Opening soon: a new Leslieville location of Rock Lobster Food Co.
As if having three successful restaurants, a line of seafood products out at Sobeys and an upcoming cookbook wasn’t enough, Rock Lobster’s chef and owner Matt Pettit, who also runs country-western saloon Boots ‘n’ Bourbon in Riverdale, is once again expanding his local lobster-themed restaurant chain. We had the chance to interrogate Pettit about the newest Rock Lobster outlet, a 65-seat restaurant opening later this month at 1192 Queen East, formerly home to comfy nightspot The Curzon.
“I think it’s going to be great.” Pettit said. “It should be fun. It’ll bring, hopefully, another cool restaurant to the area.” The new spot won’t stray too far from the chain’s Ossington and Queen West locations, which means Leslievillers can look forward to more of the brand’s signature nautical decor and casual seafood dishes, like elaborately garnished Caesars, beachy steam pots and full lobster suppers on Sundays. The best part? The new restaurant will have three (that’s right, three) sizable patios: a street-side terrace, a back garden-style nook and an additional 20-seater flanking the building’s side—which will be licensed until 2 a.m.
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/food/rock-lobster-food-co-leslieville/&title=Opening soon: a new Leslieville location of Rock Lobster Food Co.&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/dec12-rock-lobster-16-624x395.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_258118" align="aligncenter" width="656"] Rock Lobster’s famous lobster-topped poutine (Image: Renée Suen)[/caption]
As if having three successful restaurants, a line of seafood products out at Sobeys and an upcoming cookbook wasn’t enough, Rock Lobster’s chef and owner Matt Pettit, who also runs country-western saloon Boots ‘n’ Bourbon in Riverdale, is once again expanding his local lobster-themed restaurant chain. We had the chance to interrogate Pettit about the newest Rock Lobster outlet, a 65-seat restaurant opening later this month at 1192 Queen East, formerly home to comfy nightspot The Curzon.
“I think it’s going to be great.” Pettit said. “It should be fun. It’ll bring, hopefully, another cool restaurant to the area.” The new spot won’t stray too far from the chain’s Ossington and Queen West locations, which means Leslievillers can look forward to more of the brand’s signature nautical decor and casual seafood dishes, like elaborately garnished Caesars, beachy steam pots and full lobster suppers on Sundays. The best part? The new restaurant will have three (that’s right, three) sizable patios: a street-side terrace, a back garden-style nook and an additional 20-seater flanking the building’s side—which will be licensed until 2 a.m.){kind=link}
I can’t see the patio’s being licensd until 2am for very long….
The area is heavily residential and any excessive noise will garner complaints very quickly.
That being said, I could see the patio being successful, if operated until an earlier time, similar to the hours the patio is open at the Ceili Cottage.
Looking forward to this opening!
Great patio, rubbery seafood! I was excited to learn that a new seafood-centric joint was opening in my neighbourhood and thrilled that there was a patio…sounds like a winning combination. That was until the confused and affected servers and the rubbery unseasoned seafood hit our table…it then became a bust. Considering the location, size and patio, this place has everything on it’s side. Clearly follow through is the issue here and the management needs to pay more attention to their staff and the food quality. I won’t be back unless I hear that things have been revamped.
pretentious red lobster / mcdonald’s cat food, combined with crappy service and ridiculous arrogance. i hope it burns down.