Review: The Bars of The Danforth

The Webber and I enjoyed an unplanned pub crawl through Toronto’s Greek Town on Friday night, the first trip east of Yonge since our disappointing visit to the over-priced Allen’s. We hit four bars along Danforth Avenue, and these are my impressions – on a go/no-go scale:

• The Old Nick (123 Danforth Ave.) is a prison-themed bar, but prisons don’t serve baby green salads. I bet, however, that the beer is colder and less flat in the Don Jail than at The Old Nick. "No-go".


• If you can squeeze past the day’s discharges from the Don, you’ll find that The Black Swan Tavern (154 Danforth Ave.) more closely resembles the “sports clubs” that front organized crime than a bar. "No-go".


• Terry O's Sports Bar & Grill (185 Danforth Ave.) will serve you a cold Bud Light, but that’s the last you’ll see of your server. It’s probably just as well because Mr. Clean doesn't appear to have visited the kitchen since 1974. "No-go".


• Parched and famished, you may wander into Brass Taps Pizza Pub (495 Danforth Ave.), where you’ll be tended to with cold Coors and meaty wings. The service is welcoming and the patrons don’t look like ex-cons. "Go".

With these choices, it’s no wonder that the pretentious Allen’s is thriving.