(Image: Gizelle Lau)
The glamorous new Ritz-Carlton Toronto is open for business, nearly five years after its groundbreaking in November 2006. The hotel is the first to bear the Ritz-Carlton brand in Canada (Montreal’s Ritz just licensed the name). Housed in a new 53-story structure on Wellington Street West, across from Metro Hall Park and Roy Thompson Hall, the Ritz features 267 guest rooms and suites with a strong contemporary Canadiana theme. Other amenities include Toca, a new restaurant helmed by chef Tom Brodi (formerly of Canoe), Toca Bar, Deq Terrace and Lounge, a 16 treatment-room spa and Toronto’s largest luxury ballroom.
We were there for the opening, camera in hand. Check out our tour of the hotel »
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- Outside the Ritz-Carlton Toronto
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- A club-level deluxe room features views facing Lake Ontario
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- Ritz-Carlton offers special turndown services for children and families, including personalized bathrobes, a teddy bear and milk and cookies
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- For adults, turndown services include a taste of Ninutik pure Ontario maple syrup
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- Living room in the Ritz-Carlton suite. The 2415 square-foot suite also has a spacious living room, dining room, study, fitness area with elliptical machine and luxury bathroom. Starting at approximately $6,000 per night
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- Bedroom in the Ritz-Carlton suite
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- Washroom in the Ritz-Carlton suite features luxury stand-alone soaker tub, Portuguese Estremoz marble walls and heated floors
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- Poolside sun chairs with a view of the CN Tower
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- Private pedicure cabins at the Ritz-Carlton Spa
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- Hydrotherapy beds at the Ritz-Carlton Spa
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- The Urban Sanctuary lounge at the Ritz-Carlton Spa
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- The Ritz-Carlton Spa features a skylight and a massive blown-glass architectural chandelier by Canadian artist Jeff Goodman
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- The Ritz-Carlton Spa includes this corner spa suite for couples treatments and massages. The ceilings are 22 feet high
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- Private yoga studio for hotel guests as well as Toronto locals
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- Deq Terrace and Lounge offers casual dining throughout the day including tapas, flatbreads and charcuterie sourced from the Niagara region. During the summer, the patio opens out onto Simcoe Park and features a brick oven and bar
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- Bar at Deq
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- Library and fireplace lounge at Deq
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- The hotel lobby features a massive sculpture called the Mobius by Jeremy Guy, weighing over 500 pounds
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- The lobby features a handful of bronzed maple leaves embossed into the floor
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- Front desk
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- Toca restaurant features a cheese cave and cheese program developed by Toronto’s Cheese Boutique
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- Private dining space at Toca
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- Dining room at Toca
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- Toca’s chef’s table is hidden away in the kitchen
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- Chandeliers at Toca by Jeff Goodman
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- Outside the Ritz-Carlton Toronto
UPDATE: Check out our look at the Ritz-Carlton’s new restaurant, Toca »
The Ritz-Carlton, Toronto, 181 Wellington St. W. (at John St.), 416-585-2500, ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Toronto .
Our Introducing series explores newly opened restaurants, bars, hotels and shops throughout the GTA. This is not a review. Toronto Life’s starred reviews can be found in their entirety in our Restaurant Guide.
If the hotel in Montreal has been licensed to use the name, then it also “bears the brand”. Not sure the author understands what it means to license a brand.
February 23, 2011 at 10:39 pm | by SilviHaving stayed at the hotel this past weekend with wife and daughter – I can’t tell you how underwhelming the hotel is. 5 start hotels have that feeling of opulence and finish. Still trying to figure why the bathroom doesn’t have a fan, why door to the toilet (to separate from the bathroom) isn’t private in any manner (3/4 glass door without lock). The pool is small with too many sharp corners that jut out into the smimming lanes and a whirlpool that fits 3 comfortably. The staff while nice, is very young and doesn’t provide the kind of experience, knowledge or feeling of a property that has the character and charateristics of other Ritz namsakes. I’d say the lobby lacks intimacy and privacy for its guests – with a small common space and little in the way of niches to enjoy the company or oneself of a friend without feeling like your’e always on display.
December 15, 2011 at 5:01 pm | by Phil