Woodside Square is not Toronto's prettiest mall. It is far more interesting than many prettier ones. You can buy groceries, eat hot pot, use a public library, see giant animal figures, handle errands and watch a movie without walking through the same luxury stores found everywhere else.
Our verdict: go for the food, the strange displays and the useful mix of everyday services. Tropical Joe's is the first food stop we would check. Big Way Hot Pot is the strongest choice for a larger meal. The Best Shop is the best browse. Skip a special trip if you want polished architecture or high-end fashion. Woodside Square wins because it is odd, practical and local, not because it is elegant.
The main warning is that the mall is changing. Its official site still describes a major cinema and food expansion with a Summer 2026 target. We could not confirm that the full project was open by September 1, 2026. Treat future-looking renderings as plans until the mall posts a clear opening notice.
Woodside Square at a glance
| Detail | What to know |
|---|---|
| Address | 1571 Sandhurst Circle, Scarborough |
| Main intersection | McCowan Road and Finch Avenue East area |
| Best for | Affordable food, Asian groceries, errands, a library visit and a strange mall walk |
| Weakest point | Car-heavy access, an uneven store mix and a redevelopment plan that can make current information confusing |
| Time needed | 90 minutes for food and a browse, three hours if you add the library, cinema or family activities |
| Best visit | Weekday lunch for easier movement, or a weekend afternoon for the full lively mall experience |
| TTC | Several bus routes serve the McCowan and Finch area. Check current TTC routing before leaving |
| Parking | Large surface lots, but busy periods can still feel chaotic |
This map shows an approximate area. Open the full map.
Why people call Woodside Square Toronto's weirdest mall
Most malls work hard to look controlled. Woodside Square does not feel controlled in the same way. Large dinosaur figures, a gorilla, military-style display pieces, a children's play area, a public library and a dense mix of food and service businesses sit under one roof.
That mix is the point. It feels closer to a community main street that happens to be indoors than a standard regional mall.
Some visitors love the clutter. Others think it looks cheap. We are on the first side. Toronto has enough blank white retail spaces. A mall that gives a child a dinosaur and an adult a bowl of noodles has made a better choice.
How we scored the Woodside Square stops
Each score measures how useful the stop is on a Woodside Square visit. It is not a copy of its Google rating. We weigh food or shopping quality, value, consistency, distinctiveness and whether it is worth choosing over the next counter. Google review patterns and local discussion were checked on September 2, 2026. Smaller counters with little independent review history receive a more cautious score.
The 25 Woodside Square places worth knowing
The mall directory changes. Confirm a business on the official Woodside Square directory before making a trip for one store.
1. Tropical Joe's
Our rating: 8.2/10
Pros: Big portions, distinctive jerk poutine and a real local following.
Cons: Lines can be long, and rich food is not ideal if you plan to graze elsewhere.
This is the food stop with the strongest local following. It is known for big Caribbean plates rather than a delicate dining experience. Come hungry and expect a food-court setting.
Our pick is to start here if you want value and a filling meal. The drawback is the same thing that makes it popular: the line and wait can be annoying at peak times.
2. Big Way Hot Pot
Our rating: 8.0/10
Pros: Huge ingredient choice and a social meal that you control.
Cons: Price by weight is easy to misjudge, and this location has limited independent review history.
Big Way uses a self-serve model where you choose ingredients and the bowl is priced by weight. It gives you control, but careless loading can turn a cheap-looking bowl into an expensive one.
Choose it for variety and a social meal. Skip it if you are bad at judging weight or want a fixed low price.
3. Haidilao Hot Pot
Our rating: 9.0/10
Pros: Exceptional service pattern, polished room and a dependable group experience.
Cons: It is expensive and much slower than a normal mall meal.
Haidilao is the more polished hot pot choice. Service and a full sit-down experience are part of the price.
Go for a planned group dinner. Do not choose it when the goal is a fast, cheap mall meal.
4. Magic Noodle
Our rating: 8.5/10
Pros: Hand-pulled noodles, strong consistency and a filling one-bowl meal.
Cons: The room can be noisy when the mall is busy.
Magic Noodle is a useful choice for hand-pulled noodle soups and stir-fried noodle dishes. It is comforting food with more substance than a snack counter.
Choose it on a cold day or when you want one complete bowl. It is not the place for a quiet date during a busy mall period.
5. Saravanaa Bhavan
Our rating: 8.8/10
Pros: Excellent dosa and South Indian vegetarian food with a deep menu.
Cons: Very busy periods can bring waits, and it does not solve every mixed-cuisine group.
This vegetarian South Indian chain is the strongest choice for dosa, idli and other meat-free dishes. It is also one of the few mall options where vegetarian food is the main idea instead of a small menu note.
Choose it for a proper vegetarian meal. Skip it if your group expects one table to satisfy several very different cuisines.
6. Samosa World
Our rating: 7.4/10
Pros: Fast, affordable snacks and useful take-home food.
Cons: The review sample is small, and fried items depend heavily on turnover.
Samosa World works best as a quick snack or take-home stop. It is useful when one person wants food and the rest of the group is still browsing.
Buy a few items, not a giant order on your first visit. Freshness and turnover matter with fried snacks.
7. Baker Duck
Our rating: 6.8/10
Pros: Convenient buns, cakes and small snacks to take home.
Cons: Feedback is inconsistent, so freshness needs a close look before buying.
Baker Duck gives the mall a Chinese bakery option for buns, cakes and smaller snacks. It is a better take-home stop than a destination meal.
Look at what was baked recently. A busy tray with fast turnover is usually the safer pick.
8. Blooming Gardens
Our rating: 7.5/10
Pros: A real sit-down Chinese option with room for family-style dishes.
Cons: It is slower and less useful for a solo mall lunch, with limited current review evidence.
Blooming Gardens is a full Chinese restaurant rather than a tiny food-court counter. It fits family meals and larger groups better.
Choose it when table space and shared dishes matter. For a solo lunch, the mall has faster and cheaper options.
9. Blooming Gardens Dessert House
Our rating: 6.8/10
Pros: Asian sweet soups and desserts that are hard to find in a standard mall.
Cons: Current feedback is mixed, and the menu is narrow if the group is not already dessert-minded.
The dessert side is useful for sweet soups and Asian desserts that are harder to find in a normal chain mall.
It makes more sense after a light meal. After hot pot, it can feel like too much.
10. Pho Day
Our rating: 9.0/10
Pros: Excellent current feedback, generous bowls and a clear comfort-food role.
Cons: It is worth eating while here, but not a reason to cross Toronto only for pho.
Pho Day fills the straightforward Vietnamese noodle-soup role. That sounds ordinary, but a dependable bowl is useful in a mall with many snack choices.
Choose it for speed and comfort. If you drove across the city only for Vietnamese food, there are stronger destination restaurants elsewhere in Scarborough.
11. Yummy Rice Noodle
Our rating: 7.4/10
Pros: A focused warm meal that broadens the noodle choices.
Cons: Independent review evidence is thin, and first-time visitors have stronger priorities.
This is another noodle option, with a focus different from standard pho. It helps the mall's food mix feel deeper than one outlet per cuisine.
Choose it when you want a warm, focused meal and already know you like rice noodles. First-time visitors should still put Tropical Joe's or Magic Noodle ahead of it.
12. Hakka restaurant in the food mix
Our rating: 7.0/10
Pros: Spicy Hakka classics and good portion potential.
Cons: Consistency is mixed, and the vague directory identity makes planning harder.
Woodside Square's directory includes a Hakka option. Hakka food is one of Scarborough's great strengths, especially spicy chilli chicken, noodles and fried rice.
Ask about heat before ordering. A dish called medium can still be hotter than a chain restaurant's medium.
13. My Roti Place
Our rating: 7.5/10
Pros: Fast, filling curry bowls and wraps with familiar ordering.
Cons: It is reliable rather than distinctive, so it should not outrank the local counters.
My Roti Place is a simple option for curry in a wrapped or bowl format. It is familiar, filling and easy to carry.
Choose it when you want predictable food quickly. It is not the most distinctive reason to visit Woodside Square.
14. Call A Chicken
Our rating: 7.2/10
Pros: Useful fresh fried chicken for children or picky eaters.
Cons: The wait can be long, and there is little reason to choose food that has sat under a warmer.
Call A Chicken adds fried chicken to a mall already heavy on noodles and curries. It works for a group with picky eaters or children.
Order it fresh and expect a wait. Fried food that has sat under a warmer loses the point.
15. CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice
Our rating: 7.3/10
Pros: Dependable bubble tea and easy customization.
Cons: It is a chain you can find elsewhere and has limited value as a destination stop.
CoCo is the reliable bubble-tea chain in the mix. It is easy, but not rare.
Use it as a drink stop. Do not make it the reason for a cross-city trip.
16. Tian Tian Xiang
Our rating: 8.3/10
Pros: Strong Taiwanese bento feedback and a focused menu.
Cons: The smaller operation has fewer reviews and the menu may change.
Tian Tian Xiang adds another Chinese food option to the directory. Check the current menu before deciding because smaller mall operators can change focus.
Choose it only after comparing the menu with the busier nearby counters. In a food-heavy mall, there is no reason to settle for a dish you do not actually want.
17. Tim Hortons
Our rating: 6.8/10
Pros: Fast coffee, breakfast and a simple meeting point.
Cons: It is neither distinctive nor the best food value in this mall.
Tim Hortons is here for coffee, breakfast and familiarity. It is useful, not interesting.
Use it when someone needs a plain coffee or a fast meeting point. Eat elsewhere.
18. McDonald's
Our rating: 6.3/10
Pros: Predictable food, long hours and an easy family fallback.
Cons: The local review pattern is weak, especially for waits and accuracy, and nearby independents offer better value.
McDonald's handles the child who refuses every exciting option. That can save a family trip.
It is not good value compared with several local counters. Use it as a backup, not the plan.
19. Popeyes
Our rating: 7.4/10
Pros: A familiar option with better local feedback than the other major fast-food chains here.
Cons: It still wastes the main reason to eat at Woodside Square.
Popeyes is another predictable fast-food choice. It earns a place only because mixed groups sometimes need one familiar option.
The local food is the better reason to visit Woodside Square.
20. The Best Shop
Our rating: 7.7/10
Pros: A fun, broad browse with useful household goods and small electronics.
Cons: Prices and quality vary, and returns or certification need checking on expensive items.
The Best Shop is the mall's strongest general browse. Expect household items, small electronics, beauty products, toys and things you did not plan to buy.
Prices are not automatically bargains. Check the quality and compare anything expensive online. Go for the fun of looking, not the promise of a deal.
21. One's Better Living
Our rating: 7.0/10
Pros: Practical kitchen and home goods with stock that differs from The Best Shop.
Cons: The range overlaps nearby stores, and review evidence is limited.
One's Better Living covers home, kitchen and everyday goods. It overlaps with The Best Shop but can have different stock.
Choose it for practical small items. Avoid buying an appliance without checking the return policy and Canadian certification label.
22. Claw World
Our rating: 7.2/10
Pros: Bright, easy entertainment that some children will love.
Cons: Spending can run away quickly, and the exact location has little independent review history.
Claw World is bright, noisy and designed to keep you trying. Children may love it. Adults should set a spending limit before the first play.
Treat claw machines as entertainment, not a way to buy a prize. The game can cost more than the object.
23. Jumping Castle and Jungle Adventure
Our rating: 7.1/10
Pros: A useful indoor play break in bad weather.
Cons: Noise, crowds and changing age or waiver rules can make it a poor fit.
The children's activity area gives families a reason to stay longer. That is useful in winter and on rainy days.
Check age, height, sock, waiver and supervision rules before promising it to a child. Skip it during a crowded period if your child struggles with noise.
24. Toronto Public Library, Woodside Square branch
Our rating: 8.1/10
Pros: Free, useful and genuinely makes the mall a community hub.
Cons: The branch is small and library hours do not always match the mall.
The library is one of the mall's best features. It turns a shopping trip into a free reading, study or children's-program stop.
This is our best free pick. Check Woodside Square branch hours because library hours may not match mall hours.
25. Woodside Cinemas
Our rating: 6.6/10
Pros: A broad South Asian film programme and a reason to extend the visit.
Cons: Screens and facilities feel dated, and the new expansion is still not confirmed open.
An independent cinema has long been part of the mall's identity. Programming, screens and the proposed expansion are the details most likely to change.
Check the current schedule before leaving. Do not rely on an old listing or on the mall's future expansion page as proof that every planned screen is operating.
More useful stops for errands
Woodside Square is stronger as an errand mall than its novelty photos suggest. The current directory includes Food Basics, LCBO, Shoppers Drug Mart, Dollarama, BMO, RBC, TD, dental and health services, phone stores, optical care, travel services and photo or copying services.
That list explains why the mall stays relevant. A person can buy groceries, pick up medicine, visit the bank, print a document, eat lunch and take a child to the library in one trip.
Food Basics is the most practical anchor. LCBO and Shoppers cover common stops. Dollarama is useful, but compare package sizes. A low shelf price is not always a low unit price.
What are the dinosaurs and giant animals?
Large animal figures are placed around the mall. The exact collection and location can change. That makes a scavenger-hunt walk more fun than standing in one spot for a photo.
Children will probably care more about the dinosaurs than adults care about the stores. Lean into that. Give them a simple list to find while the adults finish errands.
Do not climb on a display unless a sign clearly says it is made for play. Some pieces are decoration, not playground equipment.
What about the gorilla and military displays?
The oversized gorilla and military-style pieces are part of the odd visual mix people share online. They can look more dramatic in a close photo than they do in the middle of a mall corridor.
That is not a criticism. The charm is seeing serious retail space interrupted by something that makes no sense.
The proposed cinema and food expansion
Woodside Square's official cinema page describes a large project with more food vendors, an 11-screen cinema and premium seating. It used a Summer 2026 target.
As of September 1, 2026, the official page did not give us enough current proof that the entire project was open. We will not repeat a target date as an opening fact.
Before publication, check for a current announcement, active showtimes, tenant listings and on-site photos. Until then, call it proposed or under development.
Is Woodside Square being redeveloped?
City planning documents have considered future changes around the site. A long-term redevelopment idea does not mean the mall is closing tomorrow.
This is where online discussion becomes careless. A planning application, a concept and active construction are three different things. Check the City application status before making a claim about demolition, towers or closure.
Best Woodside Square plan for a first visit
Start at the library or the animal displays if children are with you. Walk the full indoor loop once before choosing food. That prevents the classic mistake of buying the first thing and then seeing a better counter five minutes later.
For lunch, our order is Tropical Joe's first, Magic Noodle second and Saravanaa Bhavan when you want vegetarian food. Choose Big Way for a larger build-your-own meal. Choose Haidilao only when you want the full sit-down experience and accept the higher bill.
Finish at The Best Shop, then buy groceries on the way out. That route uses the mall well without forcing a full day.
Getting there without a car
Woodside Square is in northeast Scarborough near McCowan Road and Finch Avenue East. TTC buses serve the area, but the exact route and construction detours can change.
Use the TTC trip planner on the day. A common mistake is planning from an old map and missing a branch change. Allow time for the final walk from the stop, especially with children or groceries.
The mall is accessible by transit. It is not one of Toronto's easiest car-free mall trips. Fairview Mall and Scarborough Town Centre have stronger rapid-transit connections.
Parking honestly
There is a large amount of surface parking. That does not mean the lot always feels calm. Weekend shopping, meal periods and events can create messy circulation.
Drive slowly and watch for people cutting between parked cars. Do not stop in the fire route while someone runs inside. If the closest rows are jammed, park farther away and take the short walk.
Accessibility
The indoor mall is mostly level and useful in bad weather. The larger problem can be the outdoor distance from a bus stop or parking space, plus crowded aisles around popular food and family areas.
Contact the mall and individual businesses for current automatic-door, washroom, seating and mobility information. The library can be a useful quiet break, but its programme spaces may be busy.
Woodside Square is easier than an outdoor shopping strip. It is not perfectly calm or uncluttered.
Who should go and who should skip it
Go if you like food courts, practical Asian malls, odd displays, family errands and places that do not feel designed by one corporate committee.
Take children on a cold or rainy afternoon. Take a visitor who thinks every Toronto mall looks the same. Go hungry.
Skip it if you want luxury fashion, beautiful public space or a simple subway-to-door trip. Pacific Mall is larger and more famous. First Markham Place may be stronger for a focused food trip. Woodside Square is better when you want weirdness and usefulness together.
Keep exploring Toronto
- Twelve underrated Toronto neighbourhoods worth exploring
- Toronto stores for manga, anime goods and Japanese stationery
- Free Toronto attractions available with a library card
Official pages to check
Prices, rules, hours and project details can change. Check these primary pages before you spend money or make a special trip:
- Woodside Square store directory
- Woodside Square hours and directions
- Woodside Square cinema project
- Toronto Public Library Woodside Square branch
Frequently asked questions
Where is Woodside Square?
Woodside Square is at 1571 Sandhurst Circle in Scarborough, near McCowan Road and Finch Avenue East.
Is Woodside Square worth visiting?
Yes, if you like affordable food, unusual mall displays and practical local shopping. Skip it if your idea of a good mall is luxury brands and polished design.
What is the best food at Woodside Square?
Our first pick is Tropical Joe's for a filling Caribbean plate. Magic Noodle is the best easy backup, Saravanaa Bhavan is best for vegetarian food and Big Way suits a larger custom hot pot meal.
Are the dinosaurs at Woodside Square free to see?
The decorative animal figures in the public mall area can be viewed for free. Paid children's attractions and claw machines are separate.
Does Woodside Square have a library?
Yes. Toronto Public Library operates the Woodside Square branch inside the mall. Check library hours separately because they may differ from mall hours.
Is the new Woodside Square cinema open?
The mall's official site described a large cinema expansion with a Summer 2026 target. We could not confirm the full project was operating by September 1, 2026. Check current showtimes and mall announcements before travelling for it.
Is Woodside Square easy to reach by TTC?
It is reachable by bus, but it does not have a subway station at the door. Check the TTC trip planner for the current route and allow time for the last walk.