725 Queen Street East
Toronto, ON M4M 1H1
(416) 463-8868
Toronto - Given the amount of meals I eat away from L’hotel Harbord, it’s only fitting I start reviewing places that I eat. The Blue Moon is in the Queen Street east district .. across the street from everyone’s favorite ghetto strip joint - Jilly’s as well as Dangerous Dans. It is often a meeting point for people going to the Opera House for a concert. Me and some peeps went there after our soccer game on Tuesday.
Beers: They have 12 beers on tap. Including a few Mill Street and Amsterdam brews. Any bar that serves Ontario beer earns quite a few points. The pitchers are 16 bucks a pop and fits 3 regular size pint glasses. I am assuming Molson Canadian, Labatt Blue or any of those crappy beers are probably cheaper. But unless you are wearing a wife beater, live in a trailer or work in a coal mine, you don’t drink those beers.
Decor: The Blue Moon has a quite unique layout. In the front 3rd of the place, the bar resides in the middle with stools and tv’s all around, there are few couches and most people sit at the bar and watch games. In the middle 3rd of the place, there is two pool tables as well tables for larger groups along the way. In the final 3rd, there is a stage and tables that are set up for a small concert I guess. It’s a decently large place. The walls aren’t blue, and theres no references to the moon either.
Patrons: Queen and Broadview is not the poshest of corners. It is a corner dominated by Jillys, the strip club and well let’s be frank - this area of town is frickin ghetto. The people at the bar are the same, I think. Most of them are locals and I don’t know, seem sketchy. There was a guy at the bar that was a cross between Jabba the Hutt and Jerry Garcia at the place, and all these tattooed chicks dressed like ‘tutes kept on coming up to talk to him. It was weird. Obviously, this is a one nite sample, so don’t take my word for it.
Service: The Blue Moon is probably owned by Chinese people, since every time we’ve gone, theres been chinks there running the show. The service is pretty good, they were friendly and somewhat efficient and well, thats all you really want for service.
Food: It’s pub food man. Average at best, there was a wing special - 1 pound for $5.00. The wings that came didn’t feel like a pound, but they were breaded shake n bake style and the hot sauce came on the side. It was alright. The fries were average. The burger that my friend ordered was average as well. So basically - average.
Conclusion: Queen Street east is such a mixed bag in terms of good place to drink, the new place that opened - Prohibition is way too pricey and the surrounding ones all have issues, while the Blue Moon isn’t the greatest place, its definitely an option if you are going for pre-drinking before the Opera House and I think thats the highest recommendation I can give it.
