Hogtown: Pub and Oysters in Toronto

Hogtown Pub and Oysters in Toronto is located in the Little Italy neighbourhood. I was meeting up with my friend Flo for a pre dinner meal while I was in town. Always good to catch up with friends over appies and drinks. They are a local favourite and have locally sourced produce where possible. You will also find a good amount of local craft beers on their menu too.

Interior

The restaurant is pretty narrow and has a good pub feel with all the picture frames on the walls and the booth style seating. Good for small to large groups.

Drinks

My friend got a ginger ale and I got Stiegl grapefruit radler, which is delicious, light and sweet. A good Summer drink.

Oysters

We got a dozen oysters for $30 and I thought it was a bit mediocre. If you’ve ever had a fresh West Coast Oyster, these didn’t compare. I think these were from the East Coast and it has more salty notes to the taste. If you love oysters, they do have some specials throughout the week if you want to save.

You can add some sauce to the oyster to give it some added taste. My personal favourite is always a drop of tabasco sauce.

Mussels

Mussels sauced with either white wine and garlic, zesty tomato or green curry. We went with white wine and garlic sauce and it was pretty delicious. There is toasted bread served with it too. The mussels inside the shells were pretty small sizes.

Sauteed Octopus

This dish has tender octopus served with chorizo sausage, purple fingerling potatoes and rapini tossed with their secret octosauce. It was a good dish that I really enjoyed.

Final Thoughts

Being from the West Coast in Vancouver, the seafood doesn’t compare, but since Toronto is far from either coast, I hear that local do love this place. Perhaps I just have higher standards since its readily available to me. It’s still a nice place to chill over drinks and bites with friends.

We rate Hogtown Pub & Oysters: