Rooftop bar at the Drake Hotel is the place to be in Toronto on a warm summer night!
Great drinks + wonderful friends + fantastic nibble foods = A perfect summer night.
I LOVED my lavender lemonade (lemonade with vodka and lavender syrup). A wonderful sweet lavender syrup at the bottom gave the lemonade a ethereal purple glow. The sweetness of the syrup didn't overwhelm the tartness of the lemonade.
The fries were really good. My friends and I downed a couple orders before we knew it. Then we upped the ante with poutine.
THE BEST POUTINE. And I don't even **like** poutine. Poutine is a Quebecois fare of fries, cheese curds, and gravy. The poutine at the Drake hotel is the Holy Grail of all poutines. There were incredible succulent pieces of beef in the heavenly brown gravy. The cheese curds melted into an ooey gooey loving hug around the fries. Topped off with the toothsome meat in the luscious gravy makes for one incredible umami bomb of a flavor.
It was a little too loud for me. We had to yell in order to hear ourselves and I wish Toronto would pass a ban on smoking in outdoor patios. Seriously this is a city that won't let you use pesticides on grass, but apparently second hand smoke is A-OK.
I arrived just before 8:30 and was seated in less than 10 minutes. Arrive after 9:30, and forget about it. The place was packed!