How to be the It Spot without being annoying about it:

Be invitingly spacious and open, with high ceilings and have bright, Deco-Mod (read knock-off Phillipe Starck) furnishings. Provide a few semiprivate booths and serve a variety of powerful, generously-poured drinks. Employ a wait staff that actually tends to its patrons without making them feel like theyíre doing them a favour. Set up an illuminated wooden bar that smacks at once of a Blade Runner future and an Ocean's Eleven past. Hire bartenders who understand that stinginess is always in bad taste. Package it all in a sit-down cocktail atmosphere within a pulsating area. This is basically what Jen Agg and Tyler Tavener have accomplished with the semi-sweet lounge, Cobalt.

Cobalt has held ground for four years now, having great success with people who have been lucky enough to stumble upon it on the way to other College Street spots, only to see it once again before the night's over. It feels somewhat like a ‘thirties lounge (at the back) and Greg Brady's bachelor pad (at the front) and Regent Park (from the street), but the highly mixed crowd that populate the place gives a modern appeal to the whole Cobalt package.

There's nothing outside to indicate what's on the inside. But if you're in the know, you don't have to ask. DJ-driven lush grooves - rock, throwback, funk - fill the air; the deejay spins his stuff from his well-placed position behind the bar. On weekends that very DJ will be any one of a group of seven that call themselves “Committee.” Like shift work, they amble up to their holy spot, relieving the previous member, in order to deliver the beats to the demanding public. All in the line of duty, my friends.

Late night, the room is notably swankified, as the lights are dimmed, the candles lit, and the cocktail-or-four-after-dinner folks stream in. Yet there isn't that feeling of crowded, anxious, deliriously furious, business-card-sniffing - even with a full house.

Prime time: The crowds generally pick up around 11 p.m., with the standard hyper Friday and Saturday being the most popular nights. An early rush of patrons from the nearby spots, and the locals usually occurs during the early evening, only to be replaced by the hard core regulars who stay for the duration.

Cobalt attracts a hip, professional crowd in search of a mid-scale place to chill, sip cocktails and have a decent conversation. Dress is casual to moderately conservative. You won't feel out of place in jeans and a baseball cap, or dressed to the hilt. Cobalt does a better job of treating the locals and regulars well. But for those coming for the first time, Cobalt is worth the try; and who knows, you might end up becoming a regular yourself.

Upshot: College Street residents think this is their own little secret. - Don Ellis, Martiniboys.com

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Reader Reviews

A comfortable atmosphere
Sophia, Toronto
May 24, 2003
This was the first time I could go for a Martini on College with a group
of friends and actually get a table all together. It was a comfortable atmosphere, and I did not feel as though everyone was rating my outfit. Martinis were less that $10 which is unususal for the area. Overall, a good time to get together with friends.


best kept secret
M. Hicks, Toronto, ON
Oct. 1, 2002
This place was one of the best kept secrets on College, tucked just far enough away from the 905 crowd, now infiltrating west of Bathurst. Now, it's crowded, but still a stripped-down Toronto crowd dominates. Martinis are unique and cheapish. One of the best places to launch weekend evenings.


all glam, plastic, idols of Cher
Terrance Graham Toronto, ON
Aug. 12, 2002
The crowd aside from a few rare exceptions has absolutely no intellect and lacks the much dignified classy spirit where you can find at a few places. It does however cater to the second-handers so it will def. see green at the bottom-line right?


Smoke warning
killercarz, Toronto, ON
May 10, 2002
The ventilation in this club is terrible. Love the visual ambiance, but you may as well smoke a pack of cigarettes yourself while in this club as inhaling firsthand smoke is more refreshing then the air you'll find there. But it really is a cute place.


It’s hot!
Ruto Ford, Toronto, ON
May. 11, 2002
All I can say or have to say is the place that packs em in nicely and there's a reason for it. The crowd can't be wrong. Cobalt has many styles so if your not hip to a certain vibe they are sure to catch you on the flip side. Catch a weekend night there