Bar Prima : One of Toronto’s Most Beautiful Restaurants

Bar Prima was built on a feeling — the feeling of walking through a door on a busy Toronto street and landing somewhere else entirely. “We wanted to create a room where, as soon as you walked in, it felt like you weren’t in Toronto,” says Julian D’Ippolito, who opened the restaurant in October 2023 as part of the Alter Ego Group alongside co-owners Craig Harding and the Scarangella family. “It definitely feels like you’re not on Queen Street.”

The seventh restaurant in what is now a nine-concept portfolio, Bar Prima sits on Queen Street West in a 70-seat room that punches well above its footprint. It won Canada’s 100 Best Restaurant Design award in 2024, landed on the national list, and has built a reputation as one of the most talked-about Italian rooms in the city — all in under two and a half years.

Gold Leaf, Murano Glass, and a Ceiling That Glows

The design, by Ali McQuaid of Future Studio, is unapologetically theatrical. The ceiling is recessed and covered in gold leaf — hand-applied by craftsman Andrzej Kisza, who specialized in gilding mansions in the 1980s before the technique fell out of fashion. Mirror-lined walls reflect a 1960s marble floor pattern. Velvet drapes and tweed curtains frame a room lit by 70s-era fixtures. A floor-to-ceiling window made of Italian Murano glass anchors the front.

The main floor holds about 50 seats; downstairs, what the team calls the “club room” adds another 20. “Our design team did a great job,” D’Ippolito says — an understatement, given that the space earned a national design award within its first year.

Savoury Zeppole and a Maritozzo Full of Liver Mousse

Chef de cuisine Nicholas Iaboni runs a menu of 25 to 28 dishes at any given time, built on the idea of taking Italian classics and making them do something unexpected. The approach is playful but never frivolous — every twist earns its place on the plate.

“We do stuff like zeppole, which are normally sweet, but we make them savoury with cacio e pepe,” D’Ippolito explains. “Maritozzi, which is a traditional Roman donut filled with whipped cream — we fill it with chicken liver mousse and then put caviar on top. Just things like that, having fun with it.”

The results are, in his words, “super tasty, bold, and undeniably Italian food” — dishes that reward the regulars who get the references and delight the newcomers who don’t.

The Scallop That Launched a Thousand Tables

The signature dish arrived almost by accident. D’Ippolito had planned to put oysters Rockefeller on the menu, but there was a problem — he doesn’t like oysters. When a supplier showed up with beautiful scallops on the half shell, the idea clicked. Scallop Rockefeller has been on the menu since day one, and it’s become the dish that tables feel incomplete without.

“If a table doesn’t get it, it’s kind of like, oh, what’s going on here?” he says. “That’s how popular that dish is.”

For those who want the full tour, there’s a $110 chef’s menu that runs through the entire menu — stuzzi, antipasti, pastas, mains, contorni, dessert — with some dishes in reduced portions and others that aren’t on the regular menu at all. “We use those menus as an opportunity to showcase things that might be hitting the menu in a couple of weeks, stuff we’re experimenting with,” D’Ippolito says

The cocktail program matches the kitchen’s energy. The Uncut Gem — both visually striking and well-built — has been on the menu since opening night. Martinis are a cornerstone, with caviar service and a seasonal martini menu during the holidays that rotates spirits and garnishes.

“Bartenders are just so creative,” D’Ippolito says. “Our design team created such a great room that all we’ve got to do is kind of live up to that — put stuff in really nice glassware, make sure it’s tasty, and execute.”

Fun Dining

D’Ippolito is careful about the distinction. Bar Prima is not fine dining — it’s what he calls “fun dining.” Fine dining is too stuffy. This is a room where you can dress up or show up casual. Where the playlists matter as much as the plating. Where the staff wears uniforms but the mood stays loose. And where consistency, seven nights a week, is the standard.

“Whether you’re coming on a Monday or Friday, whether it’s a casual night out or you’re celebrating something, I feel that Bar Prima can tick all those boxes,” he says.

What he’s proudest of isn’t the awards or the press — it’s the team. “Restaurants are nothing without their people,” he says. “We have a lot of people that have been there since day one.”

Written by Fabie Lubin
Photography by Alter Ego Group

Updated on May 11, 2026

Make a suggestion