District Oven

Not sure I love the vibe of this place. It almost has a clubby feel? It’s a bit overwhelming when the place is not full.
However the food was great. This place has great options for meat eaters and vegetarians.
The seared cauliflower and eggplant zalouk were really good. The eggplant and lamb burgers were also a hit. I’ll definitely be back for the food. Service was also good.

Try the calamari, and hummus. I would have hoped for a more full restaurant or if they partitioned off areas to make it look less empty.

Went last night. The food was pretty good for Winterlicious, but my god was the service bad. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced something like that. It was busy, but if you’re only going to have two seatings, make sure you’re staffed! Our waitress was entirely uninterested in us. It took 40 minutes after we finished to get the bill and pay (even when we asked for it). Terrible, terrible service. I wouldn’t go back. There are much better restaurants with much better service (and food for that matter).

We went to District oven in the context of Winterlicious.
The food was amazing. and portion sizes were adequate. On the basis of that you should definitely give the place a try.
However, the service left a lot to be desired… so much so that even the table next to us were complaining. We came into an empty restaurant to a confused hostess who did not know where to seat us.
Once we were seated, we ordered our meals. When the same two appetizers came (dips and sauces), we had one piece of bread for the two appetizers. Every other table had two breads for two appetizers. We kindly asked the waitress… three times in the span of 30 minutes. No acknowledgement. It should not be that difficult to get a piece of bread. Waitress could not care less about our table. While taking our order she spoke over us to the table across, which was pretty rude.
Food took a while to come out, and the general consensus was that there were too few waiters/​waitresses for the amount of people.

I’ve been here twice now, and it’s been amazing both times! It has a nice ambience, a bit laid back, which is nice. The servers were quite nice and helpful with suggestions. I loved the kafta burger, even the fries it came with were delicious! I ordered several appetizers, including two different kinds of pizza, over both visits and they were all yummy! Best to go with a group in order to share a number of items.

We’ve been a few times to this restaurant, the food is really great and they have an impressive drinks menu. We’ve loved the pizzas, the humous, falafel, meatballs and beer inspirate cocktails the most.
It’s a huge restaurant, which is rare downtown with several distinct section each beautifully decorated. Also an accessible washroom on the main floor of the restaurant (there are some 2 – 3 steps to get into the restaurant though.
Even with all the space I think the staff really try hard to cram people together or rush people through their meal. We’ve enjoyed several meals with multiple families and many kids without disturbing other diners.

I had this place written down as somewhere to try and we needed to be in the neighbourhood after dinner so we gave it a shot. Overall impression was mediocre and I doubt I’ll be returning.
Arrived at the restaurant on a Friday evening at about 6pm to find myself the only client in the place. It was so deserted I questioned whether it was actually open. The hostess came over and asked if I had a reservation (I didn’t) and proceeded to coolly tell me I should’ve made one due to how busy it will get. Once again I’d like to point out there was not ONE person in the place. Miraculously she managed to fit us in, though I could already tell by that time I would probably never come back. First impressions — restaurant staff should know better.
Our male server was actually quite nice and helpful. We tried some beer cocktails (I learned I do not like beer cocktails.) and shared two items. The variety of cheese pizza wasn’t too bad but fairly salty. The other item was a salad and it was fairly bland. By the time we left the restaurant, three more tables were occupied. The massive rush must have arrived after 8pm.
Overall, my District Oven experience included unexceptional food, unnecessary rudeness and, in my mind, an inflated bill for the quality we received. I think I’ll find my Middle Eastern fix elsewhere.

The good:
The interior, ambience, design and layout are beautiful.
The bad:
The food sucks.
The ugly:
See the bad.

Visited with fellow diners a few weeks ago. Was excited to try this new middle eastern food, as this tends to be one of my more preferred cuisines. Overall experience was a ⁶⁄₁₀.
Service ⁸⁄₁₀ — very friendly but slow; had to wait over 20 minutes for our bottle of wine.
Food was a ⁶⁄₁₀ — appetizers were excellent as were the flatbreads, but mains were overpriced, portions were small, and just downright weren’t that good! So disappointing.
Ambiance — ⁷⁄₁₀
Overall value — ⁵⁄₁₀
Really wanted to like this place as I love this type of food, but prices, value and food leaves too much to be desired. Doubt I’ll be back :(

Food was good, dessert was fantastic. I didn’t like the fact that they charged me for each club soda I ordered while we all know that it is ‘carbonated tap water’. I paid the same amount for the club sodas I would have paid if I had ordered a bottle of Perrier at a restaurant. District oven should reconsider this.

We recently visited district oven for summerlicious 2015, so this review is based on that menu. First impressions — huge, open, beautiful space, great décor; prompt, friendly, and professional service. At our table we had:
— two cocktails: berry stormy and Toronto storm — both were refreshing and flavourful while still being quite strong. Definitely worth a try.
— appetizers: mezze platters, meatballs, and beet salad. Everything on the platter was outstanding, as was the bread it came with. You have to ration the dips for how much bread you get (more bread than dips), but if you plan your scoops ahead you’ll be fine. Zalouk and labneh were especially good. Meatballs were tasty and saucy. Beet salad had potential but lacked flavour entirely. This may have just been an off night for the salad though, as it’s been good on other occasions apparently. The server was super nice when we mentioned this and brought extra mint dressing, but even that was flavourless.
— mains: lamb shank, cauliflower, and fish (trout). All excellent. You’d think the cauliflower would be meh, but it’s bursting with flavour, and the mushrooms take it to the next level.
— desserts: two milk puddings and two baklavas. Everyone loved the milk puddings. Two of us liked the baklava and two of us did not — both were great in my opinion.
All around I thought this was an excellent meal and I’ll definitely be back. So a well-​played foray into summerlicious for this resto! :)

Awesome ambience, amazing staff, Doe and recommendations for Calamari with Figs and Lamb shank was awesome. Service is amazing .we were table of 5 and we thoroughly enjoyed our Summerluous Dinner, way to go. Sarah was amazing taking care of our table

This place offered a really nice dining experience. The food is really tasty. However, don’t come here if you’re expecting a meal or if you’re really hungry. The portions are small and pricey.

The Istanbul «beer» (ginger beer and cardamom) was quite delicious, if you like a sweet taste. Points for creativity there!
Service was quite good and ambiance was nice. But the food was quite SALTY! I found there was a reliance on salt more than flavours in the food, or at least, the flavours were overpowered by my need to gulp a glass of water after a few bites.
The flatbreads are essentially pizza… without tomato sauce. Not sure they’re particularly unusual or interesting.
It wasn’t bad, exactly, but I wouldn’t rush to return.

Amazing. Spacious, great service, food is incredible.
Order the calamari. Actually, order two, cause one won’t be enough. Meatballs rock, duck tagine too.

Disclaimer: I visited District Oven for a special occasion where we made a reservation for the back half of the restaurant. They offered us a prix fixe shareable menu that may or may not be reflective of the service they normally provide.
District Oven is a very inviting place to host an event (ie. birthday) for 20 – 30 people. They offerred a $ 35 prix fixe menu that includes a number of shareable dishes to try within your table. Their appetizers, which included a variety of breads and dips, were all very good and tasty. Their bread was particularly fluffy, and delicious enough for us to ask for multiple extra orders.
The two pizzas offered next were the highlight of our meal. They were moist and crispy, and evidently made with very fresh ingredients.
The «entrée», however, is where our party became confused. We were given one plate of mixed grilled items — which was expected to serve the 6 people seated at our table. Because of this extremely limited quantity, each person ended up only getting one bite of each meat, and we were left very hungry.
This was quite unfortunate, as every other part of the experience was great. The service was good, and they were kind enough to let us stay until closing time, but the price was far too steep to only have a few bites of their entrée.
Again, this may have only been the case because of the situation I was in, and may not be indicative of their normal service. The food was still first class and definitely worth returning for.
I’ll definitely still recommend District Oven for the food quality. Make sure you order the pizza!

My first time here, the place is amazing, the atmosphere is superb but the food isn’t that great. I know Lebanese food inside out and that’s not how hommus supposed to taste like. I ordered the Lamb and vegetable Tagine plate, its filling but its tasteless. All I gotta say is the place is overrated, prices are high and the chef is definitely not Lebanese.

Came here with a big group. The food was great — we tried falafel, fattoush, labneh, flatbread, lamb, cauliflower and all were great. Falafel and labneh are must tries!

I will not be returning to this establishment because service here was atrocious.
We came here for a birthday party, our table consisted of a group of 11 people and everything started off well when we were seated for our 7:30 PM reservation. Our waitress was pleasant enough but extremely slow with bringing us our water and bread and finally came around to taking everyone’s order by 8:00 PM.
The waitress recommended we try the calamari for the appetizer, since we had been debating between hummus and another appetizer selection, so we agreed and emphasized to her that we want the calamari, not the hummus. We also ordered the lamb tangine to share for the main, as she said it would be enough for us two. For drinks, I ordered a $ 9 glass of white wine.
I wish I could actually give a review of the lamb tangine main course, because as of 9:37 PM, our main course stlil had not arrived, although people at our table had received their appetizers and main courses. The waitress would do an obligatory round to our table every 30 – 45 minutes to ask us how we were enjoying our food, and seeing that we had not received our main course, assured us she will go remind the chefs. No such luck with our lamb tangine. As of 10:17 PM, we cancelled our main course order, as we received no explanation for why our food had not come after almost 2.5 hours since our order. She gave us no difficulty with cancelling the order, which implied that the kitchen probably never even started cooking it.
To add insult to injury, we were billed incorrectly. She made separate bills, and I know it is difficult to keep track of people’s orders when it is a large group, however this is the worst ‘separate bills’ process I have experienced. She billed us by arbitrarily assigning hummus and the calamari, then she asked us ‘you had the wine, right?” and added a $ 12 wine cost, when my wine order was for $ 9. Simply unacceptable.
Do not come here if you expect professional and timely food service and if you do, remember to check your bill carefully. The taste of their food is bland in comparison to the terrible service you may be getting if you happen to come here in a group larger than 4 people. Their menu offerings are not special compared to what you can get at other places.

OMG — we came here with a large group for a rehearsal dinner.
Their food is awesome.
There were so many things on offer, but we loved the kebabs, the kofta, the salads, the dips — and they make their own pita right in their open oven.
Décor is really comfortable and modern. The front opens up and allows for almost like patio seating. There is a huge space in the back for groups and some comfortable sofas for visiting over drinks.
Here are the things I liked the best:
Flatbread Pizza — Chicken, Caramelized Onions, Sumac, Almonds
Hummous
Labaneh with Zatar and Sesame
Fatoush Salad, Feta Cheese, Pita, Sumac Dressing
Quinoa Lentil Pilaf, Caramelized Onion, Village Salad
Mix Grill of Lamb Kefta, Vegetable, Chicken & Beef Kabab, Duck Sausage on Vadouvan Flatbread
Warm homemade Pita
Parking is on the Street
Closest Intersection is College and Ossington (just west of)

We had dinner here on Saturday Aug 23^rd. Very good quality restaurant. Portion size was reasonable except the $ 6.50 fries. Too small for the price.
Service was semi-​slow but we weren’t in much of a rush. The open air environment to collage street was nice as well.
As the main course with we had the Mixed Meeze and the Beef/​Chicken Kabobs. The Mezze was extremely tasty but the Pita was a little tough & a little cool. I found the beef in the shish kabob’s was a little fatty & slightly undercooked as well. They gave bottles of water that were passed off as fresh but were out of the tap I saw.
All-​in-​all, a solid meal & would go back again.