Is PJ O'Brien Still Open? Restaurant Makeover Update (Toronto, ON)

P.J. O'Brien Irish Pub & Restaurant stands at 39 Colborne Street in downtown Toronto, behind the King Edward Hotel. Its episode, titled "PJ O'Brien", aired on 2007-01-22 as the fifteenth episode of the third season of Restaurant Makeover. That HGTV Canada series had a chef and a designer rework one restaurant on a limited budget and a short schedule, with the owners adding matching money. Wikipedia's list of renovated restaurants names chef Corbin Tomaszeski and designer Cherie Stinson for this episode and places the pub in the St. Lawrence area.

Rotten Tomatoes' season listing gives no description beyond the pub's name, and none of the other sources read for this entry says what problems the pub had on screen, what changed in the menu, decor or staff, or how the relaunch went. No source read mentions a change of name.

BlogTO profiled the pub in autumn 2021; the article shows no publication day, and its web address is dated October 2021. It reported that the pub opened in 1966, that the Quinn family took it over in 2000 and kept the name, and that it reopened on Oct. 2 after 18 months closed, with the owners hoping to be back to normal by mid-2022. The article does not mention the TV show. It also reported that a lounge next door was named after Pat Quinn Sr. in 2007, the year the episode aired, though BlogTO did not link that naming to the show.

When the pub's website was checked on 2026-10-19, it listed opening hours (Sunday through Wednesday 11 a.m. to midnight, Thursday until 1 a.m., Friday and Saturday until 2 a.m.), the Colborne Street address, and reservation links. The page carried a 2025 copyright line, and its page metadata showed a modification date of 2026-10-19. A Google Places listing checked the same day marked the business operational. No news coverage from 2026 about the pub was found. Wikipedia's list also marks the pub as still open but gives no date or citation for that entry.