European feel to it. We had cappuccinos and toasted sandwiches called jaffles. The sandwiches were only $ 4.43 and pretty good! For dessert we had some simple vanilla cake that was moist and delicious.
I would definitely come back here. It’s reasonably priced and the service is friendly. They make everything fresh so don’t rush and enjoy yourself.

Poor food. Poor service. VERY poor hygiene. Keep away from this place ! Nourriture médiocre. Service lamentable. Hygièné plus que douteuse. Gardez vous d’y mettre les pieds !

This small French café is a delight!
They serve FLAN! The delicious, Spanish creation that I absolutely adore. Apparently, I am the only one, alas, but it only means more for me! They also have a wide selection of teas.
I ordered a generous portion of flan, and they obliged! and Moroccan mint tea. Absolutely delicious! I am glad they are no where near me, otherwise I would be paying the price in pounds!

French owner provides music, sandwiches and coffee with a French/​Canadian twist. Delicious onion soup, and great attentive service. This is exactly want I wanted post-​gallery.

What a cute little spot! I had a chocolate chip cookie and a cup of Morroccan tea. It’s their feature drink for March and comes with fresh mint leaves! It was a very minty, comforting drink, served in a glass mug on a fancy black tray. However, the drink was very over-​priced — $ 4.35 — how expensive are a few mint leaves? (one-​star reduction).
The café is run by a lovely couple who bakes all of their own french pastries — croissants, brioche bread, cookies, flourless cookies, tarts, cakes, waffles, crepes, etc. They also have a lot of sandwiches, soups, brie and baguette, fresh squeezed juice, and other lunchy items. Even though the café is in a hectic location across from the AGO, it was very quiet inside. They play French music and have a lot of cozy seats — a big couch, fireplace, bar stools and many tables/​chairs. They also have free wifi. It was a great, quiet spot for working, and they didn’t seem to mind me loitering about for a couple hours. Bathroom is on the main level (rare treat!) and was decorated with cute, paisley, blue and white wall paper. Open til 6 p.m.

Still digging Espresso Etc. The atmosphere is still thick with Frenchiness, and the owners are super friendly and congenial. This time, I grabbed a freshly-​made croissant, toasted with gruyère and brie. It was fantastic, but might I add, seven dollars. But it’s almost worth the price to be the only person sitting in a Toronto café at 10:00 in the morning. Free Wifi.

Ok, it’s been a few hours since my lunch at Espresso, and my wallet is still hurting. Let me explain…
I had read the Unilocal reviews for Espresso Etc and decided it would be a good place for a lunch/​study sesh. Before I left I had visited their online menu which states «daily soup…$ 3.50» so imagine my delight when I read their daily soup board exclaiming that the day’s soup was French onion! I ordered this along with a single cappuccino (the website says 2.25…I believe it was 3.50 on their table menus). I was completely confused when my bill rang in at half passed 11 dollars! So I asked him how much the soup was and he said 7.50 (or so). Ok fine, it must come with a nice bread and a decent serving.
I only hope I was able to conceal my shock when the boy brought me my small ramekin of soup… with a generous side of air.
The coffee was good — cappuccino’s don’t come with any pretty foam, but I don’t know enough about coffee to care about that (I’m just stating how it is). Also I noticed someone ordered a tuna melt sandwich — aka two pieces of toasted wonder bread with tuna and a mozzarella Kraft single… oh and two thirsty looking baby carrots on the side.
I thought I was over it… but having rehashed the wallet assault from this afternoon I’m still, clearly, very bitter. I would go here again for the good wifi and a coffee (also the people are very nice behind the counter)…but for the food I will be heading back to my Sage Café to get some value for my hard earned dollars! Feel free to join me!

I’ll be honest — I wasn’t drawn to this place for the sandwiches (Jaffles?) or the fine coffee. Sure, I was peckish. But what I needed was WiFi, and I needed it bad.
Vivek is spot on – there are an overwhelming amount of menu options. My husband and I both ordered the Ham and Cheese Jaffle, and the woman behind the counter offered to top the sandwich with an egg to make a Croque Madame. The sandwich arrived all hot and toasty (I think they used swiss cheese) with a sunnyside egg on top. Lemme tell ya, it was good. And at less than $ 5, a bargain for such a mighty fine snack. (The garnish consisted of a couple of baby carrots, which would totally be something my mom would do. So cute!). My husband had the bean soup, which was hearty and tasted home-​made.
Husband and I were hankering for something sweet after our meal, so we split an order of tiramisu for dessert. It was very good, and served prettily enough in a martini glass. Schmancy-​fancy!
Oh, yeah — the WiFi? Easy to connect to, and speedy enough for me to make a quick Skype call.
I’m glad we found this little place. It doesn’t have a cozy, stay-​for-​hours kind of ambience, but for a quick snack, coffee and email check, it definitely works.

Eeeeah. Without wishing to contradict Vivek, my experience was not as good.
My cheddar cheese and fresh tomato jaffle (?) took forever to make. When it arrived, it was on boring bread with american cheese. I was expecting too much, I know, but american cheese in a french café? This is surprising and bad. Could they have come up with some No-​Name real cheddar instead? The plate was garnished with two peeled baby carrots sitting in a puddle of water.
The jaffle was cheap, but my bottle of unpleasant technical orange-​water must have cost about 4 $, judging by my total.
I would definitely go back to try the sweets and tea, but I’m not feeling the jaffles, somehow.