Sinatra's Italian Sandwiches

Date Visited: Dinner on Friday Oct 18, 2013
Company: Quick meal with +Will after work before heading to Toronto for the weekend

+Will had been telling me about Sinatra's ever since his team started ordering from there while working for a client in Oshawa. It's advertised to have 'the best veal sandwiches in town' and serves authentic Italian comfort food. I got to finally check it out when we were looking for a semi-quick meal on Friday before leaving Oshawa for the weekend. It's conveniently located about 5 minutes from my place but I never really noticed it until I met a friend who lives right beside it and mentioned it. It's a fair sized building located right on Simcoe St N with a huge yellow sign that's hard to miss. There's some abandoned buildings beside it, but otherwise looks like an average building in Oshawa you always pass by but never visit. Upon entering, the feeling is very diner-esque with booths along the front windows and a long counter for ordering with some visibility to the back kitchen. 


Checking out the menu, they have a couple of different options for sandwiches and a few toppings you can add for about a dollar more. I decided to go for the classic Veal Cutlet Sandwich with Provolone Cheese. After we ordered at the counter we grabbed a booth to wait for the order. The decor of the place is nothing too special, the booths were a bit uncomfortable and the decor seems extremely old. They do have a homey feel to the place though. They seem to get a lot of catering deals as there were a few people waiting for large pickup orders. Our food didn't take very long despite this factor.

Our sandwiches were wrapped with paper lined with tinfoil to keep the heat in and unwrapping it all to see the sandwich underneath was quite exciting. This thing was huge, there were about 4 layers of thin veal on the bun and topped with lots of sauce. You could even get free extra sauce on it! The sandwich was so delicious and fresh. The breading of the veal was crispy but the veal was still soft. The sauce was fantastic and had so much flavour, you could really tell it was homemade and authentic. The kaiser bun did a great job containing everything but the bottom did get soggy after a while.

I could only finish about half the sandwich and kept the rest for the next day... but it definitely wasn't the same as when it was just prepared. I have been craving for Sinatra's since this visit and can't wait to go back!

Food: 4.5/5 - Amazing and well worth the price.
Service: 3/5 - Nothing to spectacular but decent waiting time. 
Decor: 2/5 - Old-fashioned but doesn't really need to look fancy.
Willingness to go back: 5/5 - But the dilemma is... getting the same thing vs. something new! Either way I'm sure it'll be good!
Overall: 3.5/5
Website: http://www.sinatras.ca/

Big Boy's Burgers

Date Visited: Dinner on Tuesday Jul 2, 2013

Company: Take-out for myself

Big Boy's opened in Whitby about a year ago and its kind of made an impression as it really sticks out amongst its surroundings. It's just off the highway at Thickson near the gas stations and just along the way is the Empire Theatre complex, where it would look a little more fitting, but still not really fit in. Everyone passes it to get to the highway and it looks a bit ridiculous as I'm pretty sure the owner has a hummer which is always parked right in front. At first, we thought it was just part of the decor and added effect. Eventually, I heard a lot of good things about their burgers and thought it was about time for me to try it out this lonely night I was home alone.

I arrived just at 6PM and was the first customer for the dinner rush. I ordered the Big Boy Burger (1/2 lb) Combo that includes fries and a small refillable drink and came up to $10. The owner was very friendly, and really enjoys interacting with his customers. The cooks were also very nice, he asks you what toppings you want on the burger and I had everything except for relish. They have just the standard toppings with some banana peppers. The wait wasn't very long, about 10 minutes and a few customers filled in during this time. There's a self-serve drink counter and condiments for your fries as well. It's quite spacious and bright in the restaurant, I think every table is beside a window, and it has a colourful racetrack theme. 

I headed home with my take-out and snacked on some fries on the way. You can tell that their fries are extremely fresh, they have that taste of potato skin like you get from chip trucks. When I finally got home and took some pictures of my food, I finally got to try the burger! It was a great first bite I must say, the burger was so flavourful and aromatic. I could hardly taste any condiments the whole time because the burger was so overpowering. I can see why they stick to the simple ingredients because the burger really speaks for itself. I was a bit turned off by how white the bun is and thought they could have grilled it a bit more but I couldn't taste it anyway. The fries were lightly salted but they gave me a bunch of condiments to go which was nice. I enjoyed that most of them were very thick but some were the sides which were thin and crunchy, a nice variety. It was a lot of food in the end as it was hard not to finish everything... for future reference, I would definitely go for a smaller patty.

Food: 4/5 - Great classic burger, nothing fancy.
Decor: 3/5 - Bright inside and out, really sticks out.
Service: 4/5 - Friendly & fast customer service, but I was first one there.
Willingness to come back: 4.5/5 - There's a lot on the menu I'd like to try
Overall: 4/5
Website: http://bigboysburgers.com/