Is Bulldog Cafe Still Open? Restaurant Makeover Update (Toronto, ON)

Bulldog Cafe, as the Restaurant Makeover episode aired on 2007-11-26 titled it, was a Toronto coffee shop run by an owner named Stuart. Rotten Tomatoes' synopsis describes a cappuccino-champion shop competing with corporate coffee chains in its neighbourhood. According to TV Guide's season listing, designer Meredith Heron and chef Massimo Capra promised Stuart a top coffee restaurant, and because he needed a broader lunch offering, Massimo taught him to make panini. Wikipedia's list of Restaurant Makeover restaurants gives the same chef and designer. The sources read give no details of the design work, the budget or the relaunch.

The shop is identified here as Bulldog Coffee at Church and Granby Streets, an inference from the owner's first name, the shop's name and the coffee-competition theme; no page read mentions the television show. An undated profile on Streets of Toronto describes Bulldog Coffee in a former beauty-salon-and-convenience-store space at Church and Granby, found about six years before the profile by Stuart Ross, who trained with national barista champion Sammy Piccolo and has won barista competition titles. BlogTO's roundup of new openings, which carries 2020-01 in its web address, lists Bulldog Coffee as reopened at its original location, 89 Granby. Wikipedia's list notes that the business has since expanded to multiple locations, and BlogTO has separate pages titled Bulldog Coffee Eglinton and Bull Dog Coffee at Assembly Chef's Hall.

On 2026-10-19 the Bulldog Coffee website listed 89 Granby Street at Church Street, with hours of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, closed Mondays, a note that the cafe was open for take-out, and outdoor seating. The page carries no date, copyright notice or online ordering widget, so it is not a dated confirmation on its own. The sources read do not say what changes the episode made to the shop, or whether Stuart Ross still runs it.