I am obsessed with this place! I love the traditional ambiance here. It feels like being transported to another world. Friday and Saturday has traditional live music. From what I understand, Friday has more singing, and Saturday more dancing. Even if you don't understand the language, it is so much fun to enjoy. Service is definitely on the slow side - they could hire a couple more waiters. - Borscht: always a good way to start a meal. Soup was nice but nothing out of the world. I enjoyed the smoked meat pieces that were added in. The garlicy buns that came with it were nice and fluffy and delicious. 4.5/5 - Family meat platter with buckwheat and sauerkraut sides: a hefty platter. Nice smoked flavour in a lot of the meats. Everything was juicy and well seasoned. There was enough variety so it didn't feel redundant or monotonous. Usually I am intimidated by blood sausage, but this one was delicious. Does not have a very strong iron flavour, it is moreso umami and meaty. One platter can feed a family of 4 no problem. Sides were well portioned. 5/5 - Sour cherry varenyky: the dough felt a bit thick to me, and I would have loved more sour cherry on top rather than the maraschino cherries. The maraschino cherries are very sweet and pack a different flavour punch, which draws the attention away from the sour cherry filling. 3/5 - Kvas: delicious rye bread flavoured, non-alcoholic beverage. The flavour was rich enough and not too sweet. Makes for a perfect meat and bread combo. 5/5 read more

See all

I didn't quite know what to expect from Barrel House Korchma, as I'm not super familiar with Ukrainian food. But I have to say, I'm very impressed with this joint. The decor inside is quite impressive and the food is even better. We ate a couple of things, the Fried Stuffed Buns and the Chicken Kyiv, and they were both terrific. Both dishes packed plenty of flavor and came accompanied with delicious sauces that enhanced them considerably. Barrel House Korchma seems like a really cool place to have a drink (or three), so I'm sure I'll be returning. read more

See all

Cool vibe , good food. It's a bit different , it seems like the owners invited the family and they love to eat, drink and be merry

Food was great, very traditional Ukrainian. Loved it. Borscht was amazing. With meat, and Vegan. Wait staff was super friendly, quick. read more

Excellent authentic Ukrainian food in a spacious and beautiful restaurant with great decor inside. Located near Humber Bay Park in Etobicoke, Barrel House Korchma is very beautiful inside with various Ukrainian-themed memorabilia (photos, maps, flags, traditional clothing, flowers, posters, etc.) placed along the wooden log cabin-like walls. There is a bar area in the corner of the restaurant, which looks very cozy. It seems to be a great neighbourhood restaurant. There is heated patio at the back. For those who come by car, there is a small paid parking area (very cheap) just around the corner from the restaurant. It's also easily accessible by TTC. The service deserves five stars and more - friendly, VERY quick, and efficient. We ordered a lot of dishes, and they all came out within minutes. Everything was presented very nicely. All the dishes we tried were excellent! They were delicious, fresh, colourful, and healthy (nothing was overly heavy, oily, or creamy). My favourite dishes were the Grilled Salmon (came with a choice of side), Grilled Vegetables (so many different types of veggies including asparagus, green beans, zucchini, eggplant, carrots, mushrooms, bell peppers, onions - nicely seasoned while still fresh and crisp), Vegan Borscht Soup, Stir-Fried Sauerkraut, and Cossacks Potato Pancake with Mushroom Sauce (slightly crispy on the outside, soft and delicously gooey in the inside with mushrooms and other vegs). The Cossacks Potato Pancake came served with a small side of fresh vegetables and small serving of mushroom sauce / gravy. The Coleslaw Salad came in a pretty big portion. It was different than the typical North American coleslaw (which tends to be creamy because of the mayo). The Coleslaw Salad here was made up of very fresh, crisp vegetables. You can make a lot of the dishes vegan or vegetarian. For example: we ordered the Borscht Soup to be made vegan (using beans instead of beef). I loved the combination of beets, tomatoes, and beans in the soup - a hearty yet light soup at the same time. It came served with 2 baked buns. We tried the vegetarian version of the Stuffed Cabbage Rolls (with rice, mushrooms, and carrots filling). It was pretty good, but the rice inside resembled more of a sticky rice consistency (or sticky risotto) with only a little bit of mushrooms. It came with a nice mushroom sauce / gravy. The Nalysnyky (Ukrainian crepes) had 3 choices for filling (chicken, cabbage, or cottage cheese & spinach). We ordered the one with cottage cheese & spinach. It came as 2 rolled / folded crepes that were quite heavy and dense with lots of filling - mostly cheese though. As for dessert options, they offer traditional Ukrainian / Eastern European desserts such as nalynsky with sweet cream cheese filling. Overall, it's an awesome restaurant for a true taste of authentic Ukrainian cuisine. Some of the dishes are not ones that you'd easily find in most other Eastern European restaurants. read more

See all

Food was 4 star, but our wonky table and ambience brough the rating down a bit Charming place celebrating authentic Ukrainian fare. Staff were super friendly , tables and seats were wonky at best bitbtje food was very tasty. Havinf tasted quite a bit of babba made Ukrainian diahes, I found these recipes to be good, maybe a just in need of some salt, but maybe they ate catering to more sensitive palates. Had the kishka dinner (blood sausage) with buckwheat aide beet alad with feta and veranyky with potato and cottage cheese filling. Alsonkrdered the xhicken liver pate which waa so much fancier than expected. Blood sausage had real teztute to the filling and a little heat, but the mushroom gravy for the buckewheat and hiraerDiah beet spread stole the show The dumplings were a bit tangy from the cottage cheese butbtjat onion bacon topping again...so delicious. Will try out more of the menu on future visits for sure read more

See all

What a lovely spot. The decor is quite rustic and dedicated to Ukraine. The food is all Ukrainian and is so hot and fresh, made to order. Also the servings are very large (I had half for my lunch the next day). We started with pierogi. They were very tasty. I had the chicken Kiev which was perfect. With a side of roasted veggies. The veggies are seasoned beautifully. My friend had schnitzel with potatoes. The servers are kind and they made really great suggestions. The food is made to order so make sure you give yourself time for your meal. I will definitely go there again. read more

See all

A bit harder to review this one as I have no experience with Ukrainian cuisine. I had assumed it would be similar to Hungarian, Austrian or Polish and it is but it isn't. There were familiar choices but had different flavours. Flavours tended towards understated/simpler vs the others. Chicken Kiev was quite tasty. Nice crispy crust! I like dill which was prominent. The schnitzel came with cheese and tomato. Not like standard Wiener schnitzel. The mushroom gravy was a bit on the bland side but there was an interesting sweet/sour type sauce that went well with the chicken. Potato pancakes were tasty. The vibe on a Saturday night reminded me of like a large European family get together. Music, dancing, kids running around and everyone having a great time. Servers were super sweet. pretty quick for a really busy night. Overall a fun time with an authentic Ukrainian vibe. read more

Excellent Ukrainian/ East European cuisine. We had the soup and potato pancakes along with the chicken Kiev. There's live music on the weekends We'll return here when we are in the city. read more

TLDR - Ukrainian food is a new cuisine and taste profile to me. The visit to Barrel is a positive and educative foodie adventure, so I look forward to trying out other Ukrainian food places as well. I won't lie; Ukrainian cuisine shows up on my consciousness because of the recent military assaults in the country. I am interested in learning more about the country, so eating at a Ukrainian resto is a start of sort. The three of us visited Barrel House Korchma one weekend for lunch. The server was welcoming and friendly. She recommended a few crowd pleasers to us. Being ignorant of the cuisine, I could not speak to the authenticity of the food. I could attest, though, the food was fresh and homemade. - Borscht was perhaps the most familiar item on menu. It tasted different from what I was used to. It was tasty and fulfilling nevertheless. - Pork Chebureki was so delicious that I felt a familial warmth in my heart. - The server said salo was a local favourite with alcohol. My opinion was that salo was an acquired taste. It was literally slices of fat on thin bread. I agreed the app was best to be shared with others and went down with alcohol. read more

See all

I was curious about cuisine, which I found to be bland. It lacks interesting texturrs and limited flavors. At least the food wasn't served cold. Garlic. Onions. Sour cream. Cabbage. Overbearing pitch of questional politics, with a picture of Bandera (!?) posted prominently. Oh well, won't recommend or go back. read more

Super nice place, with the great Ukrainian cousin. Food & service are amazing. The interior is very interesting around Ukrainian culture and history stuff. They also have a stage for performance. read more

Barrel House Korchma - Borscht & cabbage "nalysnyky" (on the back) - Ukrainian Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

See all

The food reminds me of the food my Baba and my Aunt Mildred used to cook for family occasions when I was a little kid. It also makes me wish I went to Ukrainian school and learned to speak the language instead of resisting so much when I was younger. The young man at the bar made fit right in while I waited for my take out even though I only recognized the odd word. Amazing to see the teens and younger 20's and 30 year olds dance to the Ukrainian music! With my mom just passing a year or so ago Barrel House definitely made me miss my heritage. 110% the place for a true family wedding any day! Donald Patterson read more

Wonderful food. My whole family loved this place. Especially the khachapuri. I hope I get a chance to go again just for that! If we're in the area again we'll definitely go. read more

Food is great. Service could be improved by increasing diversity in staffs. The environment is celebratory and energy is good.

This isn't a review of their food, as we didn't get an opportunity to try any of it. Showed up Saturday night for our 6pm reservation to a half empty restaurant. Gave them all the details, and after some scurrying around, a third person told us that they didn't have our reservation, but we were welcome to eat on their patio (Jan 21st in Toronto) or at the bar. When I tried to show the wait staff our reservation, she kept dismissing it, even though it clearly was made for an indoor reservation (the system allowed for selecting either indoor or outdoor). Lesson learned: do not use their online booking system as they do not honour it. Call instead, and ask them to send a confirmation email/text. Needless to say, we were quite disappointed as we drove from East York to try out this restaurant. read more