Introducing: Stirling Room, the Distillery District’s first and only nightclub
There are no ghosts in one of the buildings at the old Gooderham and Worts Distillery, at least not according to entrepreneur Albert Rishes. He would know, too, since he and his partner Simo Korac—both veterans from Embassy nightclub—spent months there setting up Stirling Room, the first and only nightclub in the Distillery District. Open for just over a month, the new venture fills the space that once housed A Taste of Quebec and brings parties and live music to a neighbourhood known more for sleepy evenings than pumping nightclubs.
While other bars and restaurants in Toronto fake old-school with reclaimed wood and vintage knick-knacks, Rishes and Korac are intent on preserving the pre-existing Victorian history of their venue. “You can’t touch these walls,” Rishes says of the prospect of revamping the original exposed brick throughout. “They’re historic.”
The remaining decor is consistent with a Victorian-Gothic ambience: onyx bar, original hardwood flooring, dark leather banquettes and haunting portraits (some of which double as sound-absorbing acoustic panels to reduce vibrations). Furniture arrangements are bottle-service friendly.
For now, the Stirling Room is doing brisk business on nightclub staples like vodka and Jack Daniels (about $7 a drink), but Rishes anticipates that weekdays will begin to focus on whiskey, scotch and cognac. A prep kitchen in the basement—which also houses the building’s original kiln and five catacomb-like storage areas that will one day be converted into dining rooms—will soon churn out modest eats for the post-work crowd. A cocktail menu is currently in the works by the mixologists at Martini Club International.
As the Stirling Room gains its foothold, Rishes is confident that his venue will attract a market from local condo owners and other downtowners looking for a break from the Richmond-King-Queen-Ossington scene (and from cover charges: Stirling Room has free entry). And maybe non-tourists will finally have a reason to stay in the Distillery District after work or a show at Soulpepper.
Stirling Room, 55 Mill St., Building 36, Suite 100, 416.364.3900, stirlingroom.com.
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There are no ghosts in one of the buildings at the old Gooderham and Worts Distillery, at least not according to entrepreneur Albert Rishes. He would know, too, since he and his partner Simo Korac—both veterans from Embassy nightclub—spent months there setting up Stirling Room, the first and only nightclub in the Distillery District. Open for just over a month, the new venture fills the space that once housed A Taste of Quebec and brings parties and live music to a neighbourhood known more for sleepy evenings than pumping nightclubs.
While other bars and restaurants in Toronto fake old-school with reclaimed wood and vintage knick-knacks, Rishes and Korac are intent on preserving the pre-existing Victorian history of their venue. “You can’t touch these walls,” Rishes says of the prospect of revamping the original exposed brick throughout. “They’re historic.”
The remaining decor is consistent with a Victorian-Gothic ambience: onyx bar, original hardwood flooring, dark leather banquettes and haunting portraits (some of which double as sound-absorbing acoustic panels to reduce vibrations). Furniture arrangements are bottle-service friendly.
For now, the Stirling Room is doing brisk business on nightclub staples like vodka and Jack Daniels (about $7 a drink), but Rishes anticipates that weekdays will begin to focus on whiskey, scotch and cognac. A prep kitchen in the basement—which also houses the building’s original kiln and five catacomb-like storage areas that will one day be converted into dining rooms—will soon churn out modest eats for the post-work crowd. A cocktail menu is currently in the works by the mixologists at Martini Club International.
As the Stirling Room gains its foothold, Rishes is confident that his venue will attract a market from local condo owners and other downtowners looking for a break from the Richmond-King-Queen-Ossington scene (and from cover charges: Stirling Room has free entry). And maybe non-tourists will finally have a reason to stay in the Distillery District after work or a show at Soulpepper.
Stirling Room, 55 Mill St., Building 36, Suite 100, 416.364.3900, stirlingroom.com. ){kind=link}
we made a reservation to celebrate a friends birthday well in advance and got it confirmed only if we had bottle service, we agreed to spend the money they forced us to in order to have a booth
Upon our arrival, our names were not on the list, but magically they had a cencellation so they could take us in and assign us a table, again with bottle service only, this was after 45 minutes of having us waiting in line in a snowy day.
Once inside they packed the place to over capacity,it was really hard to move around, very hot and we had only 2 seats and a very small table
we tried to ignore all of this and enjoy out night
At the end and we had to pay, the bill was split so we asked the waitress to apply the charge to 3 credit cards,we were told that thay can do the transactin to 1 credit card only and it will take 45 minutes to process (C’on we are on the 21st century) we were informed of a near by ATM to get cash and that is what we did, we could not wait 45 minutes
a designated driver had only 2 soft drinks and also wanted to pay with credit card, the manager told him that there was a minimum charge of $50 to put it on a CC and same story, wait 45 minutes,this is insane