Best Toronto Diner?

[air621]

My current favourite is the Donlands Restaurant on Donlands near O'Connor. Great diner classics, nice staff. I'm also a fan of the Coach House on Yonge near Wellesley for breakfast.

[Gary]

The Patrician Grill on King East near Sherbourne meets all the qualities I think most of us look for in a "diner": retro decor with lots of wood panelling and linoleum, a counter with stools, booths, big portions of affordable simple homestyle food, and owned by a family with a friendly but gruffly "no BS" attitude. I like their burger'n'fries combos best, their breakfasts are decent but nothing special.

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Patrician Grill
219 King St E, Toronto, ON M5A1J9, CA

[canadianbeaver]

They are so authentic I've seen them film movies there!

[ribboy]

agree with the patrician..old school...and not 'made-up old school...got to love the location given the developement in the recent years....

[kieranroy]

I love the Avenue Open Kitchen (or simply "the diner" for me and my colleagues) on Camden St. near Adelaide & Spadina. Best bets include their decent poutine (crispy fries, real cheese curds, and tasty gravy) but stay away from the fish and chips!

The Swan on Queen West is also decent, but I don't recall any standout menu items from my few visits.

[chocabot]

The Swan's not really a diner in the traditional sense, more like a casual restaurant with diner decor... At brunch I like the hangtown fry (eggs w/ smoked oysters and pancetta) and at lunch the burger's really good, as is the sandwich specials.

[tbonetak]

Big fan of the Avenue, which my colleagues and I also just call "the diner". Great club, great soups, and always something interesting on special. I prefer getting takeout, though. Partly because it can get a little tight in there, but also because the waitress can be a bit, er, curt at times.

[canadianbeaver]

I've heard George Street Diner is really good.

[sherry f]

Windfields on York Mills just east of Leslie is pretty decent and I think very classic dinerish... When I think of a greasy spoon, Mars on College immediately comes to mind.

[visualhornet]

is Stem on queen st. still open? Last time I walked by, looked like it had closed its doors. Not great Diner food. But definitely a staple to the queen street strip.

[jayt90]

CBC-1 had a report that sent me to Collegiate, on Gerrard Street near Jones Av. for a good homeburger, in a diner unchanged from the 60's.
I found the report to be accurate, although local Chowhounders in the area were not so effusive. I think they were put off by the old time diner appeal.

I have only been there once, and the experience was total 60's diner, if a bit quiet (needs some teenagers, and a jukebox!).

The proprietors are swell, prices are low, and I'll go back when I am in the area.

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Collegiate Lunch
1024 Gerrard St E, Toronto, ON M4M1Z5, CA

[embee]

I can walk there, but after reading reviews by you and grandgourmand, among others, I haven't been motivated to do so. If I'm not cooking a burger at home, I still head to Allen's, even though a burger, fries, and a beer is $20. Am I missing something??

[jayt90]

Collegiate is definitely slumming, but the proprietors are well meaning, and I trust them.
Next time I'm in the area I'll go to Allen's, (never been, although I have read good reviews since they opened as an offshoot of a New York operation.)

[Edith S]

Allen's is an offshoot of a NY operation? They have nothing to do with Joe Allen's other than borrowing the name.

[jayt90]

When they opened in the 80's the proprietor came from New York, and from Joe Allen. That was the name used. I believe he bought the operation in Toronto many years later, and that there is a connection to an Irish restaurant .

[ChalkBoy]

Wasn't the Toronto Joe Allen's on John just north of King? Closed in the early 80s.

[jayt90]

Here is a brief history
http://www.torontokiosk.ca/allens.php

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Allen's
143 Danforth Ave, Toronto, ON M4K1N2, CA

[embee]

A very close friend of mine actually worked for John Maxwell, the owner of Allen's, when he was managing the Joe Allen's in London in about 1980 so, yes, there is a connection.

There was, indeed, a Joe Allen's and an Orso on John St many years ago. I suspect Maxwell's parting with Joe Allen's may not have been altogether amicable.

[pearlD]

I'll nominate The Good Bite" on Yonge north of Eglinton but can't vouch for certain as it's been a couple of years...also where I have been (recently) and quite like but never get the name straight is The Victoria (?) onQueen Street ,across from St. Mike's Hospital...

[magic]

Agreed on the Good Bite. This place is still great and has been for years.

I’m not sure Toronto has diners in the classic, U.S. sense of the term (personally, I think I'd refer to our versions more as "greasy spoons"), but I definitely would put Good Bite at the top of the list of our closest qualifiers.

[pearlD]

I totally agree 'magic'...What we as Canadians call Diners is not the same as what Americans call them...We seem to use 'greasy spoon' for Diner (or what I call Mom & Pop neighbourhood restaurants ..actually my Parents owned several throughout my growing up years (one at a time in different locations in Toronto) In the U.S.A...Diners really do, for the most part look the the 'movie version' of Diners...It's all relative ...I refer to The Denny's Chain in the U.S . as a 'Diner Food' destination same as I call The Good Bite here in Toronto a 'diner food location /and also call it a 'greasy spoon.

[embee]

Yes, the diners, especially in the northeastern states, looked like railroad dining cars (though most, if not all, were purpose built and trucked to a site). There was a real diner, the Normandy, in my Brooklyn neighbourhood, regally perched behind the Church Av subway station. Many still exist, though most, if not all, remaining diners in Manhattan went "upmarket retro" long ago.

The places we call "diners" in Toronto were called "luncheonettes" in New York. Some diners and luncheonettes were greasy spoons, while others definitely weren't.

[pearlD]

Thanks 'embee'...not quite in the same vein but sort of...there used to be a great lunch place in the 'mall' under Holt's/Cumberland Terrace called "The Bay Streetcar"., it was a neat place to grab a bite after shopping in the Bloor - Yonge area....In Savannah where my daughter lives there are still some 'authentic' Diners which we frequent when visiting....

[embee]

Ah, yes, the Bay Streetcar. That was delicious food, supplied by the Windsor Arms kitchen. There's nothing like it in Toronto today.

There was also a streetcar restaurant on the McCaul St side of Village by the Grange - in the middle of the streetcar loop.

[ChalkBoy]

Gale's Snack Bar at Eastern & Carlaw. $1.25 cheeseburgers!

[air621]

I ate there a million years ago. Is the patronage still local winos?

[Leslieville]

No, we're much more upscale in Leslieville now!!!!!!

[currycue]

Lol, winos. I haven't heard that one in years. Nice. The one time I went, my food took 45 minutes and the place was filled with some rather odourous seniors that looked like they hadn't bathed in weeks. Neat place to check out, but the food was standard diner food a la Vesta lunch. I'd rather pay extra elsewhere, personally.

[currycue]

For diner, I really can't find anything that can touch the Senator. I've been going there now for about 13 years of it's 80 years in existance. Lakeview Lunch is the only place that comes close in atmosphere, but the food was mediocre at best in comparison.

[erly]

Had dinner at the Senator before Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
They nuked my chicken.
The Senator should retire.

[currycue]

Don't eat dinner there. Word on the street is that it's pretty bad. I'd stick with breakfast / lunch.

[Googs]

Really? You can't have dinner at a diner?

[currycue]

Yeah, I don't know why their dinner isn't up to snuff, but they only started serving dinner recently. For 50+ years, they opened from early morning until 3pm.

[Notorious P.I.G.]

Midway, Yonge north of Steeles. They will always have a special plate in my heart.

[Ginsugirl]

Is "Jim's Best Westerns" still going? My Dad used to take me there a long time ago, it's grungy and divey and lives up to it's name. It was near Queen and Carlaw, I think.

Apollo 11 at Bathurst and Dupont hasn't changed since 1969, and the food is way better than the nearby Vesta. Just look out for the hordes of TTC workers and stroller moms.

Speaking of the Vesta, what it does have going for it is 24hour meals, and the old guys at the corner of the counter arguing about who knows, whether it's 3pm or 3am. And it's been given approval by my friend, Mr. Breakfast (no, I'm not making that up).

At St. Clair and Vaughan you can find The Retro Cafe, which is a diner in the truest sense. The service is gruff, the hours arbitrary, and the brekkies yummy.

The biggest shout out has to go to Aunties and Uncles on Lippincott (near Bathurst and College). It's a thrown-together, slightly retro-mod formica ramshackle place, run by a chef who worked under some of TO's culinary luminaries. There's a reason the line-ups are so crazy. One word: Waffles!

[ribboy]

i second the apollo on bathurst, good food and nice staff. i use to go to the vesta a lot but not so much any more...watching the same person make change, put raw bacon on the grill and then butter my toast..well it has lost its luster...

[juno]

This nomination will be of little use to the hordes of hounds who, seemingly, live south of Bloor St., but should they find themselves up north in the rarefied air of Yonge and Steeles Ave., they might want to seek out Steeles Deli, in an otherwise nondescript plaza on the north side of Steeles, just west of Yonge and across the street from Canadian Tire. That's where I go when nothing will do but no-nonsense diner food. No stools at the counter, no entirely open kitchen (though it's open somewhat if you deign to stand up at your table), but most of the other classic diner elements are in place. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner - though I've only been for dinner. Pleasant, efficient, mostly long-serving staff. Specials every day that are indeed true specials, usually a buck or two off regular menu items. Good soups, substantial portions, reasonable prices. I'm partial to the liver and onions and, when I'm not too hungry, the main-course Cobb salad. They do a nice flunken (a lesser cut of beef, but tasty) on Thursday nights. Dr. Brown's soda pops. Patronized mainly by the neighboring Jewish community (which explains the flunken and a number of other offbeat menu items), but the menu is wide-ranging - with most of the diner classics -and, remarkably, they seem to do everything well, though I've never tried the coffee. Eminently satisfying. I regret to inform the rabid gribenes enthusiasts, who revealed themselves in another recent thread, that that particular death-defying item is not on the menu here. I guess management doesn't want to kill off their large contingent of elderly regulars.

[MeXx]

agreed... stumbled upon it one day with my mom and just love it... my dad is not a fan of non-chinese for the most part, but likes that place too...

[embee]

Jim's is still there, though it changed hands a few years ago. It isn't as good as it used to be and they aren't open 24 hours anymore, but they do still have the westerns.