This was my first time staying in a hostel, and I had no idea what to expect. It was a great first experience- now I stay in hostels everywhere I go!! I was doing volunteer training in Toronto. The hostel is close to both my training centre and all the nightlife.
The staff was fun and welcoming, and patiently handle countless questions from guests. I had a broken ankle while I was staying, and I remember them being very helpful.
The only thing they could improve on is more showers, and having them separate from the toilets, so you don't have to wait for someone to finish their shower just to pee.
The room I stayed in was large and spacious, with a window that overlooked the street and opened properly to get fresh air. I visited friends in other rooms, theirs were smaller, but still about average for what I've come to expect from hostels.
The common room is a bit smaller but they have a big partially-covered patio in the back where everyone gathered to talk/drink/play guitar.
Overall a great place.

Stayed here for three nights. The hostel was quite nice - good common areas, free pancake breakfast, tours etc organised. Sheets and towels provided with deposit. Seemed very popular and was quite busy (and noisy) but then that is to be expected. 15 min walk from the bus terminal, Eaton centre etc. Good range of restaurants nearby.

We stayed here in a private room in May for 3 nights. The facilities were pretty basic but then the price was very low!

We were in the second "house" of rooms, just up the street from the main lobby. There were enough toilet and shower facilities for the amount of rooms in our block. We only had to queue or wait to use them once in our whole stay.

Location-wise it was perfect - very close to Queen Street West and Spadina Avenue. At night it was a little rowdy outside (there's a nightclub just round the corner) but in a university town that's to be expected.

The only problem we had was that our bed was so ridiculously noisy that if you so much as breathed in the wrong way it would wake the other person up! So that was not good. But the staff were very friendly.

After reading all the negative views here all I can say is we had an okay experience. Maybe May is the time to go?

I would not recommend staying here because of the bedbug problem. I staying one night and got some serious bites.