LCBO

Biggest LCBO in Toronto with a great craft beer selection, not as good as in Buffalo, but the best here in the big smoke.
Helpful staff, otherwise you’ve seen one LCBO you’ve seen them all.
Nice big parking lot.

As a huge wine and beer buff I of course hate my many province wide experiences with the LCBO, and in this case we have a store location which almost functions as all of them should purely on its scale. That’s not to say private retail could not make better use of an entire city block, but here you at least have the gamut of what Ontario lets you buy. Good expansive Vintages section with unusual and longer-​lasting stock than many stores, more like a specialty merchant should function so no special praise here.
Often a good beer selection altogether, things you might have a frustrating time finding elsewhere all in one or a few stops. Terrible distribution and lack of accountability ruin the LCBO experience. Some of the staff here are professional, but I have had some stink attitude from one or two entitled rotten apples in the labour union, this happens in various stores elsewhere too. Some stores and staffers act like this is soviet Yugoslavia, not a respectable first world country and province. No pride I guess!
Cooper Street and Summerhill are the best stores, while a few select others in major centres struggle semi successfully to emerge from the dark ages of really crappy stores selection and service. At least half of the parking lot is usually empty, free for the parking but no doubt a drain on the taxpayer in lost potential revenue. Kind of a joke because they must feel revenue just flows from our glass right into their pockets, so with money to throw away who of them cares about efficiently capitalizing on their little monopoly for the benefit of the province?

I made the trip in from Mississauga a few days ago to purchase a difficult to find single malt scotch. They tend to place these under lock and key and this was true that day of the Ardbeg.
As luck (at least I felt that way at the time) would have it there was a specialist taking inventory, low go the ground, right beside the cabinet. I asked him if he had a key and without looking up he droned yes and then asked left or right door while still not making eye contact.
He carefully removed a boxed bottle but strangely did not hand to me right away. Instead he rearranged the shelf with my wished purchase under his arm. He then relocked the unit and turned to face my outstretched hand.
«No I will take this to the front counter» it was clear to me that this employee had made the judgement that a 58 year old gentleman who knew the name of an expensive single malt was in fact plotting a nefarious end to a bottle of Scotland’s finest.
It’s employees like this, with no sales ability or couth whatsoever, that give Vintages a bad name. Luckily for us he is one of only a small handful that I have had the bad fortune to run in to.

Even though I’m still a big proponent of allowing wine and beer to be sold in grocery and corner stores and thus don’t care much for the current monopoly, I’m not totally anti-​LCBO. Yes we pay too much for booze here and competition would probably (hopefully?) lead to better prices and even more selection but when you go to a liquor store like the one on Queen’s Quay, it’s hard to argue completely against it.
Their selection is quite impressive all across the board. Large selection of wine, beer, coolers, liquor and a super Vintages section? Check. Very cool tasting bar? Yup! Conveniently located just steps away from my office? Sure is. Friendly staff? Actually, yes. Ample parking? I don’t drive to work but if I did, I’d appreciate this as well.
So I could go on but I won’t. It’s an LCBO. I’m still fairly ambivalent about the concept of the Ontario’s liquor stores but if you do want to put one forth as a shining example of how well the whole thing works, you’d be hard pressed to do better than this rather impressive location.

i like this location. There’s lots of parking and they have a wide selection of beers and vintages. For the record, they have fruili here, which in my opinion is a plus. They also stock my newly discovered have — Jacob’s Creek Moscato. I totally stocked up, with the spring/​summer season around the corner.

This LCBO is a little hike from Union Station but definitely worth your while if you are in the area. or you have friends that live in the area and you need to pick up last minute booze.
Tasting Bar is well set up with friendly staffs that help me with my selections. I tasted 2 Single Malt Scotch here $ 1.5 and $ 6 respectively.
Beer selections here is decent. A lot of the seasonal and limited beers are in stock.
Ample Parking.

This is one of the best LCBO locations I have been to. Great selection of beer, the Vintages section is huge and has everything you could ever want. There is a Guy who works in the Vintages section (darn I can’t remember his name) who knows absolutely everything about wine, ask him any question and you will get so much information back its incredible. A big free parking lot is a huge bonus as well.

This is probably one of the biggest LCBO in GTA (maybe summerhill might be a tad bigger) thanks to being located next to the LCBO HQ I guess. They have immense variety for wines and spirits. Beer selection is OK. This is usually my go to location for a booze shopping trip. The staff is typical of LCBO i.e. it can be hit or miss. Layout is nice and they usually have free samples being given out on the weekends. I would appreciate if they added some cooking classes like the summerhill and bayview village spots but I guess you can;t have everything. We can’t go into the high prices we pay for alcohol here as that’s like opening a can of worms so I can’t really rate the store on that but other than that top notch for downtown.
They have added a permanent tasting bar instead of the island they used to have in the middle. They do have rotating selection which changes every month so its a good way to try before you buy they do charge for tastings.

This is one of my fave LCBOs in the city!
Really big, huge selection, and never out of stock of ANYTHING!
There’s ample parking, as it’s in a plaza with a ton of other shops, including a Metro, Blockbuster, Starbucks, Subway, Beauty Supply Outlet, Convenience Store, Source… and that’s all I can remember.
The staff is fun, the boxes are plentiful, and there’s usally a busker outside for entertainment. Mostly guitar classics, and he takes requests.

This LCBO location was the flagship location for many many years until the old train station on Yonge was refurbished.
I have many fond memories of coming here with my dad when we would try to find new and interesting beers. This was back in the dark-​ages of beer in Ontario when the choices consisted of Blue, 50, or Canadian. (Yes yes there were a few other choices but everything was the nearly the same mega-​brewery crap just before the micro-​brewery revolution.)
The store has an enormous selection of spirits and wines. I think it’s still the best «Vintages» section in the city, but the Yonge location might very well be better but I find the layout of this location far far easier to navigate. Plus I’m tall and the shelving doesn’t require that I stand on my head to find the good AND attractively priced boozey-​goodness.
Do I spend too much money here? Probably. It’s the starving artist thing to do! (Commiserating with drink and friends)
Do I want to come back here every day? Yes/​No. I would if I had the money and if I had an additional liver on ice ready for transplant.
My absolute most favourite item in this store? The $ 12,000 bottle of wiskey. Which clearly indicates the deposit of $ 0.20 for the bottle giving a total of $ 12,000.20. BRILLIANT!
The beer selection is ok. Not great, but ok. It’s better to buy it here than at the beer store because you can collect reward miles.
Verdict: This is my favourite LCBO location.

One of the bigger LCBO’s in Toronto the Cooper Street outlet is located on the harbourfront, with easy access from the Gardiner. What really makes the particular LCBO special is the great selection and friendly staff. A great wine selection for oenophiles and a wide range of brewskis at the back including several new releases each month.
Impressive vintages collection so if you’re looking to impress a wine drinking friend, I’d give this location a try. As for beer, they have a good refrigerated section with imports, local craft brews and other domestics. Not too shabby. The staff are a helpful bunch though a little sparse in number-​if you need a recommendation or are having trouble hunting down something just give them a wave.
In short, a good LCBO to get your drink on!

Awesome selection of everything under the sun as mentioned below. Tasted some really nice new red iwne that was just released along the lines of amarone… very tasty. Again, my theory on etc is that even if I had a million dollars, I still wouldn’t pay say 5000 for a bottle of wine… how is that value determined really. Could someone really get that much value from it? Just my 2 cents. Travel the world in beer… that’s what I did!

Lov this liquor store, sophisticated and interesting that you can’t buy alcohol at grocery stores. The locals spotted us asap that we weren’t from here. LOL

Sadly, in Ontario, liquor stores are liquor stores, are liquor stores without much variety in product available since it’s all dictated by the LCBO. At least the Vintages on Queens Quay steps apart from the usual and has become the place that I head to if I need wine, spirits, or am looking to blow a load of cash on something fancy.
Like every other liquor store, the selection is pretty solid across the different alcoholic genres; wine, beer, spirits, liqueurs. It all looks familiar. What separates the Queens Quay store from the pack is the sheer size that it is. Double the floor-​space of most of the other franchises, they are able to bring in more varied bottles across the different genres. The wine section is larger than that of some liquor stores I’ve visited elsewhere. More space means more selection from more countries. And wine drinking is pretty much all about that, seeing what other countries have to offer.
If you’re looking for the more top-​end, some LCBOs have a ‘Vintages’ section that has a more pricey selection available. Here again, size does matter. The ‘Vintages’ section is much larger than any other store I’ve seen, with a special area caged off displaying all of the top end scotches and whiskeys. It makes you wonder what a $ 1000 bottle of whisky would taste like.
And if you’ve wondered that, Queens Quay has you covered there as well. Their tasting centre in the centre of the store allows you the opportunity to taste a selection of premium brands before you go spending hundreds of dollars on a bottle. A fantastic service that makes me wish they’d let you spend the afternoon there.

The LCBO is Ontario’s answer to Pennsylvania’s State Stores. A place to buy booze at retail since there aren’t too many other places you can do it out here. Basically here, some wine stores and the Beer Store chain. The LCBO is all over the area but this is probably my favorite. A stand alone off the Quay between the Westin Harbour Castle hotel and a super huge Loblaws (with its’ own LCBO downstairs… but I’d still shop here). This LCBO has a nice selection of wines but it’s beer where they shine. All sorts of local and regional brands. Even guides from the Ontario Craft Brewers Association. And singles! You can try beers here! This is where I first tried Mill St., for example before I went to their brewpub. Lots of imports too as you would imagine with Canada’s euro-​centric base. Only thing that stinks is every time I come out here they’re always out of the LCBO’s publication, Food & Drink, which is better than some of the for pay foodie publications. Great design and photography. You should pick one up if you’re over here. If you’re going to be stuck with just one place to buy liquor at least let it be a good one. LCBO shines here.