Crush Wine Bar opened a few years ago and quickly turned into one of my favorite restaurants. It had a great location on King just West of Spadina and close to the new (at the time) clubs. However, like most restaurants you need to “refresh” every once in a while and Crush recently closed for four weeks to “reboot” the restaurant. Both an interior redesign and new menu came out just a few weeks ago.

The new restaurant is very nice. They’ve made the restaurant less of an open space and more intimate. The menu was the most surprising change. They’ve moved from a French Provincial menu to a British Fare menu full of starters like London Particular and Potted Shrimp. Even Sheppard’s Pie was on the dinner menu and Bubble and Squeak available as a side dish. And yes, being not Bri’ish I needed all those dishes explained to me.

Portions were very generous. One of the group had the sirloin steak and it was a good healthy size, nice to see in a fine dining restaurant. The venison I had very extremely good – very tender and cooked a nice medium rare. Surprisingly, the venison was not as gamey as I remember it should have been – I’m guessing it was farm raised rather than wild.

The wine menu is extensive, as expected in a wine bar. They have great “wine sampling” selections on the menu which are served in small 2oz servings of special selections.

Overall Crush was a very enjoyable restaurant. The food was excellent and generously proportioned. I continue to recommend Crush Wine Bar.

Crush Wine Bar
455 King St. W.
Toronto, Ontario
416-977-1234