The Best Cheese Shops in Toronto

I love Global Cheese. I get a bit flustered by the crowd in there sometimes but it's worth it. It's inexpensive and the people are always happy to help you, no matter how busy they are.

Cheese is great. I'm glad to see a post about this because you can never enough information on where to get this yummy good stuff. This even looks like a great touristy thing to do. Almost like a pub crawl but with cheese.

Good call on Monforte, Ruth is producing some really, really fine products. If you can't make it to some of the more "difficult" farmer's market stands they do have a stand at the Saturday north market at St. Lawrence.

I love the raw milk/washed rind cheeses as much as anyone but once made the mistake of traveling with cooler containing among other things a small wheel of L'ami du Chambertin and it's resulting pong. We ate a little of it but after three days in close quarters with the stuff we just couldn't take it anymore and had to toss it.

The dudes at Global always overcut the piece of cheese by a third. Great selection, but they're sneaky.

^^^ You can never have too much cheese :)

Can't imagine why anyone would shop at Global when Cheese Magic is just around the corner. As another commenter noted, Global gives you waaay more than you asked for, then barks out "And what else?" I prefer to give my business to the chill dudes at Magic who cut exactly what you want, give good advice and are cute to boot.

I've been faithful to Mendels (the place next to Global) but I'm now tempted to give some of these other shops a try. Thanks!

I find Cheese Magic has less selection and higher prices than Global.

Global Cheese is notorious for the 'bait and switch' - they let you taste one cheese, and then if you like it, cut and pack some cheap or expiring kind they want to get rid of that's similar. If you don't know about cheese, it seems like a bargain, but it's really a scam.

Cheese Magic is only steps away and does not deal in such shady practices!!!

^^^ I'd love to see real evidence of the accused bait and switch. It doesn't make sense to me that a popular cheese shop would willingly give customers inferior product and entice them to go elsewhere.

That bait and switch claim is bullshit. I'm in there every week and I've never seen them do that once. Their product is always top notch, cheap and the service is knowledgable and efficient.

I'm a hardcore fan of Global - but have realized that some of their product is not 100% - you just have to know what to order and what to avoid (be wary of those usually expensive cheeses on sale. .). Shopping here can get daunting sometimes, but their cheese "wisdom" is superb and their selection is usually fantastic.

Cheese Magic, on the other hand, always has my "extra vecchio Piave" whereas Global doesn't carry it. They're a bit friendly and less "trying to get you through the line and to the checkout" - but seem like they smoke too much weed.

Cheese Emporium staff are like the waiters at Splendido and aren't as friendly with samples or patient when you're trying to figure out what you want.

Cheese Boutique & Olympic are working their way up to being my favourites because they actually do a lot of aging themselves. They're friendly, have a good selection and have lots of other specialty foods which is a huge plus.

Alex Farms is okay but I find they have "safe" cheeses.

The best thing about Cheese Magic (other than the cheese) is the fact that everyone that works there is gorgeous, and also very nice!

I have been an ongoing customer of Olympic Cheese for the past 7yrs. I have explored all the other cheese boutiques and find olympic to be the one with the best quality and outstanding service. Their location in Markham has the warmest and friendliest staff I have ever encountered. The girls there always make sure I taste before I buy to guarantee satisfaction. Outstanding!

Olympic Cheese has the best selection and the best service....the best all around!

I live in the West end of Toronto.

I go to the Alex Farm cheese shop in the Humbertown Shopping Centre around the Kingsway area. The stuff there is always fresh, never had an issue and the service has always been great...plus they have these frozen pies and gourmet pizzas i really like.

I am a big fan of the cheese provided at the Lesliville Cheese Market. A great place to be educated about cheese and a hip young crew behind the counter who know their stuff! Highly recommended!

Hello, I am looking for a cheese tasting class in Toronto for a group of us to sign up for. Does anyone know of a good class? Thanks, Bridget

While I generally like BlogTO, this review seriously hurts your credibility. Nobody who actually lives in Kensington shops at Global Cheese. Between their habit of over cutting and their tendency to sell cheese past its prime, anybody who knows shops at Cheese Magic. Not to mention the genrally push attitude of a lot of the employees there. Your poor judgement here casts a shadow on your other reviews.

@Kensington Dweller -
1) I'm pleased you generally like blogTO.
2) These lists were based on reader votes.
3) It's always good to hear more peoples' experiences even if...
3b) "Your poor judgement here casts a shadow" might be just a touch over the top for critiquing a list of cheese shops. Cheese. Maybe we could reserve the incredibly serious tone for discussions of politics and the environment.

@Bridget -
You can always ask at your favourite cheese place. But you could try Leslieville Cheese Market and their Night School for Cheese Fans.

Olympic is the one I remember best, I am originally from Toronto, but now living in Spain. This blog makes me miss my home town. Sniff...

We switched allegiances from Global to their next door neighbour a while ago. The people who run Mendels are very nice and their prices are reasonable. But even though we don't frequent Global any more, we were saddened when the Ontario government forced the stacks of cheese to disappear from the counters. We live in the East end and were thrilled when the Leslieville Cheese Shop opened up but their prices drove us back to Kensington, which is thankfully close to work.