Review: Ace Hotel Toronto, Canada

Why book?

This 123-room hotel – the Ace chain’s first in the Great White North – sits at the crossroads of three of Toronto’s most happening ’hoods: Queen Street West and Chinatown to the north and northwest, the nightspot-heavy King West strip to the south. Anything that a discerning visitor could want – sceney wine bars, cutting-edge art galleries, world-calibre dim sum – is only a few minutes away on foot. 

Set the scene

Ace Hotels have often attracted a certain type of alternative traveller more interested in exploring scenes (music, food, art) than visiting tourist sights, not to mention local creatives who tend to appropriate their lobbies as work and entertainment hubs. Toronto is no exception. Seen jostling for seats in the soaring lobby lounge on a recent Friday morning were a revered Canadian chef and his wife, various PR mavens holding court with journalists and clients, and the usual brigade of young downtowners tapping away on their laptops. Architect Brigitte Shim, one half of the husband-and-wife team who designed the hotel from top to bottom, describes the lobby as an “urban living room,” intended to welcome guests from around the world and around the corner. And indeed, to spend a few hours in the space, with its revolving door to the street outside and rows of oversized picture windows, is to recall the bustling ground floor in Grand Hotel, but with toque-wearing hipsters filling the stage instead of Greta Garbo.

The backstory

For its Canadian debut, Ace opted to build a brand-new structure on a tight corner lot in Toronto’s historic Garment District, where local textiles and fashion lines were long ago produced. The 14-story result, designed by the prestigious Canadian architecture firm Shim-Sutcliffe, looks a lot like the elegant warehouses and other heritage buildings that still dot the area (and which Ace often repurposes), but is very much a modern building created for pleasure and rest. Those beautiful red bricks that define the exterior? They appear to have been artisanally made but were actually pre-cast. Similarly, the monumental concrete arches that line the hotel’s lower levels and in fact hold up the place are structural as well as stunning. There is no parking garage at the Ace Toronto, in keeping with the brand’s very urban ethos. And that’s okay, as the hotel has been situated in an eminently walkable part of the city.

The rooms

For a building with such a relatively small footprint, Ace Hotel Toronto packs much into its variously sized rooms and suites, all of which meld the brand’s minimalist aesthetic with distinctly Canadian touches. Among the latter are Douglas fir cabinetry and flooring, custom quilts designed by Canuck artist Kyle Parent, and signature Ace guitars and turntables alongside Canadian vinyl albums curated by Toronto record label Arts & Crafts. In the mini-bars, offerings include such only-in-Canada tipples as Pearl Morrisette cabernet franc and small-batch Beattie’s vodka, while the bathrooms feature handcrafted Pearl+ soaps. Perhaps the most distinctive features of most rooms are the deep-set window benches, many of which overlook the recently redesigned park across the street; they’re perfect for stretching out with a book or magazine after a day exploring the city. 

Food and drink

Most will agree that Alder, the hotel’s subterranean dining room, is a highlight of any visit to the Ace, both culinarily and in terms of ambience. Bathed in a warm glow provided by custom-designed sconce and hanging lights, the restaurant is reached via a pair of copper-coloured steel staircases, which, as they’re being descended, provide the first realisation for many that the lobby bar above Alder is actually a platform suspended from the concrete ceiling high above by thin steel cables. Thoughts of architecture recede, however, once the mostly wood-fired food, overseen by star Toronto chef Patrick Kriss, is ordered and served (don’t even think of leaving the place without trying the grilled carpaccio, the tender grilled octopus and the gluten-free coconut cream pie). At roof level, the recently opened bar Evangeline offers small plates, DJs on some nights, a terrace during warm weather and killer views of the city. It’s the perfect place to cap off an evening with a signature Ace Martini, composed of local gin, vermouth, mastiha and a splash of tarragon brine. 

The neighbourhood/area

Although it sits within easy access to three of Toronto’s most visited downtown enclaves, Ace’s site at the juncture of two unassuming side streets wasn’t initially a lively one. That’s quickly changing. Directly across the street from the hotel, a former waterworks building capped with a new condo complex is about to re-open as a much-anticipated food hall. To the immediate south on King Street West, a massive residential complex by the starchitecture firm BIG will soon add new apartments and retail to the ’hood. It’s unclear which of these projects made it to the drawing board first, but Ace Hotels do often galvanise the areas in which they alight.

The service

Service can be described as intermittently solicitous and casual. On one occasion a phone call to Room Service for ice (tiny cork-covered buckets are provided in each room) may result in rapid delivery to the room; on another, it may require a trip to the basement-level ice machine. Attention is more consistent in the restaurant, where Alder’s Scottish-born general manager provides excellent recommendations (and repartee) and servers go as far as dictating the order in which dishes should be consumed. Service in the busy rooftop bar – especially once the DJs start spinning – can be hit or miss, although the drinks generally flow and the food is just as tasty as it is in the main restaurant.

For families

Not too many kids were spotted at the hotel during a recent two-night stay, although that reimagined park across the street – actually dubbed St. Andrew’s Playground Park – offers plenty of amenities for small fry. Mostly, though, the hotel itself is a playpen for grownups.

Accessibility

The hotel is fully accessible, with a prominent entrance ramp leading wheelchair users and others directly to the front desk. A small number of accessible rooms offer roll- or walk-in showers.  

Anything left to mention?

Like other Ace hotels, the Toronto property incorporates a wealth of art by local artists throughout its premises. Perhaps the most prominent here is Horizon Line by lead co-architect A. Howard Sutcliffe; a mural composed of weathered, stained and untreated plywood pieces, it towers over the tables at Alder and is meant to suggest the twinkling waters of nearby Lake Ontario. Almost every floor of the hotel, however, is peppered with works by Canadian talents both emerging and well-known, including such names as Dennis Lin, Nadia Gohar, Guillermo Trejo and Claudia Gutierrez. Be sure to seek out as many as possible over the course of a stay.