Leslieville has no shortage of places to eat, but a good date night depends on a room that lets you talk. NOLA sits on Queen Street East in a narrow, low-lit dining room with a full bar along one side — close enough that a conversation carries across the table, not across the restaurant.
The drinks are worth planning rather than picking as you go. An evening reads better when it moves: something sharp and cold to open, a bottle to share once the food arrives, and something warm to sit behind at the end. Here is how we would order it.
Phase One
The Opening Cocktail
The first drink sets the pace. Order it before the food, and order something with an edge to it — sweet drinks close a conversation down, bitter and cold ones open it up. Nothing on our list is priced above $17.
Gin and Olive Tonic
15The One Nobody Expects
Gin, tonic water, olive brine, sprig of rosemary
Olive brine in a gin and tonic is a savoury, martini-adjacent move that almost nobody makes, and it turns the most ordinary drink in the world into something worth talking about. If you want the first round to be a conversation rather than a transaction, start here.
Smoked Old Fashioned
16Slow and Spirit-Forward
House whiskey, sugar, Angostura bitters, twist of orange peel
Smoked at the bar. Give it a minute before the first sip and let it dilute a little — it is a drink to sit behind for half an hour, not to finish before the starters land.
Negroni
17The Aperitivo
Gin, Campari, sweet vermouth, orange peel
Equal parts, bracingly bitter, and the correct thing to drink before Italian food. Pairs with the charcuterie board ($27) better than anything else on the list — the bitterness cuts the salumi and the Gorgonzola.
Dirty Martini
16Cold and Decisive
Vodka, dry vermouth, olive brine, olives
No decoration and nowhere to hide. Absolut is the house pour; ask for Grey Goose if you want it (spirits are priced by the ounce, so you will see the difference on the bill rather than discover it).
More on the bar list: the full range, what is house-made, and every spirit priced by the ounce — see our cocktail bar page. Coming earlier? Happy hour runs from opening — 4 PM Monday to Wednesday, 2 PM on Thursday.
Phase Two
The Bottle You Share
Once the food arrives, move off individual cocktails and onto one bottle between two. Sharing a bottle changes the shape of a meal — you pour for each other, it lasts the whole table, and it costs less than four cocktails. The list is French and Italian, by the 5oz, the 9oz and the bottle.
Prosecco Brut — Santomè, Treviso
12 / 51If you would rather skip the cocktail entirely, open here. A glass each while you read the menu, and the rest of the bottle carries into the starters.
Sauvignon — Antonutti Collevento 921, 2023
15 / 24 / 65One of the two starred wines on our list. Zesty and dry, and the right glass against the calamari ($19), the mussels ($19) or the cured salmon salad ($18) — anything you are eating with your hands early in the evening.
Merlot — Veneto Giusti, 2022
16 / 29 / 74The other starred wine, and the bottle to order with the 7oz Top-Sirloin Steak ($36), which comes with creamy polenta and sautéed mushrooms. Soft, plum-forward and medium-bodied — it sits alongside the beef rather than shouting over it.
Amarone della Valpolicella — Tedeschi, 2021
125Bottle only — there is no by-the-glass pour on this one, which is worth knowing before you ask. Made from partially dried grapes, so it is dense and slow: dried fig, cherry, cocoa. This is the anniversary bottle, not the Tuesday bottle. If you are marking something, mark it with this.
The full list is longer than this. Six whites, seven reds, a rosé and the prosecco, from Treviso to the Languedoc to Bourgogne. See the French and Italian wine guide, or the midweek wine night if you are looking for a reason to come on a Wednesday.
Phase Three
Something Warm at the End
Both of these work as dessert, which is the point — they buy you another forty minutes at the table without another course. Dessert proper is $9; ask your server what it is that night.
Irish Coffee
13Strong brewed coffee, Jameson, sugar, whipped cream
The spirit-forward end of the two. Order it if the dinner ran long and you still have somewhere to be.
Baileys Italian Coffee
13Strong brewed coffee, Baileys, steamed milk, whipped cream
Softer, sweeter, closer to a dessert than a digestif. The one to share if neither of you wants a whole plate of something.
If One of You Isn't Drinking
8Mocktails are built to order rather than poured from a bottle, and there is Heineken 0.00% ($7) and a non-alcoholic Pommies cider from Ontario ($8). Nobody should be holding a soda water across a date night.
Planning It
Booking a Date Night
A few things worth knowing before you book:
When to come
Friday and Saturday evenings need a reservation. A weeknight will get you a quieter room and an easier table; we open at 4 PM Monday to Wednesday and 2 PM on Thursday — see midweek wine night. In season, ask about the patio; golden hour on Queen East is the reason to book early.
If you're marking an occasion
Tell us when you book. See our pages on anniversary dinners, birthdays, and private dining if the party is bigger than two.
Where else to go
We are one option on a street full of them. Our guide to date night restaurants in the east end covers the neighbourhood, and the Leslieville drinking scene is where to go after.
Explore More
Plan the Rest of Your Visit
Make It a Date
Plan Your Evening at NOLA
1161 Queen St E, Toronto. Reservations recommended for weekend evenings; the bar is walk-in if you would rather start there.