17 cocktail bars in Toronto, including three on The World's 50 Best Bars and 12 on North America's 50 Best.

A Parisian-café-styled cocktail bar in Little Italy, with whitewashed brick, a marble bartop and tawny leather banquettes, ranked on North America's 50 Best Bars. The drinks program leans on French ingredients and locavorism, backed by an in-house ice program, an Old World wine list and shareable plates from sister restaurant Pompette. Walk-ins only, with live jazz on Sundays. It currently stands at No. 8 on North America's 50 Best Bars 2026, and placed No. 55 on The World's 50 Best Bars 51-100 list in 2025.

The cocktail bar of the Fairmont Royal York, redesigned in reference to the hotel's Art Deco heritage, with a menu of modern cocktails organized by literary genre and its signature Birdbath Martini served tableside. It ranks No. 19 on North America's 50 Best Bars 2026 and holds the list's Ketel One Sustainable Bar Award 2026. It was a Top 4 finalist for Best International Hotel Bar at the 2026 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards.
A compact Queen West cocktail bar built around hyper-seasonal produce and fermentation, with a philosophy of elevating Canadian cocktails through natural ingredients. Its current menu, The 5th Horizon, is paired with a rotating food program drawn from global cuisines. Ranked No. 22 on North America's 50 Best Bars 2026.

A 120-seat Art Deco-inspired cocktail bar from the Civil Liberties team, set on the mezzanine of the 1932 Waterworks building. The menu features 21 cocktails tied to the building's history alongside a water program that demineralizes Toronto tap water and rebalances it to regional mineral profiles. Ranked No. 29 on North America's 50 Best Bars 2026.

A menu-free Bloorcourt cocktail bar serving bespoke drinks since 2014, with bartenders building cocktails to each guest's taste from a back bar of over 210 spirits. The room pairs a back-to-basics industrial feel with an unpretentious neighborhood crowd, and the team also runs a cocktail school. Ranked No. 21 on North America's 50 Best Bars in 2024 and 2025. It sits at No. 54 on the North America's 50 Best Bars 51-100 list in 2026.

A Dundas West bar styled after Wes Anderson films and vintage hotel lobbies, with a ground-floor cocktail bar and four private karaoke rooms. The menu runs to shared plates, local and international beer, wines by the glass or bottle, and a creative, crushable cocktail list. It currently stands at No. 94 on the North America's 50 Best Bars 51-100 list in 2026.

A bar concealed behind a working art gallery in Little Portugal, with peeling walls, exposed piping and a butcher's-block bar top that lean into a deliberately unfinished, DIY-speakeasy feel. The list runs to cocktails built on housemade syrups, infusions and bitters, alongside oysters, low-intervention wines and regional craft beer. No reservations. It sits at No. 69 on the North America's 50 Best Bars 51-100 list in 2026.

Suite 115 bills itself as Little Italy's hidden cocktail bar, tucked behind an unmarked entrance at 532 College Street. Opened in May 2024, it operates walk-in only, with cocktail classes offered alongside its drinks menu. It sits at No. 74 on the North America's 50 Best Bars 51-100 list in 2026.
Grant van Gameren's Spanish-style bar in Little Italy, known for its undulating Gaudí-esque carved mahogany interior and barrel tables. It serves tapas and cocktails, operates largely as standing room, and takes no reservations.

Simpl Things is a neighborhood cocktail bar on Dunn Avenue in Parkdale and the first bar of bartender Evelyn Chick, who designed the room herself, with 27 seats inside and a terrace. The kitchen serves Italian cafe food by day and Asian-leaning plates at night, and a monthly pop-up, Simpl Exchange, hands it to a guest chef. The drinks list mixes house Cosmopolitan variations and seasonal cocktails built on Ontario produce with a full non-alcoholic menu, and many drinks come in a smaller 'teeny' pour.

A moody cocktail bar and dining room on Toronto's Ossington strip, blending Korean flavors with Italian, French and Japanese influences. Bar manager Troy Gilchrist leads a creative cocktail program in a space dressed with commissioned artwork, including a Roy Lichtenstein-inspired mural. Tasting and prix fixe menus run early in the evening, with late-night walk-ins for drinks and snacks. The bar holds No. 82 on the North America's 50 Best Bars 51-100 list in 2026.
Hidden behind the faux facade of a printing shop at College and Bathurst, Slice of Life is a speakeasy-style cocktail bar that describes itself as Toronto's artistic cocktail haven. A basement laboratory outfitted with centrifuges, rotary evaporators, ultrasonic infusers and dehydrators supplies the cocktail program, served in a darkened room of red velvet banquettes reached through a mirrored hallway. It currently stands at No. 90 on the North America's 50 Best Bars 51-100 list in 2026.
A French-inspired cocktail bar on Ossington Avenue from the team behind La Banane, serving canapés such as Nova Scotia lobster croustade and smoked sturgeon rillettes alongside larger plates like lobster roll américaine and steak frites. The drinks list pairs signature cocktails, among them the Forbidden Negroni, with wine and local craft beer. Reservations are accepted, with space held for walk-ins.
Frankie Solarik's modernist cocktail bar on Queen West, billed as The Modern Cocktail Experience. A rotating quarterly menu spans aperitifs, spirit-forward drinks and cocktails built with molecular techniques, with all infusions, syrups and bitters made in house. The room is dimly lit, with dark curtains, exposed brick and an illuminated back bar.
À Toi is a speakeasy on King Street West that opened in 2018 behind the oyster bar Coffee Oysters Champagne, styled as the lobby bar of a fictional 1920s Parisian hotel. In August 2026 the front room was rebuilt as Hotel À Toi, a lounge dressed as a boutique hotel lobby, and guests now reach the speakeasy through a door at the back of its boutique. The drinks list is built around cognac, absinthe and aperitifs, served with oysters and small plates, and tables are booked on SevenRooms.

Mahjong Bar is a cocktail bar on Dundas West entered through a pink, neon-lit corner store and a keyhole-shaped door at its back. The room has checkered floors, a tropical mural and a lacquered pink marble bar, and the cocktails mix East Asian and Western flavors, such as a soju spritz and an oolong whisky sour, with Chinese small plates from the kitchen.
Vatican Gift Shop is a bar in Leslieville hidden behind the false front of a shop selling Catholic trinkets, from the team behind Pinkerton's and Poor Romeo. A door in the corner of the store opens onto a long, red-lit room with a wooden bar serving Toronto craft beer, amaro cocktails and Neapolitan pizza, with live music and DJs on the calendar. It opens Wednesday to Saturday from 6pm, and tables can be booked on OpenTable.
These are the cocktail bars specifically. The full Toronto guide ranks the best bars of every style, and the directory lists all 18 with a map and filters.