Bar Volo - Yonge / Dundonald St.

No Longer In Business

If you can only pick one beer place to go in Toronto while visiting, this should probably be it. Great patio in summer, pretty cozy in the winter. Draft list has recently been expanded and is generally one of the best in Toronto. One of the best places to find seasonals and one-offs from Ontario breweries, especially since they tweet the tap list online. The House Ales beers are typically good to great. Bottle selection is impressive but can be pricey - prices often reflect the exclusivity and rarity of the beers on offer. The menu has been reduced from what they had previously. The meat and cheese boards are great but again, prices reflect the fact that you are getting high quality meats and cheese. Service is always attentive and friendly and generally fairly knowledgeable. Typically bar service only now. Festivals and special events are VERY popular so plan to get there early. Friday and Saturday nights are busy so get there early or expect a wait for a table.

Beer bar with half the taps either wines/ciders or empty. Beer selection is good and lots of imported stuff. Can't taste a beer before you order it, which is a no go for. I travel alone so I like to chat with other people / barman. This is a problem here since there are no bar seats at the bar, it's just to order your own beer. A lot of beers from Quebec, so I already drank 1/4 of their menu.

Visited about a year ago with a friend of mine from Toronto. Great ambience with both seats and standing room in the bar. The taps are in the back and easy to order from. Great list of beers on tap from a variety of breweries both domestic and international. Prices were on point for both taps and bottles. The atmosphere was great and in nice location in Toronto. Definitely a place I will be visiting again upon a return to Toronto. Highly recommended.

A rather small bar with a nice, cozy feel to it. The selection isn’t the biggest (though it is fairly big), but the variety and quality is absolutely there. Service is at the bar (though they will bring your food to your table when it’s ready), but everyone’s very friendly and helpful. One of our servers was just starting, and it took a bit to pour the beer and ring up our order, but it’s the attitude that counts in the long run, I think, and as a business, they have that. Personally, I like the order-by-letter system they have going on here, but they’ll help you out even if you didn’t note the letter of your beer. We visited during the week (once in the late afternoon, then later that night after 11), so it wasn’t overly crowded, though there weren’t a whole lot of seats left at night. Pretty good food.

Good selection of Ontario local and Quebec craft. No flights, but they serve pours of 5 oz. However, ordering beers is very uncomfortable - the taps are labeled a to z, while the tap list is written on a blackboard almost on the other side of the bar. No written menu and no serving to tables at all... It means you need to get up from your table to one side on the place, look the taps list, choose a beer (or 4 if you are going to have small pours), go the bar, order and then take your beer (or 4) by yourself back to your table. I felt this is a very weird process - why not just put the tap list near the taps?

Been here several times and it’s always a nice place to enjoy some good local beer. Wouldn’t recommend going on an empty stomach though, mostly just cheese and crackers for food. Washrooms could use a serious upgrade.

Our first stop in Toronto with Harry as our guide. Volo is a lovely cosy place with a great range of beers, good food and friendly service. When we were there it was about to be renovated and hopefully this will have included a toilet upgrade - as Harry said about the old ones, imagine you’re in Paris! (Visited 5 November 2012).

Located right near the highways in downtown Toronto, this is a quaint little bar, all dark wood, slate, and antiques as far as the eye can see. There’s a tap for every letter of the alphabet plus a few, and the selection seems to be well-curated and varied. Service is restricted to going up to the bar to get your beverages, but it’s hardly a negative, especially when the bartenders tend to be helpful. I did not try the food, but I did find a spectacular Canadian-brewed hefeweizen. I also didn’t bother with the bottle selection, as when I’m out at a bar, it’s for the draught experience. Will definitely return on any subsequent trips to Toronto.

Volo is a decent beer bar in a city where craft beer is still not widely available and the macro breweries dominate tap lists everywhere. But Toronto has so much more to offer the true craft beer geek...places with more innovative tap lists with better food, better prices and a better ambiance. The house brewed ales are fairly mediocre, and anything from out of province is massively overpriced. Also, the music is loud and annoying and you have to stand in line at the bar when you want to order. Staff are very knowledgeable about the beer though.