Bar Toto, Ettalong Beach – SMH Good Food app review

Established in 2013, Bar Toto is a stalwart of the Central Coast cocktail scene, a sprawling venue that runs from street-side seating through a sit up bar and into a lavish parlour that feels cinematic in its retro styling and grandiose seating – appropriately so as it sits adjacent to the Ettalong Galleria’s old school cinema.

Cocktails veer from experimental through to well-made classics and there’s a dedicated section on negroni variants for those seeking rum, scotch or mezcal instead of gin as a ballast. A racy, piquant Spicy Hibiscus Sour built around chilli-infused tequila and house-made triple sec, is a bracing heart starter, but the Suits and Cigars cocktail, a riff on a Rusty Nail, using local distillers Amber Lane Equinox whisky and finished with a peaty whisky spritz, is the showstopper in the Signature Cocktails listings.

Rolling happy hours through the week run at a generous three-hour window from 3pm and again at 10pm for an hour. Toto also levels up with dining collaborations with Chillis Deli, also in the Galleria, and a regular comedy night and life drawing classes.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.