Shopsy’s Deli & Restaurants

Stopped in briefly for breakfast/​brunch. Good service. Lovely pancakes. Would live to try their deli sandwiches at a later time… At a later date.

Lunch service is terrible. Waitress was unable to take our orders. the manager had to do it.
The women’s bathroom was covered in pee. I stepped in it, and now my pants and shoes smell of someone’s nasty pee.
Never coming back!

In a word horrible. I love smoked meat. This was rubbery, chewy and bland. Definitely not a redo.

After a long day of traveling my husband and I went here mainly out of convenience. The food was good and great service. We had the Bill Cosby sandwich and steak.

Great place to meet friends for breakfast. Good selection of item, well prepared.
I just wish they’d go back to opening at 07:00!

Being a Texan with a slight accent I am not sure why this place only has three stars. I mean really, Texas, specifically Austin, have some great eats… this place is far from «ok» or meh…
I’m here for a week on business and stopped at this place by the hotel. I ate Bill Cosby and he was gooooooooood. Ok well it wasn’t really Bill Cosby but that is what I ordered. Pastrami & Corned Beef on rye with swiss cheese. It was served with slaw and a choice of options but the fresh cut fries were all I could think about… and they lived up to my imagination.
Service was good but what I liked the most was the tipping instructions in 7 different languages. So in 7 differnt ways they are saying tip «biatches.»
The atmosphere looks sort of pub like — the music was strange. It was Gwen Stefani covering some 80’s hit.
I will definitely go back next time I am here wandering around.

After waiting over half an hour for our lunches to arive our food was just ok. There was no apology for the fact that we had to wait so long for our food. When we did «ask» our server for the reason we still didn’t have our food another server told us that everyone came in at once. For the type of food and service the bill was just too much. Our server should have at least offred to comp our drinks. $ 10.50 for 3 pops.
We will not be returning!!!

I miss the old Shopsys and used to talk with Sam when I was a kid. He was so big he could barely fit behind the counter. Best kosher salami and great corned beef. a classic and the best outside of Montréal and New York.

I was really bothered that my tuna melt was open faced on some sort of soft roll instead of being on rye bread. Aren’t tuna melts always on rye or am I being a stupid Chicagoan?
The brisket soup was surprisingly good; I’ve never had anything like it.
Service is average. Prices are high for what you get.

It’s not bad, but in terms of value for the money I can’t recommend it. It’s exclusively for the tourist set (it’s in a hotel) and the business crowd that frequents that area on weekdays.
My smoked meat was decent although the bread appeared to be white-​a no no as far as smoked meat is concerned IMHO. Maybe there was a choice of breads but it certainly wasn’t offered. It was the cheapest main on the menu at 12 $
The kids meal we got was fish and chips (8 $) and the kids hardly touched it. The fries were over cooked and the fish was primarily greasy batter.
Strangely the one thing I have no complaint about was the one thing that several previous reviewers had concerns with-​the service. Our waiter was friendly to the kids and very prompt.
Last, other reviewers called it a «typical Jewish-​style deli». I’ve been to schwartz’s and it’s nothing like this place. This has a swanky dark wood mood; whereas the delis I’m used to are almost like diners. Anyway, I think Montrealers would be disappointed.
Oh and as a complete aside: This is the colouring they give the kids at Shopsy’s. A gun toting leprechaun guarding his stash from a shy stranger

Ordered a roast beef DIP sandwich, «open faced» — which I assumed meant the bread was open — but I still assumed I got two halves of a bun. That’s a sandwich, right? otherwise it’s just meat on toast. Anyway, got my sandwich with just half a bun with a bunch of meat on it. I asked where the other half of my bun was — politely — and she grudgingly brought me another half of my bun, so I could actually dip into my dip. Anyway, not satisfying in many ways — okay service, hard to find place, bad outdated music, dry bun, crappy meat, and apparently they brow beat you a little if you don’t understand open faced or HALF faced.

Well I’ve never been to a NY or Montréal deli, but I kind of like the music…
Shopsy’s Deli has been around since 1921 when Harry and Jenny Shopsowitz opened a small ice cream parlor below their tiny apartment on Spadina Avenue, in the heart of Toronto’s garment district. Their sons Sam and Izzy built the business, and Sam eventually became known as Canada’s ‘Corned Beef King.‘
I first heard about Shopsy’s when my first real girlfriend (Miriam) told me stories of family visits to Toronto and eating at their neighbourhood deli. Soon after, my friend Norm and I headed off to Toronto to see the sights and eat at Shopsy’s for ourselves. And I have returned periodically to this location over the years.
This is a great place to satisfy a craving for a delicious deli sandwich (hold the white bread and mayo), along with some crunchy coleslaw and a nice green pickle on the side. And you get a bit of the attitude thrown in for free.
My only real criticism is that this Shopsy’s is not really in the «neighbourhood» anymore. I love the Jewish-​style delis not just for the food, but for the community energy.

Occasionally I have a huge craving for a great deli sandwich with some crunchy coleslaw and a nice green pickle on the side.
Shopsy’s is definitely my savour when it comes to my deli taste.
Sure, it may not compare to Montréal’s Schwartz’s deli or the deli restaurants that line the streets in NYC, but Shopsy’s is still amazing when it comes to juicy meat, yummy sides, delicious desserts and fountain pop!
If you are not looking to eat healthy, get yourself the corned beef or pastrami sandwich! You can request the meat to be cut lean and you can get the sides of coleslaw and a pickle or some great caesar salad.
If you do wish to eat for your heart, they do offer health combos with lean turkey and chicken breast cuts and other goodies such as low fat frozen yogurt.

Shopsy’s is, I guess, the closest thing Toronto has to one of those New York/​Montréal-​style delis that serve up different choices of smoked meat on rye, latkes, potato salad, and have pictures of celebrities on the wall. And it does have all that.
This is the typical Jewish-​style deli. The décor is that of a diner and the menu is also reflective of the theme. Sandwiches are given celebrity names akin to the celebs that have performed at the O’Keefe/Hummingbird/Sony Centre [delete as timeframe dictates] across the street (
). Okay, one sandwich is named after someone. Step forward Bill Cosby (thankfully not ham-​my). There are pictures of celebrities posed with the owners, or as I sadly recognize it, «pictures of Al Waxman and other people who are most likely dead that I don’t know».
The big surprise about this place is the humidor. After a big greasy meal, it’s nice to be able to enjoy a cigar. The humidor is well appointed and has a decent range of cigar. Not huge, but enough to help you find something to suck on after gorging on a Bill Cosby. Wait, that came out way wrong.

Worst. Restaurant. Ever. Well, perhaps not the worst, but even being famished does not make up for the amount of suck that comes from this restaurant. First of all, it was a Sunday afternoon & it seemed that nothing was open — these folks were the only place we saw on our way to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
We were immediately seated by the window… & proceeded to sit there while about 5 employees walked past us several times. We had been sitting there for about 15 minutes before anyone realized they were ignoring us. The waiter did apologize & rushed our food, which was decent of him, though it didn’t make up for the craptastic food.
I ordered the triple decker grilled cheese, which says that it comes on Challah bread… not so much. It came on wheat bread that was really soggy on one side & really over crunchy on the other. It didn’t matter how hungry hubby & I were — this food did not cut it… not to mention the fact that I got sick several times after having eaten it.
Later on, I saw a Shopsy’s cart on the sidewalk… I wish I had seen that before my horrific experience… I have a strict rule that I do not eat food on wheels…

Oh my god Unilocal is in Canada. Finally! I can now sing the praises of Shopsy’s. After a grueling 12 hours in which we flew from SF to LA to Toronto (yeah, tell me how THAT flight plan works), we arrived to rain and starving stomachs. Shopsy’s was 1 of the closest places near our hotel, and we decided to eat here. It was great! They had «healthy combo» options that came with a side of frozen yogurt (I think that was the clincher), and even though they were closing soon, they were quite nice to us. I’d definitely come back here.

Shopsy’s is supposed to be Toronto’s answer to New York’s deli but it doesn’t really come close. The corned beef is a far cry from the way they cure it in Manhattan. Seems to be the way at all the TO delis. Even worse is the service which can be painfully slow. Worse yet, I went here once during Passover and ordered the Matzo Ball soup and it had noodles in it! Excuse me? Uh, you can’t have noodles/​pasta on Passover! And i’m pretty sure this wasn’t the Passover ‘pasta’ that’s sometimes available in stores. This was the real deal. Sent it back and got one without noodles but who knows if that really and truly was ‘Passover-​friendly’. Pickle Barrel is a zillion times better than this spot and the only reason I might consider coming back here is for convenience.