This new bar wants to inject some life back into Queen West
Can One Star Bar help the street get its groove back?
More than seven years after opening Wasted Youth, his Dundas West watering hole, Mike Taylor is forging ahead with another faux dive bar, this time on Queen West.
The tongue-in-cheek-named One Star Bar opened its doors on October 16, replacing the Dime, a Warehouse Group venture that occupied 538 Queen Street West for just shy of a decade.
Taylor says he had been seeking potential spots for a new bar for the past couple of years. He finally found a space and location that felt right—one he hoped would offer a more approachable alternative to the polished and buzzy establishments of King West.
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“I feel like there’s a lot of people living around Queen West that don’t really vibe with the King West aesthetic,” he says. “I loved traipsing along Queen Street when I first moved to the city back in 2010, but the vibe has slowly been eaten away by developments and soaring prices. We’re hoping to bring a sense of community and neighbourly love back to the ’hood.”
That vibe, Taylor says, is warm, welcoming and fun: a simple formula of affordable drinks, good food, a relaxed atmosphere and a Buck Hunter arcade game. Patrons of One Star Bar can look forward to $5 shots of Jameson and Fireball and $7 house beers every day. The menu, built around hot dogs and Frito pie, was whipped up by former Pizzeria Badiali and Superpoint cooks.
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“We’re excited to bring something to Queen West that’s been missing for a few years,” says Taylor. “Everyone’s overworking and trying hard to survive in the city, and going out and having a good time has never been more expensive. We’re trying to find ways to make it fun and affordable.”
One Star Bar will be open on weekdays from 2 p.m. until 2 a.m. and on weekends from noon until 2 a.m. “Whether you want to party the night away or meet up for some afternoon treats, we’ve got you covered,” says Taylor.
Teagan Sliz covers Ontario real estate for Toronto Life and Storeys. She also writes for Cottage Life and has reported on everything from hidden-gem restaurants to Canadian wildlife and forest fires. She graduated from Queen’s University with a bachelor’s in history and art history and from Centennial College, where she studied Canadian publishing.
