King West's Hotel À Toi swaps Coffee Oysters Champagne for moody lobby bar this month

Eight years after opening on King West, Coffee Oysters Champagne is checking out. Taking its place later this month is Hotel À Toi, a moody cocktail bar disguised as a French boutique hotel where guests can stay late but will have to sleep elsewhere.

The transformation is partly an attempt to recapture the novelty of the original concept. When Coffee Oysters Champagne opened in 2018, its blush-pink oyster bar concealed À Toi, an elaborate speakeasy modelled after a 1920s Parisian hotel lounge. Guests who requested a tour of the champagne cellar were led through a hidden door to the sort-of-secret space. However, operating the two concepts under separate names, websites, and social media accounts made the business difficult to market, says Forthspace Hospitality founder Sanjay Singhal.

The solution: unite both sides as a single hotel-inspired concept spanning two eras. Hotel À Toi will serve as a relaxed spot for coffee, cocktails, and after-work meetups, while the hidden À Toi space will function as a theatrical setting for dinner and drinks. The King West façade will get an awning bearing the Hotel À Toi name. Inside, the former oyster bar's high-top tables and pearly palette are being replaced by lounge furniture, a concierge desk, and deep shades of navy, burgundy, and emerald. The old champagne-cellar entrance will become a gift shop concealing the door to À Toi. "Once you go through the secret door, you're in another place," Singhal says. "The people are different. The atmosphere is different. The drinks are different."

Hotel À Toi is dropping its predecessor's champagne fixation in favour of a new cocktail program. Each classic-leaning drink will arrive with a free snack, candy, or miniature dessert—an Aperol spritz paired with tangy lemon candy, for example. The front bar will have a revamped food menu still being finalized, while À Toi will continue to offer a separate menu. Despite the new identity, Singhal isn't abandoning the venue's established niche. "We've always laid claim to being the best date experience in the city, and we're going to continue to be that."