The Ace line of boutique hotels, founded in 1999 in Seattle and since spread across four continents, has earned an impressive reputation for its elegant, effortlessly cool accommodations, with suites that feel like swanky New York apartments, and restaurants overseen by world-class chefs.
Toronto’s Ace Hotel, which opened in 2022, is notable not only as Canada’s first Ace but also as the first-ever Ace to get an original build, from award-winning Toronto-based Shim-Sutcliffe Architects. Your Toronto Guardian recently had the opportunity to spend a mini-staycation as guests of The Ace, where we learned that the hype is absolutely deserved.
The Ace Hotel exterior is the first thing you’ll notice about it, with its striking red brick façade and funky semi-curved entranceway. Stepping inside the suspended lobby, which hovers above wood-fired restaurant Alder (more on this in a moment), you receive a warm welcome from helpful hotel staff, alongside a waiting area/café with comfortable chairs and huge windows, flooding the building with sunlight. The inviting lobby bar serves as a breakfast spot in the A.M., café throughout the day, and offers enticing cocktails in the evening.
Our suite at the Ace Hotel Toronto was simply stunning. Certain Ace trademarks were present – like the loaner guitar, and the record player with a selection of hand-picked LPs with accompanying commentary from Hotel staff – but we were not prepared for how cosy and welcoming it all felt. A hand-written welcome note and bags of artisanal popcorn only added to the feeling of being a favoured guest, not just another customer.
A generous living room area, replete with comfy sofa chairs and widescreen TV (Chromecast enabled) set the mood, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the beautiful tree-lined St. Andrew’s Park. (Ace is nestled in the Garment District near Adelaide and Spadina.) The bedroom itself was just as lovely, with small touches – like the terracotta bedside tables – which underscored the attention to detail for which Ace is known. And it might seem sacrilegious to say this, but the bathrooms (plural!) might have been the most impressive part of the whole experience: one whole room just for the freestanding bathtub, and then another with two – count ’em, two! – rain showerheads suspended from the ceiling.
As staycations go, our time at the Ace Hotel wouldn’t have been nearly the same without our incredible dinner at Alder, overseen by Michelin-starred chef Patrick Kriss of Alo fame. Alder‘s signature wood-fired grill is hard to miss, thanks to the open kitchen concept which lets us watch – and listen to – the hard- and fast-working chefs. (We opted for a table near the kitchen, The Bear of it all too exciting to resist.)
Alder offers a wonderful, Mediterranean-inspired assortment of shareable menu items, with highlights including the melt-in-your-mouth Hokkaido Scallop Crudo, a refreshing heirloom tomato carpaccio, and veggie- and pescatarian-friendly options like the ricotta agnolotti and, our favourite, the halibut with olive, tomato, mussel, and anchovy.
Oh, and let’s not forget the highly addictive potato bread, baked in-house and, as we learned from our server, the “secret weapon” of the menu. Head chef Kriss is best known as the founder of Alo Food Group, for which he has received two Michelin stars (for both Alo and Alobar Yorkville), and one wonders whether another star is in order for Alder, next time Michelin comes to town.
Our evening concluded, as it must, at Ace’s rooftop bar Evangeline, which offers incredible skyline views and a wide-ranging menu of bespoke cocktails. We were there on a Friday night and were pleasantly surprised that, even amongst the weekend revelry, the bar too managed to feel cosy and personal. Looking around, there was an eclectic mix of guests, ranging from date nights to bachelorette parties to older patrons relaxing with a classic martini or three. The marinated cerignola olives with rosemary were a perfect accompaniment.
Making our way back to our room, cocktails in hand and the hallway now slightly more wobbly than earlier in the day, we could not have asked for a better evening. From the welcoming staff to the incredible views to the divine food and drink, our staycation at The Ace was everything we could have hoped for. Thanks to The Ace for the invitation, and to Chef Kriss and his staff for an amazing meal.
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To book your stay at Toronto’s Ace Hotel, click here.
For more Toronto staycation ideas, check out our coverage here and here.
