What Happened to Reliable Fish… After Restaurant Makeover? (Toronto, ON)
Current status
As of October 2026, Reliable Fish & Chips has closed — confirmed via streetsoftoronto.com, November 28, 2024.
Last verified
What the source shows: Streets of Toronto reported on 2024-11-28 that Reliable Fish and Chips had quietly closed, BlogTO reported staff confirming the closure in November 2024, and Google Places marks 954 Queen St E permanently closed.
- Season / episode Season 3, Episode 22
- Original air date
- Address 954 Queen St E, Toronto, ON M4M 1J7
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What happened after Restaurant Makeover?
Reliable Fish and Chips served fish and chips at 954 Queen Street East, near Queen and Logan in Toronto's Leslieville neighbourhood. Streets of Toronto reported that it first opened in 1930, changed hands several times, and took cash only. Its episode, titled "Reliable Fish and Chips", aired on 2007-03-12 as the twenty-second episode of the third season of Restaurant Makeover, the HGTV Canada series in which a chef and a designer rework one restaurant on a limited budget and a short schedule, with the owners adding matching money. Rotten Tomatoes' season listing sets up the episode this way: the owner, George, wanted to renovate but could not afford to close. Wikipedia's list of renovated restaurants names chef Corbin Tomaszeski and designer Meredith Heron. No source read describes how the work was done on screen, what changed on the menu or in the staff, or how the relaunch went.
BlogTO reported in January 2022 that the restaurant was closing on January 21 because its building had been sold; the article text gives no year, and its web address is dated 2022/01. In November 2024, BlogTO said the building changed hands in 2022 and that the restaurant reopened a few months later with a modern look.
Streets of Toronto reported on 2024-11-28 that the restaurant had quietly closed its doors, with no official announcement; it noted that the restaurant's Instagram account had last been updated on 2024-11-16 without mentioning a closure and that Google showed the business as permanently closed. BlogTO reported in November 2024 that staff confirmed the closure to the outlet and pointed to rising costs, inflation and weaker consumer spending, and described the place as one of the city's oldest restaurants, open almost a century. A Google Places listing for Reliable Fish and Chips at the same address was marked permanently closed when checked on 2026-10-19. Wikipedia's list marks the restaurant as still open, but that entry gives no date or citation, and the dated 2024 reports and 2026 listing contradict it. No source read says what occupies the address now.
Featured on Restaurant Makeover
- Show
- Restaurant Makeover
- Season / episode
- Season 3, Episode 22
- Original air date
- Episode title
- Reliable Fish and Chips
- What was featured
- Leslieville fish-and-chips shop whose owner wanted to renovate without closing
- Role
- Featured restaurant
- Name on the broadcast
- Reliable Fish & Chips
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Visit info
- Address
- 954 Queen St E, Toronto, ON M4M 1J7
- Venue type
- restaurant
- Official website
- None found
- State hub
- TV restaurants in Ontario
Businesses change fast. Always confirm directly with the restaurant — call ahead, or check its own current website or social media — before making plans around anything on this page.
Sources
- streetsoftoronto.com — https://streetsoftoronto.com/food/beloved-toronto-fish-and-chips-spot-closes-suddenly-after-almost-100-years
- media.blogto.com — https://media.blogto.com/eat_drink/2024/11/reliable-fish-chips-restaurant-shuts-down
- blogto.com — https://blogto.com/eat_drink/2022/01/reliable-fish-chips-toronto-closing
- Google — https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=43.6610145,-79.3410216
- Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restaurant_Makeover
- rottentomatoes.com — https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/restaurant_makeover/s03
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Record rmk-047 · last verified .