Skip the Dishes

Makilala

105 Church St., makilala.ca

Private room capacity: 16 seated Perfect for: Groups looking to belt out tunes in between bites

1 Nuit and Jeff Regular are best known for their Thai empire. But, at Makilala, they’re featuring Jeff’s Filipino roots in a riotous spot where karaoke is considered a main course. The party room is furnished to look like Lola’s home, with family pictures and old trophies. A capiz wall panel opens out to the restaurant’s stage, allowing the sing-alongs to spill inside—and yes, the staff can hold a tune and are ready to jump in. Groups can order à la carte, but the move is to book the kamayan meal: a utensil-free communal feast that piles banana leaves with crispy lechon kawali hunks, barbecue pork and chicken skewers, grilled seafood, fried chicken, pancit, garlic rice, mango salad, and house pickles. $68 per person (minimum four people).

The Lunch Lady

93 Ossington Ave., thelunchlady.com

Private room capacity: 10 seated in the Rickshaw Lounge; 24 seated in the Saigon Supper Room Perfect for: Bourdain disciples who watch No Reservations episodes on repeat

2 This Ossington outpost of a Ho Chi Minh City street stall (made famous by Anthony Bourdain) always hums with party energy. The star dish is the pho bò Wagyu: a 24-hour broth for two, chock full of Wagyu zabuton and beef cheek and crowned with a canoe-cut marrow bone. There’s also fried rice with hunks of red crab (plus the option to gild it with a poached egg and foie gras), lemongrass-charred octopus skewers and carpaccio buried under a blend of bright herbs—it’s Vietnamese food at heart, but with Toronto polish. There are two party rooms here: the semi-­private Rickshaw Lounge, beneath a suspended rickshaw roof, and the private Saigon Supper Room, with mirrored street vignettes. Family-style menus start at $70 per person.

Queens Harbour

245 Queens Quay W., queensharbour.ca

Private room capacity: Donika Room, 14 seated; Janine Room, 14 seated; Rowa, 44 seated; Queens Garden, 380 standing Perfect for: Colleagues celebrating with end-of-year blowouts

3 At 23,000 square feet, with a retractable roof rivalled only by the Rogers Centre’s, Harbourfront’s new restaurant is pure spectacle. The Mediterr-Asian menu (their portmanteau, not ours) covers every craving—steak frites or truffle mushroom ravioli, sushi or miso cod. The Donika and Janine rooms, which can be combined, sit on an interior mezzanine with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the action below, so dining here feels a bit like being a Roman emperor surveying the plebs. The red domed ceiling and snake-motif wallpaper give big Nero energy. Event menus start with a $32 plated lunch, then climb to dinner prix-fixes (from $55 per person), abundant family-style spreads and cocktail receptions with passed snacks like Wagyu gyoza, scorpion wings and black truffle arancini. Live chef ­stations—oyster-shucking, rib-eye-carving, sushi-rolling—add theatre to the feast.

Harbour 60

60 Harbour St., harbour60.com

Private room capacity: Commissioner’s Room, 24 seated; Vintages Room, 40 seated; Louis XIII Room, 20 seated; Estelle Ballroom, 80 seated Perfect for: Business types with expense accounts that need clearing

4 Fresh from a multimillion-dollar renovation, Harbour 60 leans into heritage gravitas with a splash of flash. The most over-the-top private dining space is the Commissioner’s Room, which once belonged to the Toronto Harbour Commission. With a 17-foot Brazilian cherry ceiling and carved walls, it’s now dressed in a maximalist finery of chandeliers, zebra-print chairs and decorative ­panels—a mash-up of old bones and new pizzazz. Wine lovers, however, will gravitate to the Vintages Room, where bottles of champagne gleam on rose-gold racks like precious gems. For larger groups, Estelle, the third-floor event space, has its own ballroom and a jewel-box dining area with dishes from Harbour 60 or Ariana, its Italian sister upstairs. Event menus run from $145 to $200 per person, climbing from centre-cut loin to seafood towers and USDA Prime strip loin.

Pii Nong

3321 Yonge St., piinongthai.com

Private room capacity: 30 seated Perfect for: Those looking for a one-night escape to Bangkok—no passport required

5 The private room at Pii Nong isn’t just a dining space—it’s a stage for chef Nong’s boundless hospitality. She and her team will make almost anything happen: luxe raw seafood spreads with oysters, abalone and Japanese ebi shrimp; cooking demos where Nong whips up papaya salad or khanom buang (delicate Thai crêpes); and even spa-to-supper soirées where guests enjoy Thai massages upstairs at Lamai before feasting downstairs. Menus range from cost-conscious buffets to lavish seafood towers, anchored by signatures like soft-shell crab curry and khao soi with eight-hour-braised beef rib. There are set event packages here, though everything can be tailored, and the team suggests budgeting $100 per person for a substantial feast.

Trapézi

88 Ossington Ave., 2nd floor, mamakas.ca

Capacity: 32 seated Booking fee: $300 to $500 Perfect for: Diners seeking a Dionysian feast

6 The Mamakas Group’s private space perched above Bar Koukla isn’t just any back room with a set menu—it’s a stand-alone symposium with skyline views and a menu that reads like Aegean fantasia. Brunch and lunch (from $70 per person) might bring spanakopita Florentine with poached eggs and hollandaise or giouvetsi, orzo baked with calamari and prawns. Dinner (from $90 per person) skews hearty with lamb chops and charred octopus. Cocktail parties come with mezze stations, oysters on ice or trahanas croquettes crowned with caviar. Drinks take up the Dionysian theme: mastiha-laced sours, olive oil–honey margaritas, and a wine list that includes Santorini’s volcanic whites and the reds of Amyndeon.