You generally won’t find a calming and glamourous restaurant within an industrial neighbourhood. During a weeknight visit, we had to dodge cars getting in and out of businesses before arriving at General Public along the busy Geary Avenue. We met an older couple outside who looked confused. Yes, they were in the right place. Once an auto repair shop, it’s now home to Toronto Life’s best new restaurant of 2025.

It’s not exactly the place you’d think to start the meal with a bubbles and a bump ($15), essentially a 2g spoon of caviar chased with 1oz of champagne. While a bit ostentatious, it’s believed that by placing the caviar on the crook of your hand (essentially were you sprinkle salt to chase a tequila shot), your body will gradually warm the caviar to the right temperature. Did it work? Honestly, hard to tell with such a tiny portion.

While I enjoyed the dish, the protein could have been anything in bluefin carpaccio ($29). The strong flavours from the pickled onion and cheddar cheese crisps ended up covering the tuna. Not the greatest if you want to taste the bluefin, but ideal for those who are squeamish about eating raw fish.

Every table seemed to order the chicken wings ($21) given the description of being brined in a Guiness and tossed with a Worcestershire honey butter sauce… now this is different! It tasted like General Tao to me, which isn’t bad but not overly exciting either. At least they were crispy, juicy, and hot, three important components to a good wing.

The black cod ($47) was poached to perfection and covered in an herb bread crumb crust giving the silky fish some crunch. What really made it shine was the buttery parsley sauce that tasted like a creamy bisque. Why the dish isn’t served with toasted bread to allow diners to wipe up every drop of this sauce is a mystery.

We made our own “fish and chips” by pairing the cod with English chips ($13). These were so crispy and the potato nice and fluffy. I just need to tone down the salt.

Often an after thought at pubs, the desserts at General Public stole the show. The banoffee pie ($16) incorporates a thick ganache base in a lovely graham crust, so much chocolate that it could have been described as a chocolate tart. Layered with banana, caramel, and whipped cream this is a rich dessert that must be shared.

Consequently, it went perfectly with the lemon posset ($15). I wasn’t going to order this but after Corey, our server, described it as the best lemon dessert he’s had for a person who doesn’t like lemon desserts, I knew I had to try it.  

He was right. Covered with a short bread cookie, you need to break through it like a crème brûlée to get to the luscious creamy lemon pudding. The flavours were well-balanced, not overly sour or sweet, but as the Three Bears would say… just right. It was delicious on its own or mixed with the chocolate or whipped cream from the banoffee pie it worked as well. Teamwork makes the dessert dreams work.

Despite the swanky décor, General Public doesn’t take itself too seriously. I was curious about the furry mascot printed on the menus. Corey explained it was GP, a sidekick to Hammy the Hamster in a program called Once Upon a Hamster shown in the 90s on YTV. The initials GP spells out General Public so the obscure reference works.

And it certainly does for those who were born before the millennium. Upon reference to Hammy, my husband’s eyes lit up as he recounted the strange show that only broadcasted for two seasons. General Public is more than just a restaurant or pub. It’s a conversation starter, from the quirky guinea pig mascot to its odd location amongst repair shops.   

In a nutshell... 

• Must order: spaghetti and black cod
• Just skip: wild king crab salad 
• Note: DaNico offers a prix fixe menu for $150 that allows diners to choose their three courses

When an Italian tells you the best place to buy lasagna is from Porzia’s, you listen. With my luck, they also happened to be opening a new restaurant (previously, they operated a takeout joint), a no reservation establishment that can accommodate about 24 people a seating.

Porzia’s menu changes frequently with a focus on seasonal ingredients, which allowed me to try one of the sweetest cantaloupes I’ve ever experienced. If you’ve ever had musk melon, the two slices in the prosciutto and melon ($18) rivaled the prized melon in sweetness and went wonderfully with the freshly shaved Parma prosciutto, which was especially delicious when I sampled a slice covered in olive oil.  

One dish that’s constant on the menu is their lasagna, offered in a “classico” or “bolognese” format. Given I like my pasta saucier, we ordered the lasagne bolognese ($26) a hefty brick of pasta with so many layers of pasta and cheese that sat in a pool of meat sauce and was covered with finely shaved cheese.

The fresh pasta was silky and soft except for the top layer that’s broiled adding a crispiness to the otherwise soft dish. If you like pasta, you’ll swoon over this dish. And while it was delicious, it was also heavy and could use more sauce between the layers.

What impressed me was the tagliatelle with red shrimp al limone ($29), a lighter pasta that’s nonetheless a flavour bomb. I had to ask for a spoon to properly enjoy the sauce: a combination of chili peppers, rich olive oil, and slivers of garlic that ends with a lemon note that’s not overly acidic. After having bites of lasagna, I found the dish so refreshing and the tagliatelle chewy but still silky. Porzia’s you need to make this a staple.

As a secondi we shared the acqua pazza sea bass ($38), which consisted of two fair-sized pieces of perfectly poached fish cooked just to the point of flaking. The broth had a rustic feel to it with chunks of stewed onion, tomato, and artichokes amongst a host of herbs and white wine. If you like fish stews or bouillabaisse, this is the dish for you.

I’m so glad my friend let me in on the secret of Porzia’s and that they opened a restaurant. I have no doubt that as others discover the place, it will become bustling as their food is simply sublime. 

If you could get any vanity license plate for your car, what would it say? The owner of Sushi Bar would use “Dr Sushi” as indicated by the plates hung on the wall, it’s a whimsical touch I hadn’t noticed in the past, along with pictures of family and friends that provide a glimpse into their private lives.

The wall is also where they post their specials including black cod sushi and lobster maki. The black cod sushi ($10 for 2 pieces) is an interesting take on the fish, the nigiri torched tableside so the fish’s fat begins to melt forming slight layers in the cod. Being a denser fish, it does need a fair amount of flavour and while the sweet soy was a start, it needed something else for interest. After the experience, I’m still on the fence of whether a nigiri is the best use of this prized fish.

My preference is still for the baked miso marinated black cod ($15) where the fish is hot and flaky and infused with a slightly sweet umami flavour. The palm-sized portion is just enough for sharing amongst two people.

Sushi Bar’s other a-la-carte nigiri is just as good with large pieces of barbeque eel on the unagi and a thick slice of ruby red tuna on the maguro (both $7 for 2 pieces).

Displaying the lobster on top of the lobster roll ($18) was a great idea as it becomes the first thing you taste, and diners can see the full tail in its glory. However, it was already overcooked and blowtorching it at the table made it even more dry and chewy. Ideally, they should undercook it to begin, and the torching will help heat and finish off the doneness at the table. It’s a dish with promise and the thin cucumber lantern a great idea for a beautiful garnish.

Starting every meal is a bowl of rice crackers that arrives with drinks, a pre-pandemic tradition that I’m glad has been kept, providing something to snack on as we peruse the menu. A new addition is an amuse bouche of seafood, squid, and seaweed salads, enough for a bite each to enjoy while the rest of the meal arrives.

As the temperature drops, the complimentary starter is sometimes a rich hot bowl of miso soup with cubes of tofu and seaweed flakes. A welcomed respite after a cool walk to the restaurant.

With a variety of maki available, the black dragon ($17) was an interesting take on the fancier dynamite roll. In this case, sweet-glazed barbeque eel, tempura bits, fish roe, and green onion wrapped around the shrimp tempura. It’s a colourful creation offering a variety of textures and flavours and it’s ideal that the pieces aren’t overly large so that they are enjoyed in one bite.

The red dragon ($17) is just as good, substituting the barbeque eel for salmon instead. If you’re in the mood for shrimp tempura ($8 for 3 pieces), I’d recommend having it in maki-form as the fried shrimp by itself is underwhelming, the batter too thick and the temperature tepid at best.

Upsold to the tuna tartare roll ($10), we should have stuck with the tried-and-true spicy tuna ($8). In the tartare, the tuna too pulverized and the filling including dreaded tempura bits that causes the roll to become gummy. It also needs more heat to be considered spicy tuna.

Despite their name, Sushi Bar also makes a variety of non-sushi dishes. You get a hefty portion of hamachi kama ($19) with the full portion, a meaty cut of the fish’s jaw. A thicker cut, there were parts of the fish that could have been done a touch less but being a bone-in piece, it can be hard to gauge. Nevertheless, the skin was crispy and the fish hot and delicious. Served with a radish ponzu soy sauce, a bit more salt sprinkled onto the fish would help it pop.

Since our past visits, my husband and I noticed an improvement at Sushi Bar: the maki seemingly contains less rice and are cut to the perfect bite-sized pieces and more emphasis is placed on plating the izakaya-type dishes.

There’s also a host of regulars, stopping by the open kitchen to speak to everyone before departing the restaurant. This creates a cozy neighbourhood-feel to Sushi Bar that matches the photos adorning the walls. As Mr. Rogers sang, “A beautiful day for a neighbour. Would you be mine? Could you be mine?”

Overall mark - 7 out of 10