Now & Later

Now & Later is a Bloorcourt double life: espresso bar and bottle shop by day, low-lit natural wine bar running old school hip-hop and R&B by night. No cover, no dress code, no line, just one of the west end's easiest good nights. Here is the full picture.

What it's actually like

The room is small and warm, the kind of spot where the counter you ordered a flat white from at 10am is pouring you an orange wine at 10pm. Records and vintage pieces are for sale on the shelves, the lighting drops after six, and the soundtrack is the whole personality: 90s and 2000s hip-hop and R&B, played like someone's very good personal collection rather than an algorithm. Window seats up front are prime for Bloor Street people-watching, and the back patio is where summer nights stretch out.

Bloorcourt has quietly become one of Toronto's best bar strips, and Now & Later is its low-key connector: mellower than a Piston show night, looser than a straight natural wine bar. It is known for the crossover, coffee people who stay for wine, wine people who come for the music. The patio programming (comedy, open mics, pop-up shops) means some random Tuesday you wander in and there is a whole thing happening out back.

Know before you go

Now & Later Fridays & Saturdays

Friday and Saturday are the real nights, when the place runs until 2am and fully switches from cafe to bar. The turn happens around 6pm when the espresso machine hands off to the wine list, and the room fills gradually through the evening rather than in one rush. Peak is a relaxed 10pm to midnight crowd. Sunday through Thursday it closes at 9pm, so treat weeknights as a wine-and-records early evening, not a night out. No need to arrive early, but on a warm weekend the patio seats go first.

Get on the Now & Later guestlist or book a table

Drop your name and we'll take it from there. Want a table instead? Same form, pick bottle service.

Now & Later: the full review

Address & location

1007 Bloor St W, on the north side of Bloor just west of Dovercourt, in the middle of Bloorcourt. It is a ten minute walk from either Ossington or Dufferin station, whichever end you come from. Look for the corner-store-sized frontage with records in the window; blink and you will pass it.

The room

One narrow room that works hard: espresso bar and counter up front, shelves of natural wine bottles, vinyl and vintage clothing for sale along the walls, a handful of tables and window seats. It feels like a friend's very curated living room, not a designed venue. The back patio roughly doubles the space in summer and hosts everything from comedy nights to pop-up markets. There is no dance floor and nobody pretends otherwise; the music is for the room, not for a rave.

Who's there

Bloorcourt and Dufferin Grove locals, mostly late 20s through 30s. Creative types, dates that started as coffee and turned into wine, people picking up a bottle who stay for a glass. It is friendly and unpretentious; solo drinkers at the counter are normal here. Nobody is dressed up and nobody cares.

What's great

The soundtrack is the draw. Old school hip-hop and R&B all night, and reviewers consistently call out the music as the reason they come back. The wine list punches up. Low-intervention bottles with actual descriptions, and you can take one home at bottle-shop prices. The cocktails are a sleeper. Owner Jeff quietly makes some of the better drinks in the west end. Zero friction. No cover, no list, no attitude at the door because there is no door staff at all.

What to know going in

It is small. A busy Saturday means standing room and a wait for tables. It is not a club. If you want a dance floor at 1am, this is your first stop, not your last. Weeknights end at 9pm. Do not roll up Thursday at 10 expecting a nightcap. The patio is seasonal and weather calls it.

Move like you know

Go Friday or Saturday after 9 for the full wine-bar version. Start with whatever wine the counter recommends, they know the list cold. Ask what is on the turntable, it is that kind of room. In summer, check their Instagram for patio events before you go, a comedy night changes the whole evening. Grab a bottle to go on your way out; the shop pricing makes it the best souvenir on Bloor.

The music

Old school hip-hop and R&B is the house identity: think 90s and early 2000s, played warm and loud enough to matter but low enough to talk. Daytime runs mellower cafe fare, then the switch flips with the 6pm handoff to wine. There are DJ nights and pop-up events layered on top, mostly weekends and patio season, always closer to a listening session than a party set.

What to wear

Whatever you have on. This is a neighbourhood room: vintage tees, denim, sneakers, the occasional date-night fit. Nobody is checking anything at the door because there is no door. If you show up in bottle-service attire you will be the most overdressed person on the block.

Cover & getting in

Free, always. No cover, no guestlist, no minimum. The only entry strategy is getting a seat: weekends after 9pm can mean hovering for a table, so come as a two or three, not a nine-person birthday.

Age limit

19+ to drink, and after dark it operates like a bar. Daytime it is a cafe, so nobody is checking ID for a flat white.

Now & Later FAQ

Where Now & Later is

Making Now & Later your Friday opener?

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Before you head out, check the Toronto club dress code guide and how guest lists work.