A shuttered high-profile Toronto steakhouse is making a comeback, and it’s returning to its original location over a decade later.
If Dolly Parton has taught us anything, it’s that you can never be too late to make a comeback, and the folks behind one formerly long-running Toronto steakhouse seem to agree, as they prepare to remount the legendary eatery after a 12-year closure.
Those Toronto residents who were big on the old-school Italian steakhouse scene back in the late ’90s through the early 2000s will be thrilled to hear that none other than Centro Steak, which held court on Yonge Street just north of Eglinton for 25 years, is officially in its comeback era.
The restaurant shut down in 2013 after a 25-year stint when owner Armando Mano opted to transform the space into Vita Sociale, a buzzy, still-Italian attempt at drawing in a younger crowd. Come 2015, Vita Sociale, too, had closed.
For the decade that followed, the space was occupied by a particularly enormous location of Italian chain Cibo, which also boasts locations in Yorkville and on King West, becoming a neighbourhood staple in its own right before closing down due to irreconcilable differences with the property’s landlord in the first weeks of January 2025.
Now, by some bizarre stroke of fate, the team behind Centro Steak has managed to get their hands back on the lease it had previously operated out of at 2472 Yonge Street, and is preparing to pick up right where they left off.
Some light signage, a quiet Instagram account and a bare-bones website are currently the only information out there to confirm that the restaurant is returning thus far, but it’s an undeniable testament to Centro’s lasting legacy in the neighbourhood.
The finer details, such as whether you can expect a carbon copy of the Centro Steak of yesteryear or a new-and-improved version and when, exactly, it’ll be opening for business, are under wraps for now, so you’ll just have to wait patiently to get a taste of Centro Steak 2.0.
If the new iteration is anything like the original, you can expect a full roster of pricey, quality mains running the gamut from rich pasta dishes to — you guessed it — an impressive selection of steaks amid opulent interiors.
Well, they were opulent at the time. The Centro Steak team will certainly have their work cut out for them in terms of bringing the concept into the current decade, but the remaining bones of what was once Cibo have already gotten them halfway there.
Will it have what it takes to contend with the deluge of other swanky steakhouses that have descended on the city in the years that it’s been closed? It might just take something extra rare to do that.
Centro Steak is set to open at 2472 Yonge St. sometime this summer.
