No Vacancy

For a new venture, No Vacancy has a surprisingly polished swagger. The menu is inventive and engaging, the room slick and sultry — all awash with soft lights, warm wood, exposed brick and tomato-burgundy accents.

Which makes sense, considering beverage director Troy Gilchrist’s resumé is a narrative of Toronto’s cocktail history. He splashed liquid nitrogen in the early aughts at Lucid, stirred Steakhouse Martinis at Harbour Sixty (the first one) and created tropical cocktails at Miss Thing’s. He toggled with retirement (in bartender-speak, going corporate) until his now business partners made him an offer he couldn’t refuse: Make a bar you love.

“No Vacancy is a tribute to all the places I’ve been,” says Gilchrist. Martinis are icy, liquid nitrogen is employed, and Japanese influences creep in (his favourite bar is Tokyo’s Bar BoTaNiCal).

Shōchū Highballs (Chū-Hai) are front and centre, some faithful to Japanese drinkers (like the rice shōchū–Calpico–mango iteration) and others doctored to a local palate (lemon cordial and Perrier). The menu’s two-page spread of Japanese whisky is an ode to an obsession. A more clandestine stash will emerge if fellow nerds inquire.

They are doing things right here. Jessica Blaine Smith

Gilchrist and head bartender Kat Yu investigate flavours and unusual ingredients but also understand the allure of the classics. Paraphrased, the Flicker Flicker Baby — a subtly warm, slightly spicy blend of tequila, sake, mezcal, sherry, jalapeño, grapefruit and lime — is a spicy Margarita. Pineapple Pen — pandan-infused Planteray rum, acid-adjusted pineapple, pink peppercorn and liquid nitrogen–muddled mint — is a Mojito.

Nitrogen-muddled this and clarified-that aside, No Vacancy’s primary purpose is to show you a good time. Recently, the bar’s bubble gun broke — a major drag.

Safe to say, this bar nails near-impossibles. It’s cool but warm and welcoming. Drink ingredients can be whimsical and weird, but everything is extremely drinkable. It’s a freshman bar with senior swagger and, for those reasons, No Vacancy reigns as our best new bar of 2026.

–Kate Dingwall