For nearly thirty years, tucked beneath the bustling streets of downtown Toronto near St. Lawrence Market, The Reservoir Lounge has served as an intimate sanctuary for live jazz, swing, blues, and authentic hospitality. We sat down to discuss the history, the jazz ghosts, the chef-driven menu, and how this iconic speakeasy continues to define Toronto nightlife.
Photos by Daniel Neuhaus for The Reservoir Lounge.
1. The Reservoir Lounge has developed such a distinctive identity within Toronto’s hospitality and live-music landscape. What was the original vision for the venue, and how has that vision evolved over the years?
The original vision was pretty simple, bring the room back to live music.
It had been one of Toronto’s original jazz rooms back in the 80s, then went through a few different lives, including being a pool hall. When we took it over, the room just felt like it wanted to be a jazz club again. We didn’t really design that feeling—it was already there. The brick walls, the basement, the old speakeasy feel.
Over the years the music broadened into swing, jump blues, boogie, soul, Motown, and funk, but the basic idea never really changed: great live music in an intimate room, good food, good drinks, and no big production around it.
We’ve always had some of the most talented homegrown musicians in Toronto on that stage, and that’s really the heart of the place. Michael Bublé honed his chops here, Jeff Healey made this stage almost like his home stage—and a lot of people don’t know Jeff was a huge jazz fan and also played trumpet. Over the years we’ve also had people like Tom Jones, Prince, Rod Stewart, and so many others wander through.
I think part of that is because the Reservoir is private without trying to be exclusive. It’s tucked away, intimate, and authentic, and people can just be themselves.
I always say we’re really just the guardians of the room. Not that I believe in ghosts, but some very strange, completely unexplainable things have happened over the years especially when the music wasn’t quite right for the room. So we blame the jazz ghosts very friendly, very mischievous.
Almost 30 years later, the city has changed and the music has evolved, but what the Reservoir is about really hasn’t. The room is about the music. I think that’s what the jazz gods wanted it to be all along.
2. In an increasingly competitive hospitality market, what do you believe separates a memorable, elevated guest experience from simply providing good food, drinks, and entertainment?
I think it’s whether a place actually has a soul.
You can build a beautiful room and have great food and drinks, but people know when something feels manufactured. The Reservoir has history, personality, and incredible live music happening right in front of you.
It’s never been overly polished. People end up dancing where there really isn’t a dance floor, the musicians interact with the crowd, someone comes in for one drink and suddenly they’re there until closing.
That little bit of unpredictability is what people remember.
3. Music is such an important part of The Reservoir Lounge experience. How do you curate the relationship between live entertainment, atmosphere, cuisine, cocktails, and service so that the evening feels cohesive from the moment a guest arrives?
The music comes first. Always. But the food is a much bigger part of the Reservoir than most people realize.
Everyone says “chef-driven menu” these days, but ours actually is. George, my partner in every sense of the word, is a Swiss-trained chef who has opened and operated multiple restaurants around the world. We were doing smaller tapas-style sharing dishes way before that became such a thing.
And I’ll be honest, the cocktails are old school. Nothing fussy, nothing pretentious. Proper martinis, classics, drinks you actually want to drink.
And not to brag too much, but we were one of the first places in Toronto to have an apple martini. A customer actually brought us sour apple liqueur back from the U.S. because you couldn’t get it here at the time.
So yes, people may come for the music, but they definitely stay for the food and drinks.
4. Today’s luxury consumer is increasingly looking for authenticity, intimacy, and experiences with a sense of place rather than formality alone. How has The Reservoir Lounge responded to the changing definition of luxury hospitality in Toronto?
I’m not sure we really responded to it. I think people just started wanting what we were already doing.
We’ve never been formal and we’ve never tried to be “luxury.” It’s intimate, a little hidden, a little rough around the edges, and very real.
To me, there’s something pretty special about sitting ten feet away from an incredible musician, having a great dinner and a martini, in a room that has almost 30 years of stories in it.
You can’t really manufacture that.
5. Toronto is one of the world’s most multicultural cities. How has the diversity of the city influenced your clientele, private events, entertainment programming, and overall approach to hospitality?
It has completely influenced us that’s one of the best things about the Reservoir.
You can look around the room and see people in their 20s, people in their 70s, tourists, regulars, musicians, people on dates, families sometimes three generations sitting at the same table while someone half their age is dancing beside them.
Our musicians are the same: different backgrounds, different generations, different styles of music, and somehow it all works together.
Nobody really has to fit a certain mould to belong there. That feels very Toronto to me.
6. For brands, authors, designers, entrepreneurs, and companies looking for something more distinctive than a traditional ballroom, what kinds of private events and brand experiences can The Reservoir Lounge accommodate?
We’ve done almost everything over the years—weddings, birthdays, corporate parties, product launches, private dinners, TIFF parties, film wrap parties… some very normal events and some definitely less normal ones.
The room already has so much personality that you don’t have to create one from scratch.
We can really build the whole evening around what someone wants—the menu, cocktails, live entertainment, timing, layout, all of it—while still letting the Reservoir feel like the Reservoir.
That’s always the key for me: don’t fight the room. The best events are the ones that work with it.
7. How would you recommend that I or other clients interested in private events begin the booking and creative-planning process with your team?
Honestly, come and see the room.
Pictures don’t quite explain it. Come downstairs, have a drink, look around, and tell us what you’re thinking. Then we figure it out from there food, music, cocktails, timing, whatever makes sense.
We’re not terribly corporate about the process. Usually, it starts with a conversation, and that’s probably the best way.
Photo Credit: Daniel Neuhaus
Interview by: tosin@weddingplannermag.ca
