Windsor Arms Hotel Reviews

Windsor Arms is one of Toronto s oldest charmers. Located in the middle of city s contemporary skylines it demands respect & authority.

From the moment you lay your eyes on this old, historical architecture, you know the walls of this beautiful building hold so much history and secrets. It s elegant and posh.

My friends and I decided to do a ladies brunch to celebrate one of my friend s recent engagement. We reserved a table for 10 months in advance for high tea experience, which can only be booked off on a Sunday for a slot of 2 hours. We all dressed up for occasion and wore fascinators & birdcage veils and made my friend s day extra special with lots of memorable moments to recall.

Tea selection was broad and each one was tasty. They had different alcoholic beverages for those who wanted brandy or mimosas. There was an ok selection of finger food and sandwiches but not for those with food allergies. Deserts were great but again lacking choices for those with food allergies.

Unfortunately I can not say much about food. Few ladies and myself do not consume gluten or dairy products and this place did not have many options to accommodate people with food restrictions. The person that attended to our group seemed really clueless about food allergies and kept on confusing our orders.

Windsor Arms has a valley parking available for $30, which is super convenient or you can park down the street for $10 if you re lucky enough to find parking space available.

The entire experience was great and as a bridal shower slash engagement celebration, this was a perfect venue for the occasion.

Had a high tea here over the holidays and frankly it could have been better.
The clotted cream had been sitting out for so long it was pretty much solid.
The sandwiches largely lacked flavour and attention to detail. And some of the snacks looked a lot like frozen cocktail snacks although I'm sure they weren't.
Our server didn't bother to run down the items that were brought to the table leaving us to guess what was what.
Finally the desserts came out in odd proportions so that sharing amongst 4 was impractical.

The highlight were the tea, which was rather nice though plain (I'll fully admit it maybe just I chose a boring tea), and a few items on the menu were passible.

On my trip there happened to be a rather audible family sitting nearby who made the atmosphere a bit less enjoyable as they didn't have the nicest things to say in general. But otherwise we enjoyed the room and the rest of the atmosphere well enough and the staff was very friendly.

at a wedding here I thought it was way over booked,,,they crammed about 300 gusts into a venue that should only support 200....

Fantastic time !! High tea great service from Connor ! The food was perfect !!

It is a very clean establishment. The staff is very personable and is there to help you. The hotel itself is an attraction of its own with beautiful architecture and unique decor. Recommend!

Went to the Windsor Arms for a professional breakfast event. The staff was very good, polite, helpful upon arrival. As you would expect, it was a very well kept and we'll maintained establishment. Location is nicely tucked away from the busy traffic of Bloor. Easy to get to. Would attend another event there and strongly consider staying overnight.

Unfortunately, the service received was less than mediocre. I was there for high tea to celebrate the birthday of a family member, who recently gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. Both server and manager forced us to pay for the infant (under 1 year old) and the two toddlers (2&3 years old), even after we clarified during reservation AND upon arrival that the kids would sit on their parents' laps. We asked if there was a children's fee and the server said "No, don't worry about it. I'll just bring them tea.". And then he turns around and tells us at the end that we have to pay FULL PRICE ($45) for the three kids. Has anyone ever heard of $45 tea... For children under 4 years old?! Who didn't even eat anything? The server and lady who booked the reservation should have clarified that, especially because we gave full disclaimer TWICE. The manager was no help and in no way understanding. He kept saying "A lot of people complain and don't like it, but it's policy.". The decor and setting was very nice, and the tea selection was great. It was just unfortunate that the service and "policy" left a bad taste in our mouth.

Attended a wedding here. The venue space at night is really pretty when it s lit up. Wasn t really my style but it was a nice venue.

Why the 3 stars? Here are my reasons

1) the washrooms, although nice, are located on the second floor. The only way to get to them is to take the elevator, the stairs are off limits to guests. Super annoying to have to go upstairs.

2) the food was... okay. Reminded me of regular banquet food. I ve been to other venues and have had better food. It also came out cold which was disappointing

3) although the venue was neat, it was dated.

Overall expected more for the price tag attached

Poor service, employees dont appear to care about their customers, had a horrible interaction with a employee named kal who made my experience there horribly unforgettable. When asked to speak to a manager he put forward his lacky Jason the EVENTS manager, who was not any better. Will never be coming back and dont recommend this place to anyone.

Went for the Sunday Brunch buffet. Service was excellent, however the food selection was nowhere near what we've experienced in the past. Not sure if this was due to the low number of reservations, but the number of dishes and their quality wasn't up to par.

My friend and I went for high tea which was great but the server never came back once during I meal to check on us. We had to wait at least half and hour after finishing our meal before anyone came back for us to pay.

The High Tea with some of my favorite ladies was amazing.

Very tasty, aromatic teas and a good selection for the afternoon tea. Scones are large and be sure to ask for more jam/cream as you'll likely run out!

Great high tea! I pop down for high tea when staying at the hotel!

Venue was beautiful and staff was amazing. Would visit again!

Had tea - there was a cookie we called the "disappointment cookie". Also wished we could've had tea samples to smell before ordering.

Hotel can use use a facelift, but the staff there are very nice and welcoming.

Amazing buoutique hotel. Offers Kosher dinner menu.

WE had the WORST Christmas dinner at the Windsor Arms 2013. Where do I start? Candle wax dripping into the prawns and tomato bocconcini salad? People eating from the buffet with their hands?
The biggest mistake I made was paying, I only did so because the MGR said that he was busy helping an older lady find her boots ( that had disappeared from the coat check! He said that we would meet up in the next few days to discuss ( I told him that we had come from Vancouver and planned this special evening ).
I have emailed him twice and called the hotel twice and no one has even had the courtesy to return the communication. Don't waste your hard earned money. The owner seems not to have many social graces either.

We dined at the Courtyard Cafe. It s a very cozy atmosphere, it s nicely decorated and themed. Service was fast and attentive. They also play live music.

Terrible High Tea Experience. Slow and poor service. When the tea finally came out, it was ice cold, and we had to send it back. I spoke with the manager on the phone the next day, who confirmed they would send us gift cards. They never sent the gift cards, but they also began to dodge my phone calls and emails so they became entirely unreachable after the event.

Very poor customer service, and do not recommend to the public. I have been to other High Teas since, and had a wonderful experience!

We went for high tea for mother's day. The quality has gone down from the last few times I've been there. I've been there 4 times in the last 5th years. The scones are still delicious and fresh.

I went for High Tea. The service and ambiance were perfect. The food however delicious was very sparce as compared to the Fairmont Royal York.

We went for afternoon tea. The food was very good, the scones in particular was outstanding.

Please dont try the fish n ships. Is a disappointment

I love the renovations - much better. I hope you continue to post live performances like Paris night on eventbrite. Will definitely come back for the music, food, drinks and atmosphere. Excellent tequila. Thank you...

Good quality tea as always, as well as top notch scones. However, the service for the twilight tea session was not up to par. The service took a long time to take our orders as we were seated in a room (since we had a toddler), and took a lot of effort to get subsequent requests. The setting was also off, and we were missing multiple pieces for cutlery that we had to fetch ourselves.

Service was great, tables were a bit small but they accomodated that by having a small side table attached. Food was good and tea was delicious. I felt that their scones were a bit too big and the savoury items couldve been a bit bigger. Everything else was great. Great selection of teas as well. I loved the decore in the room next to ours, I felt that the room we were in was a little too dark.

We went to Windsor Arms for afternoon tea. We had to book it pretty late because it is a popular venue and only the 3:30 and 5:30pm times were left. When we got there the front desk took our reservation and someone took our coats, before leading us to one of their tea rooms. The room was lovely to say the least I was in love with the different colours of each of their tea rooms. The China was fine and sanity, and their tea selection is honestly amazing. I had the Black Velvet which was spiced perfection, each person gets their own pot of tea which they will top up with hot water. Their scones are hot and fresh and their jams are not too sweet. Honestly one of the best times of my life.

AttendEd a high tea event. Tea was great, the snacks were really good. Good clean environment

The front desk people, the valet, the tea room staff and the manager were all great. We were there as a large group for a shower and they made the afternoon special. The tea service was lovely. The only issue we had was that the man in overseeing the restaurant, where we retired to afterward had a lot of attitude.

Came here the other week for afternoon tea with my girlfriend. Girlfriend really enjoyed it. Nice ambiance, staff were very accommodating and pastries were delicious

About their tea room: I've had afternoon tea there twice now and both experiences where really great! Their tea menu is really nice, the food is delicious and the service is really good. The tea rooms are beautifully decorated and everything is enchanting. I really recommend having this experience.

Loved the tea time experience !!!! Will 100% come back

Had an amazing brunch with a friend. Lovely authentic atmosphere and good food. Will be back

I was looking at the venue for an event. It's a beautiful place.

It was as you would expect at Windsor Arms: Elegant, subdued, excellent food and service. A truly enjoyable Christmas Dinner.

Came for the food. Spectacular ambiance and food. Recommend!

Awful service! Don t waste your time at this hotel. The customer service is severely poor; staff members are rude, unprofessional and unwilling to help. Don t bother escalating your problems to management, they are just as unprofessional as their staff.

Rooms for high tea is pretty small, and i dont know why they didn't prrpare enough pretty tea pot for every customer. Food was just okay.

Went for high tea for my aunts 100th birthday. Amazing ambience and service. Beautiful tea rooms and even a large rack of tea-time hats for rent if you choose. Delicious scones and small sandwiches and deserts. Great place to look for celebrities as well.

Writing this review from the hotel bed. What a great hotel. Staff were amazing. Rooms were clean and very quiet. We stayed at Shangri-La last time and while we really liked it, my wife and I would come back to Windsor Arms instead. Walking distance to great shopping.

I had a spa pedicure with Mona Lisa. She did an PHENOMENAL job! She is personable, easy to speak to and knows what to do. I came with shellac nail polish, without advising in advance, and despite being thrown off of the direction of my services and the delay, she took her time, removed the shellac and did not make me feel guilty for misinforming the staff. She s great and I recommend her to anyone doing spa or facials here!

My husband and I did not stay at the hotel but attended the high tea. Many of the sandwiches were delicious, but you could tell that they had been sitting out for awhile, which was disappointing. For the price we expected a bit better.

Very disappointed after getting good recommendations. The service was poor and we waited more than 20 minutes after sitting to even be acknowledged and we had to go and track down someone to come.

The quiche pastry was not cooked and the filling was runny. The croissants tasted like Pillsbury ones from a can and could not have been made in house. The scones were heavy and the 4 we had differed in size by more than 50%, which is careless and resulted in some being over baked and some under. The jams were tasty but extremely runny. The sweets were terrible in flavour other than the truffles, which were overly sweet. The tea was fine and plentiful.

Would not recommend for the price unless you are really invested in the prestige name, which is really all the place has going for it.

Visited the spa for my birthday and what a perfect occasion. The experience stated with excusite welcome by the staff and made us a stimulating mint tea. Began with a relaxing sauna and swim in the near 80 degree pool. Next a one hour deep tissue massage. Con

The food at High Tea was really not very good. We enjoyed our tea, parts of the room were cute but a bit run down. The China was not very nice or fun. We didn't eat most our food. The taste and look of it all made us loose our appetite quickly. It looked old like it had been made yesterday and had no flavour.

Great service by all staff who served us at our luncheon. #MagicalKenya #IloveKenya #Journeytheglobe #Safaris

Great property, amazing service. Truly a nice hotel.

I went with my 4 year old daughter for high tea with a group of girlfriends. This is not the first time I've gone high tea with my daughter but it certainly is the first time where I've been advised that she needs to have a full tea set and pay regular adult price. I never knew there was even such a thing as paying by head count for high tea. My daughter is 4. It is impossible for her to eat an adult size portion. It's disappointing. I won't be coming here for high tea anymore and I would not recommend anyone to come. That's poor service. At the very least have kid tea sets and kid pricing like other hotels.

Disappointed at the fact I made a reservation a month and a half in advance and got it cancelled by this "tea house" because of TIFF, I'm sorry but that's not how you do business. You guys are something else. Please don't bother me after this because I'm not looking for a hand out. I just want everyone that does read reviews that customers mean nothing to this place, and its not worth the time or money.

Attended a wedding reception here. Very convenient location a few minutes away from subway stations and the University of Toronto. Service was superb and all the staff I met were very friendly. Quality of food was excellent, including the hors d'ouevres. Second floor was a bit tight on space for such a large group (80+ guests) with only balcony space and a few rooms. Decor is overall Victorian/European, and looks quite beautiful especially if you're into that kind of style. One tiny inconvenience is that there is no washroom on the first floor so you have to take an elevator one floor up. Overall, I really enjoyed my time at the hotel and would definitely consider holding future events here!

Was there for a baby shower high tea style. Being early, I went to the bar for a pint and felt like I had stepped in Cary Grant's bar. It was an amazingly elegant afternoon. Dress up and treat yourself.

I went to the tea room for my girl friend's birthday. I enjoyed the food and tea. She also enjoyed the room.

Great tea and food but a noisy party disturbed our quiet afternoon tea.

Went for afternoon tea, the tea was great and the decor was beautiful, the staff was friendly but the food wasn t up to par, I would have liked a better menu.

Lovely decor and service was great! We went for afternoon tea. Our server took the time to explain each tea variety and made recommendations. The only thing I did not like were the scones- they were a bit stale.

I have had high tea at Windsor Arms many times and thoroughly enjoyed it because their service was exceptionally friendly and their selection of foods was amazing. Because I ve had great experiences with high tea I thought it would carry over to their spa as well.

Unfortunately it did not.

Again the service was great but it wasn t what I expected from a five star hotel. I am completely fine with spending and indulging for spa services but Windsor fell short of my expectations. My aesthetician for my my Organic Oxygen facial was friendly but the service was a bit sloppy. The music wasn t relaxing and the water taps were very noisy when she moved around. She was very kind though! What was most disappointing were the amenities. There wasn t a comfortable lounge area and the pool area felt like a regular motel pool. My friend and I found it more comfortable chatting in the change room than we did lounging in any other area of the spa.

I think the amenities would be fine as an addition to a hotel stay but it was definitely not worthwhile for a relaxing day at the spa. I would recommend high tea but I would definitely not recommend spending money here for a spa.

It wasn t my first time at the Windsor arms for high tea. The tea rooms are beautiful but I did find a hair in my food . I Discreetly told a waiter (my waiter was no where to be found) and he replaced my dish . the restaurant was full and I didn t want to make a scene but for a 5 star hotel they should have claimed responsibility for this. They didn t offer to compensate some of the bill and no manger came to apologize. I was charged taxes on my voucher that I purchased from groupon and when I received the bill they charged me taxes again and they also included gratuity. Valet was $30

I understand that serving staff rely on tips but I didn t think he deserved 18% tip

Absolutely terrible experience. You could find many other 4/5 star hotels for high tea that has respectful and polite staff. The staff was very unprofessional with our party, and failed to solve any of the issues we faced during our time there. Set a very low standard for such a high rated hotel

Did a take away for Afternoon tea during Covid. Absolutely loved it - the scones were so buttery and nice! Sandwiches were good too!

Worst experience ever! Event organizer beware! We hosted a party with 150 guests. Many also booked rooms in the hotel and reserved for the Valentines dinner.
Our guests received sub-standard service.
If any event organizer still plans to use this venue for an event, make sure you have everything on watertight contract.
Everything that was promised became "unavailable" or "ask the owner" after we paid.
The hotel promised 4 speakers, we received 2. The set up of the dance hall was to include lights, at the last minute we were told to bring our own, hospitality suite speakers "were suddenly non existent", The pool "open 24hrs" became "closed", no ice was available in the room, no sheets for the beds nor extra towels. The 20% discount on the rooms we were promised also "disappeared".
Coat check went from $2.50/coat to $5/coat. Drink prices were outrageous.
The owner, George Friedmann, walks around the hotel commanding his staff like a tyrant. We couldn't even get a box of matches without the staff "asking George".
I can't comment on the food because at the end of the night, after bringing all this business and promotion to the hotel, I was even refused a glass of water!

I have never stayed there because I live in the area, but its my go to for Sunday brunch. Super selection and I love the atmoshpere of this hotel.

Went there for afternoon tea. It was nice and quite environment. The waiter was enthusiastic and friendly. The food was good too.

I stayed here for a few nights for a convention. Absolutely great! Staff was kind and very accommodating.