Library Bar

Library Bar is the Fairmont Royal York hideaway: a jewel-toned, Deco cocktail den off the busy Front Street lobby that the hotel still describes as cloaked beyond a secret corner. James Grant’s room is Canada’s Best Hotel Bar for 2026 and fifth on Canada’s 50 Best Bars — martinis poured tableside, a portrait of chief librarian George Locke over the mantel, a menu that riffs on Ondaatje’s In the Skin of a Lion. The Birdbath Martini is the house legend. Official Fairmont dining page: noon until midnight. librarybartoronto.com lists 100 Front Street West and (249) 402-5312 (hotel switchboard is 416-368-2511). This is a hotel hide, not a fake bodega: you walk into a grand lobby and disappear into a smaller, stranger room. Martini lunch is a real service, not a marketing line. Book if you want the corner banquette; the room is 19+ cocktail serious, not a nightclub.