Toronto Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Toronto | 207.86m | 53s | Graywood | Kohn Pedersen Fox

Who would paint their place yellow like that? Ew gross.

I would assume that Ritz-Carlton will enforce white facing outwards curtains and blinds just like most condos. So that should take care of that. I'm looking forward to seeing the place filled up, to see how it changes the look.
 
Over on tripadvisor the Ritz has gotten exellent reviews for the most part, exept for this one.....

“Probably ugliest hotel in Toronto”

"Surprisinly ordinary looking -- like something that would have been considered fresh and interesting in the 1970s. Poorly designed, cheaply executed, forgettable finishings -- it's shocking how widely the designers missed the mark with $500 million. I expected Ritz to have the old school glamour of Royal York, the attention to quality detail of a St. Germain, the vibrancy of the Thompson ... instead it looked like a Holiday Inn at a sub-standard middle American city. Unbelievable how removed from this century and hospitality industry the managers, investors and designers of the Rtitz appear. Oh, and the poor staff seem to have zero training as they fumble around nervously and clueless"



http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUser..._Carlton_Toronto-Toronto_Ontario.html#REVIEWS
 
I've heard that 40-50% of these type of online reviews of hotels are made by competitors. I have no source or any idea how remotely accurate that is, if at all, but just something I heard about, something akin this particular post.
 
The interiors are a bit too understated for a what one would expect from the Ritz brand. It certainly doesn't come across as being very opulent, and the furnishings look like anything one would find in a new downtown condo.
 
Adrian Brijbassi Toronto Star http://www.thestar.com/travel/ontariooutings/article/954908--6-000-a-night-in-toronto#article

Like a lot of people, I wondered who would rent it.

At $6,000 a night, the Ritz-Carlton Suite at the luxury brand’s new Wellington St. location sounds outrageous and out of step with these times, when wounds of the recession remain fresh. The suite is intended for political dignitaries as well as business executives and celebrities who want to show off. So, when I was offered the opportunity to be the first person to spend a night in the suite, I first pondered what I would do with it, and then I thought of “Risky Business” and Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll,” the film’s signature song whose first few chords evoke musings of mischief behind closed doors.

I concluded that I should test the 2,500-square-foot space by using it for a party — one without Hollywood-inspired shenanigans. The suite has a full kitchen, dining room for eight and living room with a 50-inch LG HDTV. A handful of guests from different walks of life joined me.

The Ritz is exquisite, of course. Chef Tom Brodi, whose restaurant Toca (the name stands for Toronto, Canada) is on the second floor of the hotel, and his team prepared canapes that included bite-size bison tartar topped with a sunnyside-up quail’s egg and tasty portobello carpaccio with pinenuts, argula and parmesan. Wine director Taylor Thompson displayed his know-how during a tasting of velvety 2007 Pinot Noir from Le Clos Jordanne, a winery in Jordan Station that gained notoriety in 2005 after its Chardonnay won a blind-tasting against global heavyweights in Montreal. General manager Tim Terceira has assembled a staff of dignified professionals who converse affably with guests and marvel themselves at the Ritz’s décor, views and ambience.

“It’s understated elegance,” says Terry O’Neill, a world traveller and party guest that night. “I thought it would be in your face with over-the-top opulence, but it’s not. You feel very at home, very human here.”

That is the real dazzle. You might think Ritz-Carlton — a century-old hotel empire known for its collection of five-star ratings and high-profile roster of guests — would be so full of itself it would import its luxury trappings from abroad to this market, home to its 74th property. The biggest surprise, though, is the immense effort the hotel and its restaurants have made to celebrate things local, whether it be artwork featuring Ontario’s windswept landscape, wine from Prince Edward County, or fine cuisine using ingredients from the GTA and Niagara region.

“Luxury is now about personalizing the experience,” says Terceira. “People have to feel comfortable being themselves.”

The Ritz is known for mixing local flavours with luxury flair from elsewhere. So, you’ll also find Italian-designed glass light fixtures and stylish Anigre wood from Africa along with floral arrangements from Toronto’s Jackie O and spa treatments declared to be “Proudly Canadian.”

No matter where it comes from, it’s refined, and that goes extra for the showcase unit.

Check-in for the Ritz-Carlton Suite takes place in the suite itself, with Toca-branded sparkling wine handed to you before you receive the keycard to the premises. The suite features an elliptical machine, a second bathroom for visitors, a Bose sound system with MP3 dock, and an impeccably decorated study with an iPad and library collection that suitably carries a volume of “The Best Poems in the English Language.”

The suite’s evening turndown service includes the laying out of sea salt and a soothing bottle of specially made bath oil, displayed amid candle light. The walls and heated floor of the immense master bath resemble a museum hall. Its mirrors feature embedded HDTVs and the shelves are saturated with Bulgari bottles. When someone says “five-star”, this is tangible evidence of the term.

Guests of the suite have use of the Club lounge, which features five food settings a day, including a large breakfast with some of the best pastries in town and a decadent dessert service that starts at 8 p.m. In-room dining can be provided by Toca or Deq, the hotel’s casual bar that is sure to be home to one of the hottest patios in the city. It can hold 100, features an open-air firepit for pizza-making and a view of the CN Tower that will no doubt make many necks ache. Once Bay St. discovers it, Deq will overflow.

The amenities are superb, but the suite isn’t faultless. It could use a doorbell, for sure. Parties often wind up in the dining room or kitchen and when ours did it was impossible to hear a knock on the suite’s front door. We received a phone call telling us a hospitality worker was outside waiting to bring in a room service order. And the entertainment unit, with a series of remotes, is confounding. To fully enjoy it, you would have to spend too many minutes to figure it out, and you wouldn’t want to do that during a short stay.

I can see the suite being rented for business meetings, small cocktail parties similar to ours, special family occasions and weddings, whether it be a place for the bridal party to assemble before or after a reception or as the spot for an intimate ceremony.

“Everything is very tasteful. It’s incredibly high end, from the art to the food to the furniture, but you don’t get the sense they’re trying so hard to impress you,” says Joya Paul, an artist at the Distillery District. “It’s class, on a level everyone can appreciate and feel welcome in, even if a suite like this is beyond what you can afford.”

Full disclosure: The Ritz-Carlton (181 Wellington St. W.) supplied the suite and two-hour cocktail service. I paid for additional dining and in-room charges.

JUST THE FACTS

WINING: The Toca-branded bottles come from four different Ontario vineyards. Niagara region’s Cave Spring serves the Cabernet-style red, Flat Rock provides the Chardonnay-style white, and Stratus Vineyards delivers a Riesling-rich icewine; Huff Estates from Bloomfield bottles the sparkling wine. Huff will display Ritz-Carlton flags on the rows of grapes that produce the wine for Toca.

DINING: The delicious bison carpaccio ($18) at Deq will be a hit.

FRATERNIZING: The Ritz’s executives are adamant they aim for the hotel to be more than just a skyline presence in Toronto and a draw for rich out-of-towners. “We want to be part of the community, we want to involve the community,” says Rainer Zinngrebe, the hotel’s director of food and beverage. “It’s important for us to make that connection. We can’t be something that feels at arm’s length for people who live here.”

WEB SURFING: For all of what’s included in the Ritz-Carlton Suite, see the hotel's website.
 
When did tempered design and neutral colours become more personal, and what does understated elegance mean? For me it generates more indifference than anything.
 
Who would paint their place yellow like that? Ew gross.

I would assume that Ritz-Carlton will enforce white facing outwards curtains and blinds just like most condos. So that should take care of that. I'm looking forward to seeing the place filled up, to see how it changes the look.

Hasn't anyone ever heard of sunshine yellow? A wonderful colour that will brighten any day and any decor.
 
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Some pics of (and at) the Ritz-Carlton that simply Dan and myself took about a week ago...

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And three of its neighbour RBC Dexia...

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Nice set of pics - thanks Jason!

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When I go to the Ritz-Carlton in Montreal or Paris, I feel elegant and special as soon as I was inside the door. I did not feel this way at this Ritz, rather like I was in a recently refurbished Sheraton. Where has all the glamour gone???
 

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