Toasters Family Diner

Date Visited: Dinner on Friday Jul 8, 2014
Company: Walk-in for 5

You would think that it was pretty random that we ended up in a small diner in Cambridge one Friday night road tripping up to the Pinery, but it happened to be one thing we could all agree on during the car ride up. We left Toronto around 3:30PM heading to Grand Bend for the weekend and +Stephen remembered the old diner that he used to go to during his co-op term there. We didn't know the name but did some Googling of diners and did locate it... seemed like a pretty legit place to check out. It was really close off the highway in a small strip mall with a huge, plain, black and white 'Family Diner' sign outside. 

The restaurant was a decent size and had a very welcoming atmosphere. It looked like your typical family-run diner and it wasn't too busy so we could eat quickly and get back on the road. They had a good variety on their menu with even more daily specials on the chalk board at the front. We had a nice lady bring us some waters and tell us about the specials. The prices were pretty cheap and we were told that the portions were large also. 

I decided to go for a Triple Decker Chicken Club Sandwich with Fries, our table actually all got a nice variety of dishes... Philly Cheesesteak, Breakfast, Burger... all the options looked good! Our wait wasn't very long for food luckily, mine came out first and it looked amazing! Lots of colour on the plate and just a huge portion of food. The sandwich was crafted perfectly with even ingredients on each corner. The grilled chicken was juicy and tender, but the bacon was a tad soft and not as crispy as I would have preferred. Everything else about the sandwich was great though, it really held together during the eating. The fries were pretty standard but had the perfect golden colour, cooked in fresh oil probably. The coleslaw was also the kind I really enjoy, just simple cabbage but sour and tangy. 

All our meals filled us right up and got us ready to hit the road again. They had those 25 cent candy machines at the entrance also that we had to get some of :), a nice throwback.

Food: 4/5 - Cheap and delicious.
Decor: 2/5 - Kind of a boring for a diner but nothing more than they need I guess.
Service: 3.5/5 - Pretty quick and our waitress was very sweet.
Willingness to go back: 4/5 - Like +Stephen, I would definitely recommend this if I was in the city, lots of things to try on the menu.
Overall: 3.5/5

Website: none

Cali Eats: Old Fisherman's Grotto

Date Visited: Lunch on Tuesday April 15, 2014

Company: Walk-in for 5

One of the most recommended stops people told me about for the drive along Hwy 1 in California was Monterey Bay. It's a small coastal city with tons of boats docked and a very popular pier, Fisherman's Warf. We parked by the Warf and decided to take a walk around and check out the views before grabbing lunch there. The day we went was pretty cloudy and a bit colder but there was still tons of people there. All the restaurants had displays of their seafood dishes outside and were giving out samples of clam chowder and yelling about their specials to compete with the other restaurants for patrons. It was kind of cool to get the first sample but literally every restaurant afterwards also had a sample, it was a bit unbelievable. Eventually we just picked a place to go into which happened to be Old Fisherman's Grotto which was a bit more of a up-scale place and even had a sign that no crying children were allowed.

There were tons of fresh seafood options, pastas, and meats alike. I ended up choosing one from the Daily Specials menu which had many variations of all their seafoods. I ordered the Seafood Combo because it had a variety of seafoods, and consisted of 1/2 Lobster Tail, Grilled Prawns, Glazed Salmon, Sweet Corn Risotto, and vegetables. While we waited, we got 2 types of bread to start one white and another sourdough.

The restaurant is very large with multiple rooms. We were seated in the one downstairs with a beautiful view over the Pacific ocean. The decor is very classy and chic, even upon entering you can tell it is a fancier restaurant compared to others on the pier. When our dishes came I thought the portion size was a bit small but expected I guess from this type of finer dining restaurant, beautiful presentation though. 

I wasn't blown away from my meal but it was definitely good still. It was the first time I had Risotto and I really enjoyed the texture and flavour of it. It was like mushy, creamy rice and full of flavour.  I thought that the Lobster tail was a bit hard and over-cooked, it was still easy to chew but grilled a bit too much. The Prawns were quite large and good. The Salmon filet was pretty small and I didn't think it was very fresh. There was a sweet sauce drizzled on half my plate which was extremely delicious paired with the salmon and vegetables.

Food: 2.5/5 - Overall not a bad plate but a few misses for the price I paid.

Decor: 3.5/5 - Beautiful view and classy decor.

Service: 3/5 - Very professional and decent wait time.

Willingness to go back: 1.5/5 - Would probably check out some other place on the pier unless we were looking for a fancy place to go to.

Overall: 2.5/5

Website: http://www.oldfishermansgrotto.com/