I like the Magpie (and I hope that the Magpie likes me).
I first heard of the Magpie from a friend who thought I'd like their trivia nights. I started slow: I'd been burned by overly serious trivia nights before. Turns out, the Magpie was perfectly low key: unpretentious-but-big-brained-questions, great MCs, and with unifying categories that are heavy on the puns. Since I think that whoever said that puns are the lowest form of humour deserves a bop straight on the nose (what? They're punny!) I felt immediately at home here. PUNS AND PINTS 4 EVA!
When I felt our relationship was getting a little more serious, and I wanted to see the Magpie more than once a month...I found myself popping by at the end of my nights out. "Oh hey, just happened to be on Dundas anyways, no biggie"-type stuff.
The beer selection is great.
There's a good age-spread to the regulars.
It's not scene-y, so one winter night I might have been wearing my pyjama top under my coat when I popped in *taking nightcap literally*.
Yelp note: no food here, so grab a porchetta sandwich from a few doors down. Whether dancing or extracting trivia from the dark recesses of your brain: you need to keep that energy up.