What to eat, drink and do at the city’s new arcade bars

Why just drink a beer when you can pair your pint with a game of Pac-Man, ping-pong or pinball? Toronto’s nightlife has gone full barcade. Here, eight spots in the city where the menu comes with a side of fun, plus what to order at each.

Oche

Forget the dingy darts pubs of yore: this sleek King West game hall pairs nostalgia with tech. Thirteen interactive dartboards track your score (and remind you of the rules once the cocktails kick in), and the shuffleboards are tricked out with digital tallies. Prices start at $20 per person for an hour of darts or $32 for two hours. And if you’ve had too many drinks to throw pointy projectiles, there’s a private karaoke room waiting in the wings.

Food and drink: Haute pub grub with a British accent—scotch eggs, fish and chips, curry chips, masala-dressed cauliflower. But, this being Toronto, the menu also features flank steak skewers with chimichurri as well as pizza, including a patriotic pie called the Commonwealth that involves house-cured maple bacon. Creative cocktails, including some on tap, round things out.

Best for: Semi-competitive players who’d rather sip than keep score.

Brkfree

At this 25,000-square-foot playground in Mississauga, teams earn points racing through 35 rooms of high-tech challenges. Some test math or geography; others have you scaling walls, dodging motion sensors or staging a jailbreak. And since the goals aren’t spelled out, you’ll need to puzzle them out on the fly with teamwork, problem-solving and a dash of athleticism.

Food and drink: A greatest-hits lineup of crowd-pleasing deep-fried, cheese-drenched snacks. Wash it all down with beer from Ontario’s first self-serve tap wall, which pours 20 rotating craft brews and ready-to-drink cocktails.

Best for: Those who like their puzzles with a side of cardio.

National

This Calgarian chain rolled into the basement of the Well, Toronto’s glossiest new mall, late last year. The 800-person playground packs in 10-pin lanes, arcade games, foosball and ping-pong. But, instead of the usual sticky plastic chairs, there are plush leather banquettes and table service. It’s fancy, hi-fi bowling—less Big Lebowski bathrobe vibes, more King West cocktail chic.

Food and drink: The menu reads like a cardiologist’s nightmare—tater tots, burgers, pizza, fried pickles, doughnuts. The drinks list leans heavy on craft beer and classic cocktails with modern twists.

Best for: Bowlers who care more about splitting nachos than pins.

Related: Everything to eat at Wellington Market, the Well’s fancy new 70,000-square-foot food hall

Tha Phae Tavern

Nuit Regular has made a career out of reshaping Toronto’s Thai dining scene. Compared with her other restaurants, Tha Phae Tavern cranks the volume—think karaoke rooms, a photo booth and a claw machine stuffed with plush toys. Just around the corner from Pai, it’s a tribute to the glorious chaos of Chiang Mai’s Tha Phae Gate.

Food and drink: Of all the spots on this list, this one is arcade-lite. Here, the focus is more on the food. Sure, the khao soi poutine and pad krapow beef burger may scandalize Thai purists, but slide them some grilled pork jowl and a Siamese Swizzle (pea-flower rum, St-Germain, lychee, lemon, coconut water, hibiscus grenadine) and the protesting comes to a halt.

Best for: Karaoke crews that care just as much about the cuisine as the chorus.

Related: Tha Phae Tavern, chef Nuit Regular’s new Thai bar, has karaoke rooms and a claw machine

Antisocial Pinball Lounge

Antisocial Pinball Lounge isn’t a bar with games; it’s an arcade with alcohol—and the distinction matters. Home to 76 pristine machines (making it the largest pinball arcade in Canada), the space caters to serious enthusiasts who appreciate full, collector-grade versions of rare titles. Here, there are no kids, sticky food or DJs.

Food and drink: Food is limited to the lounge area, where the only option is pizza from Panago. Drinks come exclusively in cans, but there are 50 to 75 rotating options spanning craft beer (including Clifford Brewing’s Pinball Wizard, of course), ready-to-drink cocktails, energy drinks and some non-alcoholic options.

Best for: Aspiring pinball wizards.

Charlotte’s Room

Now infamous as the place where James McAvoy once got sucker-punched, Charlotte’s Room is a subterranean King West bar outfitted with vintage amusements: skeeball, foosball, billiards, SuperCars racing and Big Buck Safari. The lone upgrade? Two glossy golf simulators that feel almost out of place.

Food and drink: The deep-fryer does most of the heavy lifting in this kitchen, and the bar is no frills—no craft brews or signature cocktails with punny names (but they do carry Henry of Pelham wine).

Best for: Finance bros who think a golf sim counts as roughing it.

Greta Bar YYZ

This Calgary expat fills a 12,500-square-foot heritage space with three bars, a restaurant, an indoor food truck and a dance floor. The vibe falls somewhere between saloon and Millennium Falcon, all wood, brick, velvet and neon. More than 50 games line the floor, including VR Godzilla, Mario Kart, pinball, skeeball and hoops.

Food and drink: Globe-trotting street-food-inspired plates that prize flavour over authenticity (Jamaican patty spring rolls, birria grilled cheese). Drinks lean sweet and sneaky, with cocktails like Lavender Haze and Raspberry Refresher, plus a fridge full of domestic and imported beers and that King West requisite, bottle service.

Best for: First dates that need a built-in icebreaker.

Related: What’s on the menu at Greta, a new 12,500-square-foot bar with more than 50 arcade games

Midnight Arcade

From the crew behind Big Trouble Pizza comes a second-floor shrine to retro games in Kensington Market. Midnight Arcade is loaded with vintage machines, all free to play until the weekend cover charge kicks in after 9 p.m. The lineup is gloriously random, racing and horse-betting sharing space with Bomberman (a cartoon demolition derby), Bishi Bashi (a frantic Japanese party game) and a pixel-poker Texas Hold ’Em that looks like it was coded on a toaster.

Food and drink: Pizza, of course, but topped with things like red curry chicken or eggplant and shiitake mushrooms. The menu is a fusion of Asian and Western junk food: sticky gochujang wings, jalapeño poppers stuffed with nem nuong and cheese. The booze stays on brand with Tsingtao, Sapporo and Asahi, plus cocktails spiked with soju and sweetened with yuzu and Calpico.

Best for: Broke students chasing free games and cheap beers.

Tilt

Reopened in 2023 after a two-alarm fire gutted its old Dundas digs, Tilt has levelled up on Queen West. Billed as Toronto’s largest retro arcade, it’s packed with 90-plus machines—arcade classics, pinball, console booths and more—all free to play. The deal is simple: $10 at the door buys you unlimited games, no timer ticking down.

Food and drink: Nearly two dozen beers (including some hard-to-find gems), cocktails that hew close to the classics and food that’s pure cheat-night fare—fries, tots, nachos, hot dogs, pierogies and poutine.

Best for: Grown-up gamers who want a serious beer list.

Spin

Okay, this one isn’t new, but it was one of the first. The King West lounge treats table tennis with the gravity of Wimbledon—except with better cocktails and louder music. And if your game’s more flailing than forehand, no problem: every booking comes with a bottomless basket of balls. Lose one? Just grab another and play on. Staff with butterfly nets flutter around the room, rounding up the escapees.

Food and drink: Warm pretzels with smoky cheese dip, mac ’n’ cheese bites with tomato jam, and a carbonara-inspired hand-pulled pizza. As far as drinks go, cocktail pitchers take centre court.

Best for: Big bashes that call for custom-branded ping-pong swag.