Patois Toronto

The food is great, the atmosphere is even greater. My favourite part of their menu is their salad, simply to die for.

I came here for my birthday earlier this month and it was a really good thing I had made a reservation. The space is quite tiny and even with my reservation we still felt a bit squished at our table for two. It was quite a feat for us to travel down there from our part of the city and the cold weather and fact that we walked by the place twice did not help haha.
I was really excited to dine at this place because the fusion of Caribbean and Asian cuisine intrigues me. If I had been with a bigger group I probably would have splurged on their «taste the whole menu» meal deal just so I could try everything they had to offer. Servings were on the ‘okay’ side for what you were paying. I feel like your money goes more to the experience and the sheer unique-​ness of the place/​food. I do recommend ordering the jerk chicken chow mein (quite spicy) and the sriracha sweet & sour sauce that comes with the O.G. Fried Chicken was awesome. The dessert I ended up having was an interesting mix of pineapple and jalapeño sorbet with a coconut panna cota — the sorbet alone was an interesting taste, but paired with the cocount it was an amazing blend of flavours.
I’m glad I got to go and I would go again just for a chance to try the other things on the menu I didn’t get around to. I only wish their servings were bigger because it was all quite delicious!

Had dinner at Patois tonight after wanting to try it for a while now. Let me just say, it was amazing! I didn’t think about making a reservation even though it’s Saturday, but the person who greeted my boyfriend and I at the door was able to accommodate us at the bar — great start. We ordered a beer and a Trade Wind cocktail for drinks; he got the jamaican double down and a half order of og fried chicken; I got the pineapple bun burger.
The double down was a nice treat, spicy and a little decadent. The fried chicken was a real pleasure — crispy, not too greasy, good portion size, and paired with a lovely honey sriracha sauce. Finally, the burger was a saucy, messy delight. The bun is slightly sweet and thin enough to avoid overpowering the rest of the burger. It didn’t hold up well, but it didn’t matter — I enjoyed scooping up bits of beef patty with the chips that came as a side.
I also want to point out the décor, which I found really impressive. The vibe was cozy and a bit exotic, and you get the sense that whoever designed the restaurant paid a lot of attention to detail.
All in all a good experience — we’re looking forward to going back for «The Whole Shebang» special :-D

been here twice, once for dinner and once for brunch. I definitely thought the dinner items were better than brunch. we had the fried rice, fried chicken and kimchi perogies… all yummy and great flavours. for brunch, we had fried chicken and bubble waffles and the eggs benny on Jamaican patties, personally it was only ok. I’d definitely return for dinner and try some other menu items

Food tasted great! — like I’d go back for sure. It’s a bit pricier than I’d like to pay for any of these kind of items — it’s kind of like how you pay more for tacos at La Carnita kinda thing– but I don’t feel too jipped bc everything was cooked really well, tasted awesome, service was on point and they were timely with our reservation. It’s a casual place despite the price point and didn’t feel pretentious to me.
O. g fried chicken with the sweet and sour sriracha tasting dip (yum!), jerk chicken chow mein & the pinepple-​jalapeño sorbet with coconut panna cotta & shavings were all delicious and noteworthy to me, and I’d eat again. Definitely try all of those if you are dining there!
Overall, I’d give it a ⁷⁄₁₀. I think they played it a bit on the safe side with the menu and tastes (nothing is overly spicy, a bit mild for my taste)…not as «jamaican-​y» as I was hoping for… like i didnt see any ackee anywhere… i didnt see any collard greens lol. but I get that it us a fusion resto so perhaps that is why.
I think they should have more items on the menu definitely and I think they really could be more affordable. ($ 20 for chicken jerk chow mein? Forreal?!)
So yeah… overall cool place to check out once or twice… save it for something eventful or when ur in the mood to break the norm.

Went to Patois on a Tuesday night. Super cute space: Bar made out of old bowling alley flooring, lazy-​Suzan on skateboard wheels and trucks.
The food was very inventive. We had «the whole shebang» which is everything on the first side of the menu for $ 109 (feeds 3 to 4 people. We upgraded on the O.G. Fried chicken and the jerk chicken for $ 12. The quantity was plenty for 4 people.
The good: the aforementioned O.G. Chicken and jerk chicken — amazing. Delicious and tender. Dipping sauces were also very good. The pickled daikon is a flavour I will dream about, so earthy, salty, sour.
The salads: coleslaw with the fried chicken, the crunchy Chinese salad. crisp and slightly creamy. Tangy and light. Perfection.
The kimchee potstickers. So tasty.
The owner: Craig introduced himself and seemed very interested in knowing if we liked the food. He talked to is a bit about the décor choices.
The bad: off the top the service was kind of bad but improved over the course of the meal. I didn’t want to sit next to the window, which they weren’t thrilled with, but accommodated me. After I was seated I was offered a drink 4 times by 4 different servers. Each time, I accepted. After 15 minutes, I still had no drink (my suspicion is that the bar is overseen by a single bar tender who is making lots of cocktails). By the time the food was coming out the service was prompt and our server was very nice.
The dirty fried rice: way undercooked (kind of crunchy). Advertised as coming with a farm egg but there was no egg in sight (I loves me some eggs. You can’t promise and not deliver on that).
The edamame: I thought I liked these. Then I didn’t. They are very fishy and buttery. For a few bites it’s nice. Then it’s way too much.
I will definitely return for OG chicken and salad with some kimchee potstickers to start.

I heard the buzz about this place, follow them on instagram, and loved the whole concept (Jamaican/​Chinese food). When I had a chance to visit Toronto and forced my friend (who’s been a couple of times) to reluctantly take me.
The place is somewhere you’d want to go with a group of friends to chill out. It has a nice vibe though it’s trying a bit too hard. The food is very interesting and very chinese /​jamaican inspired. You have dishes like fried chicken with hong kong waffles, or jerk shortrib sandwiches. I had the shortrib sandwich. It was pretty bland and I tried the other dishes and no one at our table seemed impressed.
I think this place is great if you’re in the area, and I think it’s great if you’re going to start off your night. Avoid brunch.

4.5÷5
*I came to Patois around 11AM and the restaurant wasn’t too busy, well at least no 1 hour line up.
*The vibe was laid back and unpretentious. The décor is quite odd with colorful chairs, inflatable buoys, old photographs and a bright red Juicy Jerk sign — but somehow everything just went together!
*The service was amazing and our server was really attentive.
–Patois Egg Benny (Cocktail beef patties, poached eggs, jerk mortadella, hollandaise, watercress green salad) — $ 13
The egg was poached perfectly with a creamy Hollandaise sauce, and the patties were hands down one of the best I have had in a long time. The pastry was super light, tender and flaky with multiple layers. The beef filling was aromatic with a hint of spicy and still moist inside, and who doesn’t love that the beef was filled to the max!
–Quinoa breakfast fried rice (bacon, sausage, egg, crispy homefries) — $ 12
Surprisingly the quinoa tasted just like… regular rice LOL. The fried rice was a bit too salty for my taste which I think came from the Chinese sausage and the fries were too crispy, otherwise the dish was incredibly delicious and flavorful!

The food is probably 4 star but the price and portions makes it 3 stars. We spent almost $ 90 and I left feeling a bit hungry. Island food is cheap, tasty and filling… Chinese food is the same. Why would the fusion of these two cuisines be any different?
The 2 of us ordered the following:
O.G. Fried Chicken & Watermelon Pickle (half order)
Chinese «Pineapple» Bun Burger
Jerk Pork Belly
Jamaican Coleslaw
Jamaican Dumpling Pumpkin Soup
And for dessert we got:
French Toast Stuffed W/​Cheesecake, Topped With Mango
Fried chicken was really good but the sides were awful. The pickled watermelon was just weird and I love watermelon. Should have just served with regular watermelon. I think they were trying too hard to be «fancy». Also, $ 13 for 2 wings?
Pineapple bun burger. Would return just for this. Beef patties were tasty and juicy. The pineapple bun just works. Portion was a bit small but still reasonable compared to the wings.
Jerk pork belly was a bit over cooked. Was dried out. Flavor was OK. Again, small portions. For $ 15 I could buy 3 lbs of BBQ pork but we only got about 10 small slices.
Jamaican coleslaw was subpar. Not as creamy as Pat’s on Queen St. And a little bland. This was one item I thought was a respectable portion size.
Jamaican dumpling pumpkin soup was a bit salty for my liking but that may be a personal preference. This was mostly soup and almost no dumpling. What dumplings that were there were tiny.
Last, the dessert was a good effort. It is worth a try but not worth repeating. Hong Kong french toast is quite unique and I can see the attempt to make it like HK french toast but it fell short. The crust was too hard and it was all crust besides the cheesecake part.
TLDR. Expensive, small portions. Worth going only for the pineapple bun burger. That’s it.

Okay. I’ve been here TWICE now. I haven’t been back to Toronto for quite some time, but my friend brought me here for dinner and it was SO delicious.
We ordered the following at DINNER:
1) KIMCHI POTSTICKERS: They’re good — I mean, I’m a sucker for pierogis. However, for $ 12? Not really THAT worth it.
2) O.G. FRIED CAULIFLOWER AND WATERMELON PICKLE: I was debating between this and the fried chicken. Friend said that this would taste like meat. Believe it or not, it did. It was hella good. I would DEFINITELY recommend this.
3) SMOKED BRIKSET COCO BAOS: It was good, but I think I’m getting more and more picky with baos. I just want the original baos from Taiwan.
4) JERK CHICKEN CHOW MEIN: This was good, but not $ 17 good.
5) JAMAICAN PATTY DOUBLE DOWN: This was surprisingly really good. It was kind of hard to eat, but I really enjoyed it.
BRUNCH, however, was pretty damn good.
1) FRIED CHICKEN AND CHINESE WAFFLE: The Chinese waffle is a nice touch. It was a little bit TOO cooked (the waffle), but you can’t go wrong with the condensed milk.
2) PATOIS EGG BENNY: There was something about this that was super duper good. I guess I’m a sucker for poached eggs, and on top of that — Jamaican patties.
Atmosphere is great. Service was awesome. Hoping to come back again into this area to eat more food.

Patois is a place we’ve been meaning to try for some time. We’ve walked by several time over the summer and the place has always been busy. The night of our visit was no exception. All tables were full during our stay and walk-​ins were disappointed even as late as 10:30 PM when we finished our night.
The atmosphere is reminiscent of a surfer beach shack/​snack bar. Very fun, whimsical yet comfortable and inviting.
The staff were all friendly, pleasant and helpful throughout the busy dinner service. Our waitress (who reminded me of Karen — Natascha McElhone of Californication) gave us some great recommendations.
The menu consist of a bunch of snacks/​appetizers and sides that you pair up with a main.
We started with the double down beef patties, kimchi potstickers and both were great. Add bacon to anything and it makes it even better if you ask me.
For our entrees we had the ½ jerk chicken a porkbell. I was surprised how juciy and tender both were. The jerk seasoning had just enough heat for just about anyone to enjoy. I did find it to be a little salty for my taste but my partner thought it was fine for her taste.
All our sides (dirty rice, fried cauliflower and coleslaw) were good. The cauliflower was exceptional but it you had to choose to eliminate one let it be the coleslaw. We expected more from the coleslaw I guess.
Do not finish off your evening without dessert. We were so full and even had leftovers to take home but could not pass up on the drunk apple bundt cake. It was the perfect little bit of warm sweetness to end the evening and the rum was not overpowering.
We’ll definitely be back and we will bring friends so we can try the «whole shebang» tasting/​sharing menu.

There were so many things that tasted wonderfully! I’m very happy that they had the option for us to share and eat half the menu and it’s totally worth it!
Staff: They were great and brought over plates for our bones and cleared it when we needed it. At times, I felt like they could’ve been a little quicker with taking our orders but the food came quickly and made up for it.
Ambience: I was very comfortable even in metal chairs. It was a little cramped because some of the tables were close together but nothing that made me uncomfortable. The walls are adorned with graffiti and it’s cool to read some of the Jamaican phrases.
Food: I wanted more because it was so good! We had The Whole Shebang and everything was great. This place serves small plate food and The Whole Shebang contains half the menu to share between a small group (3 to 4) for only $ 110. Although there were many components, I’ll list a few of my personal highlights. The Chinese «Pineapple» Bun Burger was sweet and savoury and just fireworks on my palate; I just wish they didn’t give just one to share. The Juicy Jerk Chicken was so succulent and had the right amount of kick. The Kimchi Potstickers «Pierogi» Style were a bitesized burst of flavours. Everything was so great I ordered one more dish afterwards: Likkle Soulja Sandwiches from the dinner menu and was equally enjoying them. They had this amazing five spiced SPAM and chunks of pineapple that provided this great balance of heat and acidity. Overall some of the best food!
Great food, great atmosphere, and dying to go back already. Try anything with Pineapple Buns!

This has been bookmarked for me to try for a long time. And I can finally write a review! My fiancé and I dropped in Saturday night without a reservation around 7:30pm and got a bar table in problem! We actually sat in front of a mirror instead of the actual bar but it worked out since we wouldn’t be close to the door and the cold draft. Things looking up!
I forgot the name of our server but he was very friendly, helpful and attentive! I was really impressed with his attentiveness despite him husslin’ all the tables around us.
We ordered the patois shandy and Hawaiian Pale Ale. Highly recommend the shandy. To eat, we ordered the jerk chicken chow mein and half portion of the OG fried chicken. Drinks came quickly and food followed soon after I could get a second sip of shandy down.
The chow mein is really good. A bit too crispy to what I’m used to (or maybe I get thing way too saucy) but it was delicious. As for the chicken, it wasn’t as «jerky» as I would have liked it to be, but it was a nice change to an old noodle favourite.
The chicken was okay. It was a simple breaded thing with flour or cornstarch and fried like the chicken wings at Mandarin or something. Not horrible, but I still think Kanpai or Stockyards has the baddest fried chicken out there. The pickled watermelon was a nice, refreshing palette cleanser.
Good music and really good service here. Nice place for a double date night since everything is family style. I may come back to try their large party menu.

We’ve eaten a LOT of things during our time in Toronto and I have to say, the jerk spam from Patois is one of the best things we’ve had. It’s an explosion of flavor, but it all works together perfectly. This sandwich has singlehandedly brought my wife around when it comes to spam. Thank you Patois!
We also tried the jerk chicken, with was flavorful and juicy. It had a great kick to it. Especially the well-​sesaoned skin. The skin also had a great texture, and avoided the fatty trap that roasted chicken skin sometimes falls into.
At my insistence we also tried the Jamaican doubledown, which was truly indulgent thanks to the bacon and oozing cheese sauce.
Finally, as good as the food was, it was the service that blew us away. We waltzed in without a reservation on a Friday night. We figured we’d have to wait, and perhaps for a while. But they were super accommodating! Yes we had to wait for a few minutes, but we received regular updates on how things were going and we were checked on frequently as we hung out.
All in all, it was a top notch experience that I’d heartily recommend to anyone!

I have been to Patois on two occasions and on both the food has not failed my high expectations! Patois’ menu is delicious and so flavorful — everything I have tried is absolutely excellent.
A few favorites:
— SLIDERS: these things are to DIE FOR. The buns are kind of sugary sweet and they are so amazing. Paired with a juicy burger, can’t go wrong!
— FRIED CHICKEN: it’s what they’re known for, and for a reason. SO GOOD
— ⁴⁄₂₀ BROCCOLI BUDS: YUM! The hummus at the bottom is perfection, and the broccoli so crispy and good!
The cocktail list is extensive, and there are a few hits and misses. The main «miss» for me is their sangria (Dirty Wine) which was pretty much undrinkable.
So with such delicious food, why the three stars?
Well, Patois advertises their ability to do large-​party dinners. I recently booked them for my birthday for 15 guests. I arrived slightly late (about 15 minutes late for my 9:00 p.m. reservations) but there were about 7 people holding the table… when the rest of the group arrived there weren’t enough seats, and we didn’t get our food until after 10:30 p.m. It kind of put a damper on the evening, because even though I was a bite late (we had called to let them know), I wouldn’t expect it to take over an hour for food, when you advertise your ability to do large groups.
While the food is great, it was kind of a MEH experience!

Such a cute spot on Dundas for brunch. Didn’t know Jamaican Chinese cuisine was a thing but I like it!
We arrived here right when it opened at 11 and already it was buzzing with people. I have seen some of their food pics on Unilocal and was so looking forward to trying the pineapple bun burger which looks pretty darn good. So unfortunate that they don’t have a version of this for brunch.
The chicken with HK waffles seemed like the next most promising option so our whole table ordered the same thing in a half portion for $ 13. Looking back I think a full portion may have been a better idea because I was left wishing there was more.
They know how to do their fried chicken right! Perfectly crispy on the outside and moist on the inside with just the right amount of seasoning. No one likes soggy cutlets drenched in oil and you won’t find any here. The HK waffle was also really light and crispy and came with a condensed milk sauce which was a tasty addition. The small portion of salad they had on the side was fresh and refreshing.
Will probably visit again sometime to try their dinner service and get my hands on those pineapple bun burgers!

Be sure to eat something before coming here. In fact, bring a movie and some card games along as well because it might take a while for your food to come.
Now, the food alone was a 4.5÷5 — as per fusion restaurants, the options are different from your standard places. Like some other reviewers, my personal favourite is the pineapple bun burger. I got a rendition of it through the Guud Mawnin’ Burger from the brunch lineup (and I got a quirky version because they ran out of buns) and the sweet after tones make it a delight to eat.
The service was also passable. They were polite and did their job well. Despite the other reviews, I think we got rather fair service.
The problem was the wait. I don’t know if this is the standard, but it literally took over an hour to get our food. I am sure of this because I paid for an hour of parking and had to get more time. When I got back, we had to wait another 10 – 15
minutes before food arrived.
So yeah, I’m a little upset and it honestly ruined the experience. My rating on food alone — 4.5÷5. My rating on the dining experience as a whole? 2.5−3. I’ll take another shot at it because there are other items on the menu that people seemed to be enjoying, but if it’s anything like this time, I won’t be coming again.

Came here after work for dinner and drinks on a Friday night. Make sure you make a reservation well in advance because this place seems to book up fast. The restaurant has a cozy and chill vibe, but let’s just dive straight into the food because that’s what you’re interested to know more about, right?
We ordered the Jamaican Patty Double Down, Chinese «Pineapple» Bun Burger and the Jerk Chicken Chow Mein. The Jamacian Patty Double Down and the Jerk Chicken Chow Mein weren’t that memorable to be honest, but the true star of the show was the Pineapple Bun Burger. Think of it as the Asian counterpart of the McGriddle at McDonald’s, and I mean that in a good way. The pineapple bun adds a hint of sweetness as you sink your teeth into two super juicy patties. They even threw in some hickory sticks for some smoky flavour I’d assume, but I could’ve cared less if they were there or not because that pineapple bun and meat combo had my full attention… Onion rings on the side were great too.
Verdict? Get the burger. Also, got a tip from a friend that the fried cauliflower dish is really noteworthy. Will have to try that next time!

Even the Toronto Star acknowledges how horrendous the service was at Patois Restaurant:
Jamaican-​Chinese restaurant Patois on Dundas West falls short on good vibrations.

You think if you order the entire menu (twice), you’d get at least a smile? (Now that I think about it, why offer family-​style feasts on the menu if you can’t accommodate to large groups??)
— Our server, (didn’t even get her name — she was blonde, Cacausian, bad eyebrows) didn’t speak or smile or give constructive opinions on the menu to any of guests (but implement 18% tip anyway)
— Make us wait an hour for our bills DESPITE having asked for split bills at the b e g i n n i n g of our reservation, and of course she didn’t.
— We had to flag down our server saying we can help and already split the bills ourselves because she was obviously having problems.
— But instead, she was being passive aggressive, not communicating to us so we can collectively reach a compromise/​talk out a solution. But instead she chose to be mad at our table for not seating being able to seat her next big party. Who’s fault is that when you give our bill and ignore us for an hour?
— After refusing to acknowledge or service your table she asked another server to cash us out. Someone who told us she was new to be country. If you’re reading this, you were wonderful and shouldn’t have been in the middle of this at all.
— She finally gave us or bills and GUESS WHAT? She had the audacity to not only auto-​gratuity 18% to our table and not even face us to do it. The new server had to deal with our complaints. When one person in my group refuses to pay the $ 1 off their $ 8 auto-​tip, she refused and said «It’s the restaurant policy to have the 18% gratuity.»
— We speak to Manager and he says «Just pay your bill and get out»
FOH with your shitty service and auto-​grat. Don’t be a shitty server and implement 18% tip for doing absolutely nothing on top of being ludicrously rude. The table was full of people who had years of customer service experience and this place had none of that.
After confronting the situation, Manager Richard [edit: removed last name for privacy reasons] said there was a computer glitch (which we were never informed about, maybe we could’ve troubleshooted because we already split the bills ourselves, and maybe you could have seated your next big table and you can auto-​grat them too.
He also kept insisting on putting blame on us saying we were 45 mins late for our reservation — FALSE, because I was there promptly at 6pm — We were drinking and deciding what to get on the menu with little to no help or feedback from our shitty server.
He invited us back to give them another try after finding out the table is a bunch of Unilocal reviewers, asked for my name and to reach out to him. But I highly doubt the impression they left on us could be remedied. I’m not going back there with you knowing my name so you can spit in my food and serve it to me. With the way you were talking to your table, I wouldn’t be surprised. The food was good but the service left a bad taste in my mouth.

I was looking forward to this place for quite some time, Ended up going and realized during lunch hours they have a brunch menu. You cannot order from their dinner menu.
After ordering full rack of fried chicken (5 pieces), I find this place might be a little over-​rated. It was good fried chicken, but trust me there are lots better. I would pick stockyard’s or even Korean Fried chicken over this item any day.
Had a scallion burger, which was an open concept. My baked potato’s were hard, as the shell could have actually broken my teeth. It was a small portion as well. Very Very tasty tho.
Eggs benedict was by far the least impressive, a costco patty with 2 boiled eggs and process cheese melted on top was not even close to the $ 13.50 pricing taht it was charged.
I must say it is a cool little place with a pretty young and trendy crowd. It was worth the experience, I might go back just to try the dinner menu. Looks delish! however if you want fusion brunch with a Caribbean influence. I would much rather prefer 3030. I find they have more options and better bang for your buck.