School Restaurant

Neighbourhood: Leslieville · Address: 70 Fraser Ave, Toronto, ON · Hours: Mon–Fri 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM | Sat–Sun 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM · Price Range: $$ · Phone: (416) 588-0005

Why Visit

School Restaurant draws serious brunch fans with its house-cured bacon, crispy fried chicken and waffles, and a breakfast poutine that actually lives up to the hype. The lines on weekends say it all: locals think it’s worth the wait.

What Makes It Unique

Unlike trendy brunch spots that rely on Instagrammable décor, School takes food seriously—rotating its menu with the seasons but refusing to budge on neighbourhood favourites. They bake their own breads and pastries in-house, and the portions are big enough you’ll probably need a nap after.

School Restaurant is the place in Toronto that a lot of people think of first when they hear “brunch,” and honestly, that makes sense once you’ve been. It’s in a converted schoolhouse on Fraser Avenue in Leslieville, which gives it a slightly odd but memorable setting: high ceilings, big windows, old floors, and a room that feels bright even on a grey Toronto morning. The building itself is part of the appeal, but it’s not trying to be a gimmick. The room has enough character to feel warm and a little scrappy, but the main thing you notice once you sit down is that people are here to eat, not to admire the decor. It’s casual, busy, and very much a restaurant that knows exactly what it is.

The brunch crowd starts showing up early on weekends, and by Saturday late morning the place can feel properly packed. You’ll see the usual mix: couples nursing coffees over menus they already know by heart, families with strollers trying to time things before the kids get restless, groups of friends who clearly decided this was the one meal they were going to take seriously, and the occasional out-of-towner who’s heard about the fried chicken and waffles and came prepared to wait. There’s a steady hum in the room once it fills up. It’s not a quiet, contemplative spot; it’s more of a lively, practical brunch room where plates land fast, servers move quickly, and most tables are focused on food first and conversation second.

The fried chicken and waffles is the thing to order if you’ve never been before. It’s one of those dishes people talk about in Toronto with a level of certainty that can be a little suspicious, but in this case the hype is deserved. The chicken is buttermilk-brined, bone-in thigh, which matters because it stays juicy even after frying. The crust has enough seasoning to taste like something on its own, and it keeps its crunch against the heat and steam of the waffle instead of going limp halfway through the plate. The waffles are golden, slightly crisp at the edges, and sturdy enough to handle the chicken without collapsing into a soggy mess. It comes with hot sauce and maple syrup, which is exactly the right move because the sweet-salty-spicy balance is what makes the dish work. This is one of those plates that sounds heavy until you start eating it, and then it disappears much faster than you expected.

The breakfast poutine is the other permanent anchor on the menu, and it’s worth ordering even if you think you’re “not really a poutine person.” It’s built the way it should be: fries, cheese curds, house gravy, and a fried egg on top. The gravy is made daily, the curds are fresh, and the egg yolk turns the whole thing into something richer and a little messier in the best possible way. It doesn’t feel like a novelty dish designed for a menu photo. It feels like a real, deeply satisfying breakfast that happens to use poutine logic. If you’re the kind of person who wants a little salt, a little richness, and something that lands squarely in the “I’ll need a nap later” category, this is the move.

There are other things worth paying attention to too, especially if you go more than once. The house bacon gets mentioned for a reason. It’s the kind of bacon that shows up with enough presence to make you realize how many brunch places treat it as an afterthought. Here, it’s part of the draw. The kitchen also rotates seasonal dishes based on Ontario produce, which helps keep the menu from feeling like a frozen brunch museum. In summer you’ll get brighter, fresher plates that make sense when tomatoes and berries are actually good, and in colder months the menu leans more comfort-forward. That seasonal flexibility matters because it means School isn’t just surviving on one or two famous dishes, even though those are definitely what most people come for.

The coffee program is taken seriously, which sounds basic until you’ve been to enough brunch places that treat coffee like a punishment. Here, the espresso is proper and the milk drinks are made with care, so you don’t feel like you need to go somewhere else afterward just to get a decent cappuccino. That matters at brunch more than people admit. If you’re planning on lingering, working through a newspaper, or just stretching the meal out while catching up with someone, it helps that the coffee holds up. Weekday mornings can actually be a better time to appreciate that part of the experience because the room is calmer and you’re not fighting for attention or elbow room.

The neighbourhood context is part of why School works the way it does. Leslieville has a very specific feel compared with other parts of Toronto: a little residential, a little design-y, a little industrial around the edges, and full of people who are willing to line up for good breakfast but don’t necessarily want the overly polished, downtown-brunch sheen. Fraser Avenue gives the restaurant a slightly off-main-street quality. You’re not stepping out into some polished dining strip; you’re in a part of the east end where cafés, creative businesses, and old industrial buildings all sit close together. That keeps the whole experience from feeling too staged. People often come here as part of a longer Leslieville morning — coffee nearby, maybe a walk after, maybe a browse in a shop, maybe just back home to collapse on the couch. It fits that rhythm well.

What makes School different from a lot of its competitors is that it doesn’t feel like it’s chasing trends so much as refining a few dishes it already knows are good. A lot of brunch spots in Toronto try to overwhelm you with novelty: giant pancakes, overbuilt sandwiches, smash-burger hybrids, whatever happens to photograph well that month. School’s menu feels more grounded. The food is recognizable, but the execution is what separates it. The chicken is crisp without being greasy, the waffle is balanced, the poutine doesn’t feel like a stunt, and the seasonal items are there to support the core rather than distract from it. That’s why people keep coming back. They know exactly what they’re getting, and they know it’s going to be done properly.

The honest reality, though, is that this place gets busy fast, and if you show up at the wrong time on a Saturday, you’ll be waiting. Sometimes the wait is manageable, sometimes it’s enough to make you rethink your whole plan. If brunch time is the goal, the best strategy is simple: get there early, or go on a weekday if you can. Saturday morning is the classic choice because that’s when the room has the most energy, but it’s also the most competitive. If you’d rather avoid the line and eat with less of a scene, a weekday lunch or late morning visit is usually a better bet. You’ll still get the same kitchen, but without the pressure of people scanning tables like hawks. If you do go on a weekend, don’t show up with a huge group unless you’re prepared to wait longer. This is one of those places where two or four people can get seated and served much more smoothly than eight.

The other practical thing to know is that School feels best when you lean into what it’s good at instead of trying to make it into something it isn’t. This isn’t the kind of brunch spot you go to if you want a slow, lingering, all-afternoon, bottomless-drink kind of thing. It’s more focused than that. The service tends to be efficient, the pacing is brisk, and the room turns over in a way that keeps the energy up. That can be great if you’re hungry and want food that arrives at the right temperature and in the right mood. It can feel less ideal if you’re hoping to camp out for hours. Bring a little patience, expect a bit of noise, and plan to actually eat rather than just browse the menu and chat forever.

What people do here, in practice, is pretty straightforward: they order the chicken and waffles, the breakfast poutine, maybe bacon or another seasonal plate, get coffee, and settle into a brunch that feels more substantial than cute. A lot of diners come back because it’s reliable. You’re not gambling on some elaborate special that might be good today and gone tomorrow. You’re ordering the dishes that made the place matter in the first place. And in a city where brunch can sometimes feel overcomplicated or weirdly performative, that reliability is part of the charm. School Restaurant doesn’t need to convince you with flourishes. It just has to land the plate, keep the coffee coming, and let the food do the talking.