Home Of The Brave

Excellent food and cocktails. I had a delicious drink with scotch and grapefruit – so good I had to order another – and we also really enjoyed all of the appetizers we tried, including the buffalo cauliflower (amazing, especially if you’re a vegetarian) and he Brussels sprouts. And save room for dessert – we had an ice cream treat sprinkled with chocolate covered ruffles chips that was truly incredible!

Hands down best night spot for food and friends.
Service — lovely. Nice people make the food even better and the service here from seating us and suggesting good was on point
Drinks — so good. Nuff said.
Food — listing what was delicious which was delicious and you should get it too:
— cauliflower
— speciality pizza
— tator tots
— sweet Jesus ice cream
— funnel cake
Go there. Drink with friends. Hang out. Make new friends. Do it.

My company had a private holiday party here and it was great! The food was amazing, the staff was accommodating and the venue had a cool, outdoorsy vibe.
I had their cobb salad, their AAA steak, wings, ribs and many more and they all hit the spot! The restaurant itself was a bit small but given we had about 40 people standing around, we expected it to be a bit cramped.
Overall, a great experience having a party here!

TLDR; Americana at its finest. Too greasy and salty for my personal preference. Loud, loud music. But I enjoyed the vibe, I would maybe return.
VIBE
Helpful, friendly waitress. Music was REALLY really loud, to the point we had to scream at each other to be heard across the table. Restaurant is dim and has a fun Americana vibe. I like the open kitchen.
FOOD
We had the tater tots to start, they were fried balls and were actually quite nice. I might order them again.
We had the shaved meat and pistachio sandwich, burger, and American fries as our main. Shaved meat was super tasty, just a bit too greasy. The burger was phenomenal. I could have done without the fries.

This review is based purely on the ice cream. We had the cinnamon crunch and the flutter butter. Both so good, must try!

Ribs are ON. POINT. Root beer is home made. Chicken and waffles were quite good — could have been accompanied with more sauce.
Price was a little steep for the amount of food you get. But it’s freaking delicious, so it’s worth the visit!

I love this place.
The people. The atmosphere. The bartenders. The food. The servers. The apps. The hosts. The desserts. THE COCKTAILS.
The Birmingham… you’re welcome.

Place to go for a dessert (red velvet funnel is yummy) but I wouldn’t recommend for dinner

$ 85 after tax and tip for two appetizers, two mains, two desserts, and a beer. We were stuffed.
APPETIZER: Brussels Sprouts ($ 7)
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Smoked Cheese Sauce, Parmesan, toasted mustard seed. Pretty tasty. A little cheesy, a little salty.
APPETIZER: Buffalo Cauliflower ($ 8)
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Beer battered cauliflower, buffalo hot sauce, ranch dressing. SO GOOD. Standout out of all the dishes. Unfortunately, looking at other Unilocalers’ pictures, it seems like either it’s not regulated or they’ve shrunk the portion, but we got maybe 10 pieces. It didn’t really fill the plate, but other Unilocalers’ pictures look like they’re about to overflow. Delicious nonetheless.
MAIN: Chicken & Waffles ($ 16)
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Crispy chicken, sour cream, spicy maple, green onion, sourdough waffles. A waffle sliced diagonally sandwiching three pieces of boneless fried chicken. The syrup was great. Not too spicy or overpowering. The sour cream was an interesting addition. Can’t say it added much, but I like sour cream. The chicken was crispy and could’ve been a tad juicier, but it was delicious nonetheless.
MAIN: Home of the Brave Burger ($ 13)
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House ground ribeye, HOTB pickle mayo, House American cheese, Tomato, Lettuce. I don’t like pickles or pickled things, but I didn’t taste anything overpowering. The burger was just delicious. I don’t like when burgers don’t come with any sides. I don’t consider it a complete main course and a bit of a money-​grab, but the burger was good though.
There are actually more desserts than are shown on their website’s menu. We had these two:
DESSERT: Fluffer Nutter ($ 6)
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Twist, peanut butter sauce, marshmallow coated ruffles, peanuts, white & milk chocolate. Lots of peanuts. That’s the predominant flavour with this ice cream cone. The first few bites were like peanuts, peanuts, chocolate, and more peanuts. They give you a dish so that you can lay it sideways and eat it with spoons because I bet it’d get messy otherwise. The ruffles aren’t that prominent, but the chunks that you do find are delicious.
DESSERT: Red Velvet Funnel Cake ($ 8)
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Red velvet batter, fresh berries, cream cheese icing, sweet Jesus vanilla soft serve. Way too sweet and I usually like sweet stuff like white chocolate. Maybe they’ve improved the batter because despite other reviews, the funnel cake was not hard at all. It wasn’t fully crispy either. I guess it was a comfortable middle. The cream cheese icing is overkill. With the ice cream, the dish is already sweet. The icing makes the dish unbearably sweet. Everything else was pretty good.
I was satisfied with every dish with the exception of the icing on the funnel cake. The portions weren’t huge (despite our server’s warning), but I think you could comfortably share an appetizer with someone, have your own main, possibly skip the dessert, and be satisfied. We ordered everything just cause we wanted to try it all.
Aside from the obvious choice of fried chicken and waffles, the buffalo cauliflower was a clear standout. Would definitely recommend that one.

I’ve been meaning to come to this place for a while since its been on my instagram for a long time! If you’re looking for an awesome place to meet up with friends for some drinks and watching the game this is your spot. The front has a great open window that over looks King st and at night it turns into a real hidden gem in Toronto. They have a great selection on tap and great cocktails.
I ordered the Beer battered cauliflower and it was delicious! a vegetarian version of a buffalo chicken wing, the outside was crispy and the cauliflower became soft and melt in your mouth flavor (highly recommended.)
As my main I got the 76er Philly Cheesesteak, for the price I paid the portion seemed small. The quantity of meat looked like it was a lot but at I wasn’t able to taste the meat flavor. The initial bite was great but eventually the grease from the cheese started to overpower all the components on the dish. I finished the sandwich quickly and was left wanting more. The meal came with no sides (no salad or fries) which I was disappointed in.
Overall, if you’re looking for a good place to hang out and grab some drinks this is a great spot. But in regards to the food, if you’re waiting for more than 15 mins for a table, I’d go somewhere else. For the price point and what you get, there are better options on King St.

Order the chicken waffles
Order the chicken waffles
Order the chicken waffles
Order the chicken waffles
Order the chicken waffles
Order the chicken waffles

Friday night dinner — what an adventure. This place is incredibly loud and packed but everyone seemed to be having an amazing time.
We ordered the tater tots as an app — sooo tasty.
For entrees we had the Kentucky handshake sandwich that weirded me out a bit with the foot hanging out of the end but it was really yummy and the chicken and waffles — nice flavor however, order the syrup on the side — it can be a bit overwhelming.
In addition they have these really fun boozy slushies that were really good. We had the Arnold Palmer and Sex on the Beach. If you had 2 or more of these, prepared to be wheeled home somehow. Wow!

Second time here… Not satisfied with the chicken and waffles for such a price. The handshake burger is alright. Tasted better when I tried it about two years ago.
I ordered my c&w without sour cream on it… I took a bite from it and sent it back cause I realized they had forgotten to not add it… Funny. Table next to us ordered c&w and after she took my food i had already taken a bite from she walked to the back for a few seconds and brought the same plate to the table next to us. I’d be careful eating here. That’s some real garbage serving people food that’s already been contaminated. Not that anythings wrong with me. I know Id sure be pissed as hell to find someone else had already touched the food other than the cooks.
Just a little story to warn yall

I came here with my better half because I kept hearing about great things from my dirty hipster friends. Being hipster trash myself, I just had to check it out. The place is upstairs from Lou Dawgs, and it is an adorable little bar that treads the line between dive and trendy. The bathroom and the back of the establishment is more Jane and Finch, and the front with the open-​window-​half-​patio thingy is more Liberty Village.
The food though –
TATER TOTS!
Yes the tater tots are super delicious — everyone order this. It’s very similar to croquettes, little balls of deep fried mashed potato sprinkled with cheese. It was such a simple dish but maaaaan was it good. Would order again, and order two of it next time.
Chicken and waffles was… not so good. The chicken was quite dry, the waffles were a little cold, and the dish was ridiculously sweet. I mean, yeah it’s chicken and waffles with syrup so I expect it to be sweet, but I felt my blood sugar spike. I was seriously worried considering my family has a history of diabetes.
Deep dish pizza was the special of the day and it was really good! I mean, it definitely was just as unhealthy as anything covered in a thick layer of cheese and grease, but so, so delicious.
Red velvet funnel cake — the fried cake part was pretty hard but it was still very good. The vanilla bean soft serve is how ALL soft serve should be, all the time, every ice cream truck, carnival food stand, amusement park, etc. (You get the point)
They have different daily specials everyday, and I think Fridays are lobster rolls — I know what I’m doing this Friday!

Went here for late night desserts. I had the funnel cake. I asked for some coffee but they didn’t have any so I asked our server if he could recommend another beverage to counteract the sweetness of the dessert. He said he’d pick something out and said he won’t make it too expensive.
I can’t remember what kind of drink it was but it was sweet and not very good. When I get the bill I also notice it was $ 14. Not too expensive hey? He was pretty friendly though so despite the not so great first experience I’m willing to go back again.

King West has a lot of popular bars and restaurants with quirks that help them stand out from the crowd. This seems like one of the places which has an interesting and well executed menu, but is just not worth any hype.
It’s got an all-​American thing going and I believe each dish on the menu is from a different local (don’t quote me here!!). I had the Maryland crab cakes (which is a salad that comes with 3 cake cakes). The crab cakes were good. However, nothing too spectacular. The lettuce was bitter. I despise salads and the only reason I ordered this was for the crab (and I wasn’t feeling like anything too heavy).
My friends got the chicken and waffles. I tasted it and have to say while it was nice it was a bit on the sweet side. One of my friends had ordered it just a couple days prior and felt that it was a bit dry that time and a bit sweet this time. I mixed in some «hot sauce» (a house sauce that was deemed to be hot by the server? It wasn’t hot btw) and it did wonders to balance out the over-​sweetness.
We also shared the EPI-​Pen ice cream. It was a chocolate and pea u butter ice cream with crushed peanuts on top. Sort of like a drumstick. It was a seriously large portion of ice cream and too much peanut butter for my liking.
Thus far the food while mediocre and pricey does not warrant the 3 stars. For all of that and the good service I would likely have given this place 4 stars. They have drink specials and are friendly and quirky; all things I like.
However, they have a 20% preset tip on their debit/​credit machines. If you don’t know by now, this is my personal pet peeve with restaurants. Preset/​suggested tips makes me tip less than the original 20% I was going to leave! It’s seriously rude to expect your customers to tip at 20% and it leaves them feeling ashamed when they cannot AFFORD that much. I understand that the clientele in the King West area is on the somewhat wealthier side. Or at least they like to think they are. But you will have customers who are from other locales coming by and it’s not cool to make them feel pressured to tip higher than what is customary!
All in all, mediocre place with quirks that might appeal to those who love the States.

Recently came here to try out the red velvet funnel cake, and it was definitely worth the hype. It was very delicious, and it was a huge serving; great for sharing amongst two people. The interior and ambience of the place is alright, nothing extraordinary or memorable. The service was very friendly, fast and efficient.
I wil definitely come back here to try out their food menu, which looks very appealing as well.
I don’t recommend this place for anyone with kids or strollers because the stairways to the restaurant is extremely narrow, and we had a hard time taking my friends stroller up.

I tried a few different dishes and they were all tasty and interesting with the exception of the Freedom Fries which were tasteless.
We had the cobb salad, freedom fries, chicken n waffles n the kentucky burger.
ALERT: The kentucky burger is a fried chicken leg WITH THE FOOT on a bun. Gross!
The rest of it was good. The coated soft ice creams were pretty cool. One of them was coated with crushed cinnamon toast crunch. Ill never eat ice cream at home without crushed cereal again.
The atmosphere was like a restaurant-​lounge. 90s hip hop and reggae played along with some other pop-​hip hop mixes
Its super loud n too dim in there like you would expect at most restaurant-​bars downtown. The staff was ok. We got our food super fast!
I would recommend this place.
FYI there is street parking.

Our group of 3 visited HOTB for a late dinner. The restaurant was pretty packed especially at the bar. We were seated near the window of the restaurant. Unfortunately it was right underneath the stereo that was blasting loud music. It was so loud that I found myself yelling at my friends and they still couldn’t hear me. I expected this place to be loud but it was way too uncomfortable.
We had Buffalo Cauliflower to start. Beer Battered Cauliflower was bland and the breading wasn’t quite think. It relied on the ranch dressing to give its flavour and unfortunately I don’t like creamy dressing that much.
The Chicken and Waffles wasn’t too bad. The chicken was juicy even tho I always find chicken waffles to be very sweet for me.
Home of the Brave Burger was okay. Not spectacular burger but nothing to pick on.
I blame it on that I’m not a fan of this type of food so HOTB is not the type of restaurant I would come again and again.

Everything about this place screams ‘Murica! The redneck décor to the American flag and their greasy fried menu items brings you across the border.
There is absolutely nothing healthy you can actually order on the menu. I really wanted to try their lobster roll but those were only offered one day out of the whole week… Same thing goes for their Chicago style deep dish pizza — can’t order it unless it’s a certain day if the week.
I ended up ordering a bologna sandwich which was a staple in their regular menu. The level of saltiness was out the roof… I had to chug water after each bite and after my meal I was still dying of thirst. The presentation of the sandwich was nice, perfect for a nice instagram pic, but they really need to tone down on the salt.
The fried cauliflower seems to be a favorite and it makes a great appetizer with the right amount of sauce. I’m impressed how closely the batter stuck into the cauliflower without any air pockets. Now that takes skills!
The service was attentive — we were the only ones there during lunch on a Thursday. I expected this place to be packed considering how hyped up it was on BurgersTO and BlogTO…
Would I return? Probably not. However, if you’re looking to grab a beer with some appetizers, this could be your spot!

Well let’s start with the good. The place is super cute. They were playing Mos Def. The staff was friendly and attentive. They had Woodchuck Cider on tap.
Let’s move over to the okay. We started with the Buffalo Cauliflower as an app and it was decent. Nothing in the batter gave it a special kick which I think would have helped the dish as cauliflower is pretty bland. The ranch and buffalo hot dipping sauces were average.
Next, what was not so good. I had the Kentucky Fried [Horror] Handshake. Now the name of the restaurant took on a whole new meaning here! I felt some fear! I am not squeamish when it comes to food, but I would have liked a heads up about the monster talon that sticks out of this sandwich. See the photo. Hence I have added a word to the dish’s title that I suggest they also add to their menu. More damningly, like a lot of horror shows, this sandwich was big on effects but weak on substance. There wasn’t a lot of chicken but there was a ton of unappetizing greasy batter that had very little flavour other than oil. I did not finish it. My fellow dinners were also both underwhelmed with the shaved boloney sandwich and the cheese steak.
I wish this place all the best because it seems cute, but based on what I tasted, they’ve got some work to do.