The New Restaurant In Forest Hill Village Isn't New To The Neighbourhood
Walk north on Spadina Road past St. Clair on a Tuesday night and you will notice the same storefronts you noticed five years ago. Pizza Banfi's sign has been glowing over Lonsdale Road since 1988. Edo has been slicing sushi on Spadina long enough that most regulars can't remember a version of the block without it. What A Bagel still smells like fresh bread from the sidewalk. For a neighbourhood with some of the highest average incomes in the city, Forest Hill Village has a strange track record: contemporary restaurants open here, struggle, and quietly close, while the same handful of institutions keep the lights on decade after decade.
This summer, Gigi's opened at 387 Spadina Road, adding another restaurant to the Village's dining scene.
The space at 387 Spadina Road has a short, unglamorous history. It was most recently Mashu Mashu, a Mediterranean grill that served the neighbourhood for years before closing. Before that, other concepts tried the same address and the same stretch of sidewalk, and most didn't last long enough to become anyone's regular spot. Toronto Life's food desk put a name to something regulars already sensed this July: despite the money in this postal code, the block near St. Clair keeps failing to hold onto anything ambitious, and it's defined far more by its old guard than by anyone new actually making a go of it.
Against that backdrop, the story of Gigi's offers a closer look at a new addition to the Village's dining scene.
As Toronto Life reported, Gigi's opened in the old Mashu Mashu space earlier this summer. Gigi's is named after the late mother-in-law of Mike Kimel, the operator behind Harlo Entertainment, the hospitality group that also runs Linny's and brought Shake Shack to Canada. Gigi's isn't a Harlo project. Kimel grew up a few streets from where the restaurant now sits, and he lives in the neighbourhood today. For him, this one is personal in a way his other restaurants aren't.
Kimel's connection to the neighbourhood is one part of Gigi's story. The menu offers another way to understand the restaurant.
The menu backs that read. Classic pastas, amatriciana, pomodoro, bolognese, all come in under $30, alongside a wide range of small plates spanning Greek, Italian, and Spanish influences: marinated anchovies, polpette di nonna, patatas bravas. There's a splurge option too, Wagyu picanha served with truffle-parmesan fries, but Kimel has said there's deliberately no burger on the menu. He already has that category covered a few kilometers away.
Gigi's is open daily, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week.
None of this replaces the neighbourhood's anchors. If anything, Gigi's success will likely depend on coexisting with them rather than competing directly. Here's the current lay of the strip:
| Spot | Known for | Address | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pizza Banfi | Thin-crust pizza, handmade pasta | 333B Lonsdale Road | 1988 |
| Edo | Japanese, sushi | Spadina Road | Long-running Village fixture |
| What A Bagel | Fresh bagels, baked goods | Spadina Road | Long-running Village fixture |
| Gigi's | Mediterranean small plates, pasta | 387 Spadina Road | 2026 |
Banfi remains the kind of place where staff know regulars by name and the room still fills up on a Friday night. Edo has held its own against sushi spots that have opened and closed elsewhere in the city. Neither is going anywhere, and neither should be treated as competition to a new Mediterranean menu two doors down. If anything, having four reliable options within a five-minute walk of Spadina and Lonsdale is the first time in a while the Village has offered that kind of range without sending anyone up to St. Clair or down to Eglinton.
The timing lines up with something else worth knowing if you're already planning a weekend around the Village. The Forest Hill Village BIA's free outdoor concert series, Music in Suydam Park, is winding down its season this month. The format hasn't changed in years: acoustic performances on Saturday afternoons, 1 to 3 p.m., at the small stage in Suydam Park near the crosswalk at Spadina Road and Coulson Avenue. It's free, it's all ages, and it offers a low-key community gathering at Suydam Park.
The Big Smoke Brass Band, a recurring act in the series, had a Suydam Park date listed on its own touring calendar for September 5 this year, confirming the series was still active heading into the month. Past seasons have typically run for several Saturdays through September, so check the BIA's schedule before planning an afternoon around a concert. If a show is scheduled, walk the dog through Cedarvale Park's off-leash area or along the Kay Gardner Beltline Trail beforehand, grab a table or a slice on Spadina, then head to the park for the show. It's a version of the neighbourhood that existed before this year too.
None of this is a reason to think Forest Hill Village is suddenly a different neighbourhood. It isn't. The tree-lined blocks, the Tudor and Georgian homes, the sense that Spadina Road hasn't changed its personality much since the 1980s, all of that is still exactly what it was. What's changed is smaller: a new restaurant has opened at 387 Spadina Road, adding another option to the Village's dining scene. Its operator grew up nearby, giving Gigi's a local connection as it becomes part of the neighbourhood.
If you've been walking past that storefront for years assuming nothing would stick, this is the season to walk back in.
New Chapter Homes is Claire Speedie's Toronto real estate practice, built around the neighbourhoods she knows block by block, including Forest Hill. If a move, a sale, or simply a second opinion on what your home is worth in today's market is on your mind, start your new chapter with a conversation, not a sales pitch.
Claire has a keen interest in investment properties and looks forward to continuing to help her clients build their real estate investment portfolios.