Hotel Ocho

Food was good but it’s a shame that Ocho really takes advantage of winterlicious to rip customers of with ridiculously tiny portions. Please see my attached pictures. What a disappointment in portions. I ate my main course in 5 mins.
To owners: please sit down and eat one of your own meals, maybe then you’ll realize how hungry you still are after 3 courses.
I would like to remind you that winterlicious is an opportunity for you to engage and increase your customer base in hopes of future business. By reducing your portions to a kid size menu, you will sadly turn away many people.
Good luck.

Food was great as were the drinks and service. Cosy lil spot underneath a boutique hotel. Ambience was ideal and servers were very engaging and friendly. I will be back there soon. Highly recommend this joint.

This is not a hotel I would recommend or wish to spend a night in again.
Pros: The man who checked us in was very nice and made sure we know how everything worked, asked us if we needed a map or recommendations of places to go. The art on the doors is cool. The look of the place is nice.
Cons: The facilities: There was no top sheet on our bed which I have never encountered anywhere else, I found it gross. When your enter and leave the hotel you must carry your luggage up and down the stairs. The front desk is crammed under a stairwell in front of the elevator so it’s very cramped. The elevator and front desk close down at midnight so if you return after that you must let yourself in through a side door and walk up three flights of stairs to your room. The bed is centered in the middle of the room, there are no nightstands or anywhere else to put your things other than a desk behind the bed. It’s a very strange set up. It’s supposed to be «minimalist» but it’s just not practical. There are marks on the walls and a brown stain on the carpet in our room.

the restaurant is in a great space and the service was nice — but they definitely do not know what they are doing behind the bar.
the server should know how to pronounce ‘angostura’ as in angostura bitters, and the bartender should know that laphroig is a scotch, not a bourbon.

Je né sais pas pour l’hôtel, mais le resto est excellent!!!

Restaurant-​only review:
Great amicable service with a modern lounge meets cottage ambiance. A safe bet if you need a place to chill with friends over a few drinks.
The food was average at best unfortunately. Alas, we visited the restaurant for Toronto’s Summerlicious season-​a hit and miss affair. Not that it’s a valid excuse for mediocrity given the slimmed menu. We’re talking about excessive use of truffle oil, randomly placed raw spinach, impractical plating, overcooked pastas, watery separated sauces, hard stale bread, broken risotto, and pastry with too much baking soda. Their one saving grace was a perfectly cooked red snapper, despite the afterthoughts that were the other ingredients on the plate.

Great place to kick back with your laptop and work on afternoons or weeknights. Affordable drinks and not a sleazy crowd, also has coffee and snacks hat aren’t too expensive too. There’s a deal every day of the week: $ 5 wine on Fridays, $ 6 cocktails on Wednesdays or $ 5 Martinis on Thursdays. I keep coming back cause it’s never too crowded during the day.

I loved my experience at Hotel Ocho. I found it through reviews on Trip Advisor and Unilocal,and picked it based on its central location (a couple of blocks from Queen St and within five minutes from both business meetings I had booked) and because reviewers raved about the staff.
I echo these endorsements: the location was fabulous, and the staff made me feel completely at home. Jamal, the manager, knew my name and a bit about why I was in Toronto and made a point of checking in with me to see how the day’s work had gone, each day I was there. Genuinely nice.
The rooms are nice too. Minimalist décor, beautiful sheets, cool art, and a lovely shower. It’s not designed for spending a ton of time in your room – no fridge, for example – but great for business travel.
Ocho has also got a great little bar/​restaurant that’s perfect for business travelers: you can plug in your laptop and have a glass of wine or a meal as you work – and when you’re done there are plenty of other travellers and locals to chat with at the bar. Great drink specials too.
Loved my stay, will definitely stay again.

Terrific location, reasonable rates, comfortable rooms, and friendly staff. Jamal’s the star! Will stay again.

Hotel Ocho was the perfect Toronto wedding venue. the venue itself is ideal, it’s unique, warm, modern, and was just the right loft feel my wife and i were looking for.
The food is incredible, the staff were unbelievably accomodating and the pricing was reasonable. As two people who grew up in Toronto when we stumbled upon Ocho we were surprised that this place is not booked solid.
lucky for us it was not and we had a amazing wedding there.
thanks Ocho!

We had our wedding at Hotel Ocho and it could not have gone better.
The space is quite trendy but it’s also cozy and comfortable. It needed very little decoration.
The staff and friendly and accommodating, going out of their way to make sure we had everything we hoped for, for both the ceremony and the reception. Rish is hardworking and attentive and really helped to assuage our wedding related stresses.
The food is affordable and delicious. They serve delicious and unique dishes that are unfussy and have wide appeal.
We booked out the hotel for the night and all the overnight guests loved their stays. The beds are incredibly comfortable. We had a live band and were dancing until two a.m. and guests who had gone to bed didn’t hear us dancing the night away and everyone was happy.
Hotel Ocho is also an ideal event space because it’s right in the city centre and it’s easily accessible by transit. We recommend it to everyone and we’ll definitely be back!

My wife and I recently had our wedding at Hotel Ocho. Rish was an amazing help throughout the whole process. Providing suggestions and answering the millions of questions that we had. She was very accommodating in letting us visit multiple times to take measurements and make sure the decorations would work and with the menu options and food restrictions.
The staff was helpful throughout the night with setting up the slide shows and other special requests.
The overall consensus from our guests and ourselves is that the venue was beautiful, the food was good and it was a great night.
We opted to stay the night in one of the rooms after the party. The room was very clean and very nicely decorated and despite leaving a little later than the check out time, we were not ushered out.
Highlights:
Portobello mushrooms salad!
Beautiful venue
Amazing room
Helpful staff
Incredible events manager
Thanks to the folks at Hotel Ocho for making the night fun and memorable for everyone!

We had our wedding cocktail reception here in September. The event turned out very well as staff were friendly and attentive. Our guests enjoyed the desserts and also complimented on how nice the place was. The staff were very helpful in getting last minute decorations ready. The events manager, Rish was helpful, friendly, approachable, organized and was great at keeping in touch with us throughout the year before our event. She knew exactly what we wanted.
I would definitely recommend this place to everyone whether it is a stay at the hotel, dinner or drinks with friends or having a wedding here!
It was a memorable evening!

* This review is based solely on my experience attending an event here.
My alma mater hosted an alumni event at Hotel Ocho the other night. Location wise, it’s quite convenient. You can access H.O. by going on the streetcars from Queen or Spadina stations. Events/​parties are held on the second floor of the building as the restaurant is on the first floor. H.O. is going for a minimalist look with hardwood floors on both levels. I was impressed with the drink options here — they have a few beers on tap. The finger foods here were ‘meh.’ I’ll have to return to try out the restaurant to have a more accurate opinion of the food.
Alum events are usually at a pub in the Financial District, but my alma mater chose another good location to meet.
Good for: groups, parties/​events

We hosted a birthday party here and rented out some tables on the basement floor. Not only did our tables get resreved, but we had last minute changes that were accomodated for on a Friday night! Wow!
Jamaal and Richard are fantastic people who catered to all of our needs. They are the most welcoming and kind people in this industry and know how to treat their customers!
Their staff are all very kind and personable and are easy to have a conversation with. $ 5 wine nights too? What more could you ask for!!!
A+

Summerlicious lunched at OCHO on a sunday with two friends.
Ambiance: ⁴⁄₅
Cool and trendy, slightly underground.
AC was cranked way up for the hot summer day, but unfortunately, I didn’t bring a sweater, so found it quite chilly the whole time.
Music was appropriately loud.
Service: ¹⁄₅
Absolutely terrible. I’m not sure if it was because of summerlicious, but boy, did this server cause the perpetuation of summerlicious goers as poor tippers!
I always go into summerliciouses with the intention of tipping on the full value (after all– I saved on the meal itself!), but the server was aloof, slow, and confused of the menu.
Upon walking in, it took 10 minutes to just get menus, and an additional 10 to get water.
We asked if there was skim milk for espresso drinks– she wasn’t sure. They may have had 1%, or even 2%, but they generally used homo (3.25%) milk. Asked if they had dairy free– she didn’t know that either, but emphasized that they generally use homo milk.
Appetizers took quite a bit of time (15mins) to come out, so we thought we would ask if they had bread. The server didn’t know (the answer ended up being a no, anyway).
The owner/​manager-​looking lady was very friendly, but overall no help. When asked for water, all she did was tell our unmotivated server.
Waited a noticeable (10+ minutes) amount of time for our bills, then again for the card machine.
Food: ²⁄₅
Maybe they decided to go cheap for the summerlicious menu (?).
1) I got the smoked salmon arugula appetizer, which came absolutely drenched in a creamy dressing. It was okay, not great. ¹⁄₅
2) Friend 1 got the chilled soup, which was by far the best appetizer. ³⁄₅
3) Friend 2 had the salad with honey dressing, which was fine– and tasted like nothing but honey.
Total appetizer score: ²⁄₅
Mains: all three of us got the baked halibut. A few noticable problems: all of our entrees were severely overcooked and under seasoned. No salt and pepper, no sauces. The three fish pieces were noticeably different sizes (which was fine between the three of us, but the inconsistency threw me a bit). Not unique in anyway, not special, and honestly, I could probably make better at home.
I’d give this a ²⁄₅ at best.
Desserts: we each got one of the three options (cheesecake, sorbetto, mousse) to share.
1) Cheesecake: good flavour, but overly gelatinous making for weird texture. Also, the graham crumble crust didn’t adhere together at all, leaving a trail of crumbs from the plate to me.
2) Sorbetto: mango sorbetto was nothing but sweet. It was sided with some fresh fruit, which was the saving grace.
3) Lime Mousse with raspberry coulis: nothing but sour!
On their own, I would think none of the desserts was worth more than a 1.5÷5, but together with the sweet complimenting the sour, I’ll go as high as ²⁄₅.
So, overall, even with the 15 $ lunch deal, I wouldn’t go back.
Maybe if you’re staying at the hotel above and not in the mood to adventure near-​by queen west for food with actual thought and effort behind it.

Hotel:
Simple and modern for a boutique hotel. Location is great because it’s near the heart of downtown, 5 minutes walk to Kensington market, China town, right on Queen street where East side provide commercial shopping like Bedo, H&M, and thebohemian vibe Queen West. One minute walk south to Horse shoe tavern, Toronto’s Legendary Bar and Music Venue since 1947. One minute walk north to Dark Horse Expresso Bar, where you can still find the romanticized old coffee culture. Did I mention their pillow is REALLY comfortable? The only down part about the hotel is they don’t have a lot of rooms and the hall way is a bit run down, doesn’t match up to the rooms and the dinning /​bar area. What can you do? It’s a heritage building.
Food:
If the room didn’t impress us yet, the food certainly got our attention. Their chef definitely put some thought into it. A good wine, whisky and bourbon selections. Let’s face it: Ontario wine only get you so far. Their choices and price on is very reasonable and certainly set the bar high for a small operation.
Ambient:
Exposed brick wall, floor to ceiling window in a metal frame, glass stair well draped with black iron chandelier, a great choice for meeting, romantic outing, or lounging in a relaxed ambient. I don’t know how they are profitable because the place is never crowded and funny enough it didn’t seem like they mind it either. I am always fascinated to see one person occupying the huge lounge sofa all by himself with a cup of coffee and a book, and no body cares. I love the fact they use local artists’s instalment to decorate the place and it’s always something new.
Staff:
Friendly, genuine, warm and relaxed. Rish is the event coordinator and she has been a pleasure to work with. She listens very well and communicated very quickly with our requests. She is a pleasure to work with.
Overall:
We hosted our wedding here with ceremony on the ground level and dinner setting upstairs. We had approximately 70 guests and we were told they have never been to a wedding so chill and relaxed, thanks to Hotel Ocho’s wonderful staff. They price is reasonable for downtown Toronto and service is extensive. Our guest until today is still raving about how great of the experience they had. The food and wine was so good that people forgot to clinking their glass until dessert is served. We got lucky :)
Our photographer also loved the venue because the dynamic angle, amount of natural light and texture of the building. You have to like rustic heritage look to enjoy this venue.

There is a theme to most of the downtown Toronto hotels I’ve stayed at and that theme is that space is a premium. Just so you know the rooms are most likely going to be pretty small. But, as small as they might be there is always a way to fit a bed, desk, and TV in there.
Hotel Ocho’s rooms are not only small they are also laid out a bit weird for me — the beds are in the center of the room. And I don’t mean centered between two walls, I mean centered between all four walls. I could have run laps around the bed in my room. Well, technically I could have only done so if I carefully avoided the desk that was behind the head of my bed. It’s not a big deal, but it seemed to be an interesting use of the space.
The staff here are quite lovely. And there is a restaurant onsite if you find yourself in need of day time food.
Good to know: there are two entrances and the one on Spadina is the after-​hours entrance. The main door, and the elevator, is locked when the bar closes so you have to use the stairway on the Spadina side of things.

The review is for the bar/​lounge on the main floor. I have not had any of the food at the restaurant nor stayed at the actual hotel. This place has that downtown loft kinda feel with the exposed brick and wood beam ceilings. It was about half full and we were a large group (10) but there was no service. You had to go to the bar… wait in line to get a drink which was a bit annoying. The drinks are priced pretty reasonably and they had a good selection. The atmosphere is really nice if you just want to chill with your friends. It looks like they are going for that distillery district vibe, but their service definitely needs some improvement

Hate to downgrade my rating of Hotel Ocho, but alas…
In a smart move to alleviate some of our wedding day priorities and pressures, we hived off the Chinese Tea Ceremony portion of the festivities and combined it with the rehearsal dinner the evening before. Smart, mom.
Looking then for space to muck about, Hotel Ocho presented itself as the top choice. Owners Hamish and Louise are always a delight, and Ocho is a beautiful space. They provided us with a nice private area on the second floor that worked out wonderfully. Roomy seating for 20ish, space for the kids to run wild, and plenty of room for the ceremony itself. Staff were excellent in accommodating our Asian activities.
Unfortunately the dinner was less than ideal. We were warned in the pre-​planning stage that not ordering off the prix fixe menu would impact service. This is understandable, as pumping out varied meals for a table of 20 is a challenge on any day. However, the prix fixe menus they offered weren’t particularly attractive, and I felt were too expensive for what you got. Unfortunately, ordering a la carte did indeed impact service as the food came out in dribs and drabs. We weren’t in any huge rush, with plenty of friends and family and booze, but the food came out at a glacial, drawn out pace. It was embarrassing. I was served first by nature of where I was sitting, and easily finished my meal before others had even been served. Painful.
Worse, the Seafood Capellini I received was just plain bad. I’m not a picky eater in any sense, so when I grouse about my food things are off: the pasta was room temperature and texturally unappealing; the calamari was undercooked, cold, and had a mushy interior; and overall nothing tasted great — it needed a fair bit of salt. If it weren’t for the fact that it was taking donkey years for the food to come out, I would have sent it back (something I rarely consider).
Were this review based on food alone, I’d have awarded perhaps two stars; really, the evening was redeemed by Ocho’s great interior, and the freedom and flexibility of the space. Ocho will always be top of mind for parties where the menu consists of booze and snacks, but I’ll think twice before considering Ocho for more serious dinner events.
¹⁶⁄₃₀

I came here with a group for Easter brunch. I ordered the Ocho breakfast. The scrambled eggs were dry, cold and burnt; the bacon was burnt; the sausage was undercooked. The only redeeming part of this breakfast was the fruit which thankfully was fresh.
Not worth it.