The Tennessee

I had such a great experience here walking in on a quiet Saturday afternoon, hungry.
The bartender was the best! He went over the menu of pub grub patiently with me and poured me a delicious dark beer.
I ordered the wings. He served them at my table along with all the condiments I could imagine. The wings were perfect! Big chunks of meat cooked through and nicely coated with hot sauce yet not dripping so they were easy to eat. And the fries! Wow so good, you know those super saturated greasy thin ones? Dump the vinegar and salt on them and they were out of this world yummy. Excellent snack!

Warm coke, the Ceasar was tomato juice maybe? Service was… slow… to non existent. The salt shaker was sticky. The booth was sticky. Its cash only. Its dark and gloomy in a let’s hide what it looks like in here way. Its a scary place!

It was a good opening month back in the winter but since then it has gone so downhill, that I no longer frequent this establishment. This pains me to write such a bad review, but in my opinion, the new owners destroyed the menu, and basically there is no food that I can recommend that is good to eat. The service went downhill as well.
Overall, this was my go-​to place in Parkdale for most of the past 15 years, in its various incarnations. Not anymore. This incarnation has unfortunately crossed the line into being a place that one can’t eat in, and the beer seems off most nights. Combined with bad service, it’s 3 for 3 and it is a strikeout. Hopefully, if there are new owners, they can revive this place, but until there is new ownership, and possibly yet another name change, I won’t be going back to this incarnation.

Came here because my friend was performing. They only take cash — no debit/​credit.
I ordered some wings and asked for «wings-​only» (or just the flat ones). Perhaps the server could not comprehend what my simple request was, because she came back with a mixture of both. When I mentioned to her that there was a slight error, she told me that I never asked for it, and then proceeded to fluttered her false eyelashes and rolled her eyes at me. Okay, no big deal, I will eat them.
I took a bite into my wing and… it was raw. Red.

I came here last night for my boyfriend’s bands show and it was a disaster.
We parked in the green p in the back but they made us walk all the way around to the front to load in his DRUMS! Were not accommodating at all and only briefly mentioned we could maybe go in through the back patio but that there were garbage bins in front of the gate that were really smelly. Gross!
We got in and were pretty hungry and thirsty but not in the mood to drink so we got pop and sweet potato fries. My diet coke tasted like water and was almost flat. not sure if it was an off brand or literally watered down but I couldn’t even finish it. The fries tasted like nothing, probably some frozen mccains thing and had no salt, sauce, anything!
I also really had to go to the bathroom throughout the night but held it because of another Unilocal review I read on how disgusting they are!
I get it isn’t the nicest part of queen street but get your shit together! Also it was 35 degrees out yesterday and the place was boiling!
If you want a good quality meal DEFINITELY don’t come here and if you get invited to watch a band or performance here, try to go to a show of theirs at a different venue! haha

the place is dirty. It seems that it would be safer to eat food off the floor in an operating room in a hospital. I’d probably stick to bottled beer if I had to. The men’s washrooms were disgusting the two or three times I went. My favorite time was when The urinals were covered in what looked like a mixture of vomit and salmon chunks. The bar is filled with scruffy, greasy haired, rambling patrons that stagger in and out of the bar with their gravel toned chain smoking voices, The only thing good I can say about the food was how good the nachos were. the area is horrible, lots of homeless people and drug addicts you’ll encounter if you keep your car at home and just want to get drunk. Don’t be surprised to be asked for spare change multiple times within minutes. The homeless walk up and down the streets asking the same people over and over again for spare change.
the management /​employees are very rude and stuck up, i did not feel welcomed, none of the employees seemed they enjoyed their jobs. The staff needs to understand that you have to be nice to the people to get them to come back. i went there to check out some local bands and the shows played there are very hit and miss, one show i went to went off without a hitch. The second one they had trouble assembling one guys drum kit. I asked my friends in bands seeing if they would play there again and they refused to how unprofessional they were treated. Some bands struggle to get shows once a month let alone once a week and for them to refuse says something. I’ll agree with another person in the comments saying that the sound guy (s) are terrible how they mixed the instruments it all sounded like sludge. The velvet underground, rockpile and a bunch of other places do a much better job. Maybe they are new for all I know at doing live shows as I’ve never heard of the sisters place people are mentioning but if the crew assembling the gear and all cannot do their jobs either fire them and get new people who will probably want more money (oh no) or turn it into a karaōke bar or something.
all in all I’m never going again unless some friend in a band begs me to go and i’ve got absolutely no better plans
ways to improve
clean the place regularly
treat the customers /​bands better
fire the sound guys and the ones helping assembling /​mixing the instruments if more people comment on this

I just moved into the area so I thought why not give this place a try. Worst bar I’ve been to. Food was horrible. The nachos are a joke. They didn’t have hamburger meat so they couldn’t serve hamburgers. The live music was horrible. The mix was too loud on the vocals. Overall it was a bed experience. I’d avoid this dump.

Played a show here for an open mike and the sound guy is a clownshow. Like… theeeee worrssssttttt. Made us sound awful and basically lied to cover up his own ineptitude.
The male bartender looked like he was in a severe panic during service.
Their fish tacos also sucked.
Gross all around.

Have been to the Tennessee twice. First time, the nachos were cold, no cheese, gross tasting guacamole. Sent them back. Inedible! Maybe growing pains? Friend suggested we go back and give them a second chance. Again, nachos were gross. Ordered white wine. Hmmmnn, no white wine! This is a bar, right? The bathroom was filthy and smelled very, very bad! Wanted to love this place. Didn’t happen. Won’t be back.

Went to the Tennessee tonight for a casual dinner. This is the new spot that opened up where The Sister used to be and we wanted to check it out. The place looks almost exactly the same and the menu is virtually identical (they threw the word Tenny before a few dishes, but that’s it as far as I can tell), so fans of The Sister should exact much of the same.
For me, that’s not necessarily a good thing — service at The Sister was always unenthusiastic and slow, which was true tonight; Food was always decent for a local spot, but nothing more, and that hasn’t changed; Finally, the beer selection — still the same, middle-​of-​the-​road beer selection, which is mostly disappointing since other bars in Parkdale have really upped their beer game lately (my favorite is Food & Liquor, but it’s not really a dinner spot).
I ordered the veggie burger and my husband got the fish and chips. He enjoyed his meal. The fries were pretty good. I appreciate that they have a veggie burger (homemade, no less) on the menu, but it was kind of mushy on the inside and greasy on the outside.
All in all, not a bad spot, but with so many better options in the immediate vicinity (The Yukon, Food & Liquor), I don’t think I’ll come back anytime soon.