This new sports bar serves beer, pizza and an outrageously good happy hour
Catch the tail end of the World Cup at Maria’s Sports Bar
The platonic ideal of a sports bar is simple: cold beer, plates of deep-fried food and pool tables, all basking in the glow of big screens. In Brockton Village, Graham Pratt, Mikey Kim and Adrian Montesdeoca—some of the minds behind Bar Bowie and Milou—are staying faithful to the sacred formula with their recent revival of neighbourhood staple Maria’s Sports Bar.
Related: Eight surprisingly elevated Toronto bars and restaurants screening the World Cup
Last summer, sous-chef Mikel Nieces brought Pratt to Maria’s to catch a game. While there, Pratt clocked an underused wood-fire pizza oven. He asked Maria Leandro, who had been running the place for 32 years, if she would let him organize a pizza pop-up. Instead, Montesdeoca says, she asked him: Do you want to just buy the business?
With room for 100 inside, a pool table and a spacious patio, Maria’s was a catch, and Montesdeoca was sold. Along with Pratt and Kim, he cleaned up the space, removed a dividing wall and added a few details like neon lighting—but they largely retained the bar’s lived-in spirit. Then Pratt built a menu of beer-friendly comfort food.
“One thing we did not go for is healthy food,” says Montesdeoca. Instead, the menu lists 10 pizzas (five classics, five signature creations) along with three baked pastas and a slew of smaller appetizers and salty snacks. Beer is the star of the drink menu, but the team also threw in some classic mixed drinks—micheladas, margaritas, sangria—which are all available in party-sized pitchers.
Related: What’s on the menu at Pizzeria Badiali’s new Mirvish Village location
If there’s a curveball to be found, it’s the bar’s happy hour—which runs for 30 hours a week. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. every single weekday, two house lagers go for just $10. The first pint comes with a branded poker chip redeemable for the second, which can be enjoyed right away or during any subsequent happy hour. The deal has been popular with long-standing regulars as well as with local parents bringing their kids by for a pie.
Turns out the whole neighbourhood can root for a winning team: beer and pizza.
Lindsey King is a Toronto-based writer and editor whose work can be found in Toronto Life, Maclean’s, Canada’s 100 Best and more. She is interested in arts and culture, food and drink, architecture, design, and real estate stories
