Frank & Dora's — Restaurant in Deep Brook

We swung by Frank & Dora's the other day, on a beautiful spring afternoon as I had a craving for a burger and upon several recommendations I decided to check it out.

This place is awesome, especially for its decor and service. This is one of the few diner type joints that I've been to anywhere along Highway 1 from Yarmouth to Kentville that I'd say has notable, friendly, customer service. You can even here that over the PA when they're announcing whose order is ready for pickup at the window.

We ordered two burgers, a hotdog for my little one, and a loaded poutine side order to go with the burgers. The only reason I'm giving 4 stars is because I felt our order was consistently over seasoned with salt for our palettes - especially the two burgers and poutine.

The poutine was good. For the price, given it's fries, a crumbled up burger (or rather ground beef) and sauteed onions, I would've liked a slightly larger portion size. But I think it's about standard fare these days at these prices. The good news is they don't skimp on the toppings, so even though I may have wanted a more generous portion, I think for most people, this'd be fine as a substitute for a side of fries with each burger. I'd love for the burger crumble on top to be a more seared (with slight crispy edges) smash burger type, and a bit more gravy on this variant of their poutine. And if you're a fry connoisseur, these seem like the Cavendish crispy fries that you'd get a Costco. If the poutine were a bit heavier sauced, I'd prefer them cooked just a smidge longer to not get too soggy. For what they had in my order, I think it was done well.

Both burgers were good, done well, but not overly cooked to a well doneness that we find is common at most diners and similar establishments. It might've just been an unevenly seasoned batch of burger meat we had, but we felt both our burgers were a bit saltier than we'd like. Eaten hot and fresh, the bread was soft and the type that probably would get a bit mushy if you didn't consume immediately or had a burger that was topped with too many wet ingredients/sauces. All around, solid! The size of the burgers were standard, probably a 6 oz patty, not bad, but not huge, and certainly not too much that it feels heavy or that you need to be watching out for a looming coronary. LOL Also, the prices on their burgers, especially the no frills ones, quite reasonable. This is a perfect example of support local as opposed to spending your money at big franchise store.

There's plenty of parking, but I can see on a busy summer day, this place would be overflowing despite the large lot. Bonus, the view of the water is a killer perk for those sitting around and enjoying - especially if you've snagged a prime spot on that side.

The decor is definitely what makes this place stand out. For a tourist, this is totally like what you'd expect of a roadside diner with lots of old memorabilia you'd see cutting through a South West US road trip making your way to the west coast - like the I-80 through Nevada, or I-40 through Arizona.

There's a chain in Ontario, Lick's burgers, that's kind of like this in that sense, but this is done way better, more over the top, and a lot more of it outdoors as well. Definitely worth a pit stop for an ice cream and some cool pix of your trip out to the East Coast.

I'd definitely go back just to give it another try and make sure we didn't just get a weird...

I wish I could say we had a wonderful experience, but I cannot. We ate there this evening for the first time ever, so excited because we'd heard such great things. My husband ordered Frank's bacon cheeseburger with fries for me, which I heard with my own ears as I was standing right beside him. When he went to pick up our order from the counter there was just a small burger on the tray with the fish and chips he ordered for himself. He told the fella he had ordered fries with the burger. The girl who took our order came over and said "he did NOT order fries". My husband just walked away because he didn't want to make a scene. When I saw my burger, I realized it wasn't even the burger I had ordered. I got a very small, plain cheeseburger...with no fries. We just ate and left, very disappointed. Your employee basically calling my husband a liar is unacceptable and for that reason, we...

We were disappointed with the fish and chips. We had 3 orders and one of Haddie bits. The batter on the fish was still raw batter. We ended up throwing it out. The young people that waited on us made fun of me when I ordered and thought I didn't hear him and when I asked way he was making fun of me, he said that he liked to poke fun at things. I thought it to be rude. There was a young girl there that I assume was working. She had long hair not tied back or a hair net. All in all a bad experience. Don't order fish and chips unless you like raw batter. Haddie bits were not bad and four of us ate on that for 90 dollars. Also when I went to pay the machine was handed to me in the tip mode so I had to leave tip even though I feel fast food through a window does not require a 15 % as I am not served at a table. Just my opinion but tip should...