Jenna Kaplan

Such a fun brunch experience in the city and I can’t believe I didn’t come sooner! Amazing deal at only $30pp for Sunday brunch and the buffet is amazing! Best things in there were for sure the latkes and the blintzes! Honourable mention to the pickles as well. The klezmer band was so much fun and everyone in the room was singing and clapping along. It just brought such life and energy into the room! I will 100% be back because this was so much fun!

Mary Mendoza (Admin)

Free Times Cafe is my favourite place for great live entertainment, great food, great service, and positive vibes. I have performed at Free Times Cafe multiple times, and held my music school recitals there. If you are a Music school owner or an event planner or planning a special occasion, I highly recommend booking your next event at Free Times Cafe. They literally have everything you would need for a successful event and working with the owner Judy and the rest of the staff have been a wonderful experience. I look forward to my next visit soon!

Anna Suki

Good entertainment for the night there was live music and also performers who were singing karaoke. There is a $10 entrance fee or it’s pay what you can and also there’s a minimum spending of six dollars for whatever drink is on the menu. My friends and I had a good time. We loved the performers for the songs that they chose to sing. I would recommend if you just wanna have a good time listening to people sing, or play the guitar or piano.

+2

Nigel Turner

Been here several times. Today I was in line at Bruger King and recalled that Free Times have burgers and real coffee. So i strolled down the street to Free Times. In previous visits i usually have their chicken sishtawok or falafels. This was the first time I've had their burger. It was very good. Much better than Burger King.

LAST DAYS of WINTERLICIOUS on Feb 9, 2023! The delightful, friendly, classic, efficient & cozy Free Times cafe at College & Major is participating in Winterlicious 2023 with a prix-fixe 3 course Lu…

I'm giving a perfect score for the Matzah ball soup alone! Every decadent bite transported me back to the old country -- aka my bubby's kitchen. The soup is incredible and unleashed a time capsul…

Get the latkes. Super fresh excellent crunch. \n\nComes with sour cream and in house apple sauce .\n\nPatio is open

Beloved for keeping music live alive, Free Times Café is a hot spot by Toronto’s Kensington Market. Souls who know go for the great food and great live music, but mostly for the great people. Fulfi…

Beloved for keeping music live alive, Free Times Café is a hot spot by Toronto’s Kensington Market. Souls who know go for the great food and great live music, but mostly for the great people. F…

Beloved for keeping music live alive, Free Times Café is a hot spot by Toronto’s Kensington Market. Souls who know go for the great food and great live music, but mostly for the great people. Fulfi…

Wandered across this place by accident having had our original choice in Kensington Market being closed. Had the special of the day, which was an omelette, and the smoked salmon bagel. Both wer…

Came for a comedy show, enjoyed excellent appetizers and the best whiskey sour I've ever had. Service was great. Chairs were uncomfortable though .

Excellent Jewish buffet as usual. The music was cancelled due to illness and they didn't call us even though we had a reservation. This was not appreciated.

Came for the buffet on the weekend. Was very interesting! I've not experienced something like that before. \n\nThe food was delicious. My favourite was the latkes with apple sauce. The applesauce w…

Came for the buffet on the weekend. Was very interesting! I've not experienced something like that before. \n\nThe food was delicious. My favourite was the latkes with apple sauce. The applesau…

Not a food review. Came here for a stand up comedy event and just got some drinks. Cozy little cafe and there seems to be a lot of traditional Jewish food that seemed interesting (we didn't try i…

Not a food review. Came here for a stand up comedy event and just got some drinks. Cozy little cafe and there seems to be a lot of traditional Jewish food that seemed interesting (we didn't try it …

Not a food review. Came here for a stand up comedy event and just got some drinks. Cozy little cafe and there seems to be a lot of traditional Jewish food that seemed interesting (we didn't try it …

I ordered a bagel and lox, which came with a salad of chickpeas and kale. The very agreeable waitperson agreed to substitute lettuce for the kale. I asked for an untoasted bagel. A plate arriv…

Came here for a comedy show. Neat location and atmosphere, the food was okay, nothing spectacular, but also not bad.

it's a good hangout place but the menu is limited and very very expensive! \nthe food is decently good and so are the drinks the servers and the vibe but you can find much economical options with t…

it's a good hangout place but the menu is limited and very very expensive! \nthe food is decently good and so are the drinks the servers and the vibe but you can find much economical options with t…

I attended a special event, and was billed ahead of time for the meal: $25 + tax. I said I’d pay the tip at the end. The owner came up and said unless I paid the $5 mandatory tip in 5 min, I would be…

Steve smith

Friends and I thought to try this place during our stop in TO and after seeing a lot of good brunch reviews. We loved the ambiance and decorations. Thats where it ends. Tbh.. the food was underwhelming. The latkis tasted old and heated from a previous day. The eggs were luke warm and wet. Some of the salads were good but everything else tasted like leftovers. What bothered us the most we ordered a large orange juices. A large glass came filled with ice top to bottom, with maybe 1 cup of juice. Each one was 8 dollars each. I paid the whole bill with a 20% tip.. on the way out our server told us to go back and tip the accordion singer and no thank-you for her tip. The nerve!! Not at all impressed. We won't return

Isabella (Bermudabella)

I'm sure in days gone by, this place was legend. Went on Sundays second sitting for the breakfast buffet. Everything felr like it was left warming for a long time likely from the first seating. Nothing felt freshly made. Latkes were dry and tough as was the challah toast. The blintzes too had been left warming to the point the cheese had become extremely grainy. A table of four that arrived after us were obviously special guests who received fresh food ushered straight from the kitchen to their table. We had 2 buffet meals one coffee and one ice tea with tip and tax was $97. The accordian playing was charming, the complimtary glass of mimosa a nice touch but the quality of food was disappointing.

I'm a Toronto-based guitarist and composer, trained at Berklee College of Music with international experience and multiple awards (Canadian Born). I reached out to Free Times Café to respectfully inq…

I'm a Toronto-based guitarist and composer, trained at Berklee College of music with international experience and multiple awards (Canadian Born). I reached out to Free Times Café to respectfully i…

Want to get banned?\nTry to just enjoy a show when suddenly being treated rudely by owner and when I requested for a refund she just straight ban you.\nGuess what? \nI can also be rude by writing neg…

Awful food and incredibly expensive! Not the restaurant it used to be. I have been going there since my Mom brought me there in 1987. Used to be great and affordable. Now the food is terrible and…

Awful food and incredibly expensive! Not the restaurant it used to be. I have been going there since my Mom brought me there in 1987. Used to be great and affordable. Now the food is terrible and v…

Bad experience - owner was horrible and displaced a person with back problems to be moved unnecessarily from her seat. Both the food and the drinks are not good at all.

Bad experience - owner was horrible and displaced a person with back problems to be moved unnecessarily from her seat. Both the food and the drinks are not good at all.

Bad experience - owner was horrible and displaced a person with back problems to be moved unnecessarily from her seat. Both the food and the drinks are not good at all.

Want to get banned? Try to just enjoy a show when suddenly being treated rudely by owner and when I requested for a refund she just straight ban you. Guess what? I can also be rude by writing neg…

Service good food sucked WAY too expensive! I have been going there for decades and the food used to be great and the prices were good too but now I will not be back.

service good Food sucked WAY too expensive! I have been going there for decades and the food used to be great and the prices were good too but now I will not be back.

Service good Food sucked WAY too expensive! I have been going there for decades and the food used to be great and the prices were good too but now I will not be back.

It is not often I write to criticize the management of a restaurant but my visit was extremely agitating. I know they have music at 8 PM so I arrived a little early so I could offer to do an intr…

Came for the comedy show last night and had a terrible experience. The owner was hell to deal with. She kept yelling at us, hurling insults, kept pressurizing us to keep on buying overpriced and bad tasting food and drinks even though we didn't want to. Save your money and go somewhere place. Never coming back here again.

The food was NASTY. I was given grilled vegetables that were ice cold and limp. We were served dirty dishes, and upon letting the server know, the dishes were replaced with new dirty dishes. The apple sauce for the latkes tasted as if it had gone bad, and the hummus was gritty. I would never eat here again. Sorry not sorry :(

Alina Pozniak

Good show but not the place. Look at your bill before you pay. They add a 15% tip and a tipping option after. Staff is rude as well.

Alexzander Samuelsson

I want to share my experience here as I went to an event in the back and it was my first time at free times cafe. The food was fantastic, had the brisket sandwich and was so good. The staff were attentative and the atmosphere is homey and cozy, you feel there is a lot of history in the walls which is rare these days. I wanted to share one thing that really took me by surprise. They have an automatic 20% tip policy, and I already had a couple of drinks and wasn't really thinking and really enjoying the performances in the back I wasn't expecting the server to say the tip was included and cancel the tip portion. I was shocked and asked how much, she said 20%, and literally I just tapped not thinking because the flow. But when I sat down it really didn't sit well with me, so I spoke to the staff to share how I felt about it. They said it wasn't mandatory but it certainty felt like it how it was presented. I asked if I could get a refund for the tip and I don't mind giving one even after the experience but I didn't feel like 20% was justified. They refunded it, I offered a tip in cash saying it's not about tipping or not tipping, but them choosing 20% and making it seem like it was what I had to go with was my issue. They refused the tip, I sat back down and finished the show. Overall I liked the place, food was great, but honestly this situation really left a bad feeling about the evening. Nobody wants to feel like they have to do something like tip, especially when they choose 20% for you and then it's on you the customer to ask to change it or refuse. That's not good service and if management wants their staff to get more money, charge a bit more for food and pay staff a fair wage.

Haha Byebye

Hands down the worst restaurant experience I’ve ever had. As someone that has been to probably over 500 different restaurants in over 10 different countries I’m disappointed to say that the WORST one i’ve ever experienced was in my home city, Toronto. The food tasted like it came straight out of a microwave, everything looked like it had been sitting around for days. And that’s not even the worst part of this place! The staff were incredibly rude from the moment we sat down. They acted like we were inconveniencing them by being there. When we were being moved to the other room to watch a performance the waiter made us carry our drinks while we were clearly struggling to carry our jackets, bags, and cameras (since we were photographers for the event) and he was carrying nothing. What really pushed me over the edge was how they kept trying to force us to order stuff we didn’t want. There is a sign that CLEARLY states you must order one food OR drink item which I will include a photo of below, we both ordered extremely ridiculous priced cokes and a lemonade. ($8.50 for a regular sized glass of lemonade and $5 for a glass of diet coke which didn’t even come with a lemon wedge by the way). And honestly if it was a nice restaurant that wouldn’t have been an issue whatsoever but the place is run down. Then, we are told we MUST order food by the manager and waiter, even though my friend previously called the restaurant and asked if there was a gluten free menu which by the way the lady on the phone lied to her about and said “yes we have a gluten free menu”. So my friend told our waiter that she couldn’t eat because of celiac disease, which he didn’t even know existed and still kept pushing her to order something after we explained to him that she would be hospitalized by any contact with gluten. The waiter then leaves and comes back without apologizing and says well you can get this salad, which she obviously says no to just based off of what we had been dealing with the entire night. On top of that when we get to paying for our drinks the manager adds a tip onto my friend’s bill and did not give the option to leave no tip- if the service wasn’t so embarrassing and disrespectful this wouldn’t have been an issue. We felt pressured, ignored, and insulted.I genuinely don’t know how this place is still open. Don’t even waste a single BREATH speaking to these people. Let alone any money or time. Rating: 0/5. If there were an option for negative stars, I’d use it.

Elizabeth Farmer

Expensive with bad service. A fatty brisket sandwich is $17.95 and doesn't even come with a side. Fries are $5 which is ridiculous. There was an intoxicated man sitting near us playing music and videos very loudly on his phone. When I asked the server to ask him to turn it off, he said that if the man wanted to listen to his phone, he could. He seemed to be friends with him. So a huge zero for atmosphere.