toronto restaurant flops

The 10 biggest restaurant flops in Toronto from 2016

The biggest restaurant flops in Toronto this past year include everything from casual snack bars to fine dining establishments. Despite the initial buzz surrounding these places, they all opened and closed with a short period of time.

Here are my picks for the biggest restaurant flops in Toronto from 2016.

Angelo's Coal Fired Pizza

After about five months in business, the Italian-American pizza joint from Boston suddenly shut down. Former employees blame the closure on in-fighting, though the location might have played a role.

Bar Mar

This Peruvian and Spanish-influenced tapas spot on Mount Pleasant got lots of great hype, but it unfortunately didn't last long in Toronto.

Boil King

Seafood boil restaurants might be super popular in Toronto right now, but this spot at King and Peter looked like it couldn't take the heat and closed down fairly soon after it opened.

John Conrad

Along with its sister restaurant Littlefish, John Conrad in the Junction shut down this past March. Its life was short-lived.

PO Box 1192

This snack bar took over the Leslieville Rock Lobster space in October 2015, but closed down six months later after defaulting on its rent.

Reforma

This Mexican restaurant in Baldwin Village stuck around for only four months. It opened at the end of 2015 and shut down in February of this year.

Smoke's Burritorie

Smoke's burrito restaurant opened in the old Burrito Boyz space, but never attracted quite the same following, even after it introduced a slew of wacky menu items, like poutine and spaghetti burritos.

Spiceman Mexicana

This restaurant at College and Clinton opened at the tail end of 2015 and shut down well before 2016 came to a close.

Teara Lab

Teara Lab served up sandwiches inspired by Japanese flavours. But this restaurant on College across the street from U of T lasted only a few months.

The Wine Swine

The Wine Swine replaced Le Papillon on the Park, but after a few months in business, it shut down "due to circumstances" beyond the owners control. A craft brewery is slated to replace it.

Lead photo by

Hector Vasquez


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