Categories: Food & Drink

Take a first look at Toronto’s incredible new 5-level Italian restaurant

Mamma mia, Toronto’s new 5-level Italian restaurant is finally open! Gusto 501 is the 5 times as huge little (big?) sister of Gusto 101, one of the city’s most delicious Italian spots. Get ready for carb envy.

What to do when you’ve built a successful restaurant? Build another, of course. Optional step: give the new one a borderline confusingly similar name. It fits though, because the new spot took over the old location of an auto body store at 501 King East.

Gusto 501 has been in the works for a few years now. It includes an open-concept main dining space, a semi-private lounge, a chef’s tasting kitchen, a cocktail bar, and a rooftop patio. Dang, talk about doing the most.

The menus change a bit depending on which area you’re in, but overall expect classic Italian fare like cacio e pepe, coppa, and delicious pizzas.

The cocktail bar is paying homage to classic cocktails created by bartenders across North America. The oldest one was created in the 1880s, and the most recent in the 2000s.

We’ve gotta say, it’s pretty cool to order a margarita viola and see that it was made up by Carlos Hererra in Tijuana circa 1938. Most places don’t credit their drinks like that.

The interior design was done by the same people behind Bar Raval. We’re big fans of the textured wood wall behind the main staircase, as well as the absolutely massive pizza oven. Biiiig pizza boi. It’s all cozy, dark vibes in here. Perfect for a drawn-out weekend dinner

Planning on stopping by to check it out? Spaghetti on us!