Highlevel Diner — Restaurant in Greater Strathcona

The food here is great but the restaurant is not wheelchair accessible. I can't get into the place because the door has a step, it is too narrow, and the tables are all too close together. Even in the summer, when the patio is open, it isn't accessible because you have to go into the restaurant first to get to the patio. I doubt the washroom is accessible, but I can't say for sure.

I have had the food delivered. It's not as good as it is in the restaurant, but it's close. I am, however, torn about ordering food from an inaccessible place. On the one hand, I love the vegetarian chili - although I really don't like their cornbread, but on the other hand, I don't really want to give money to businesses that are not accessible because it reinforces the idea that they don't need to be. If collectively people - especially able-bodied people - stopped spending money at businesses that aren't accessible, those businesses that aren't would make themselves accessible to get there customers back. But as long as able-bodied people continue to support them, there is no reason for them to change. Especially as they don't have any disabled customers (because they aren't accessible), so there is no incentive to make the place accessible. However, I also recognize that this is not a chain with tons of money, but a locally owned business. So, it is not as simple for them to change the building they are in to make it more accessible.

Forgetting the politics of accessibility for the moment, let's talk about the food. The cinnamon buns are legendary, and for good reason. They are huge, pillowy-soft knots of gooey cinnamon goodness. Not overly sweet or iced, they are a near perfect example of the cinnamon bun. Made fresh in-house daily, the only downside is they usually sell-out early.

The vegetarian black-bean chili is really good and really filling. It is a nice mix of spices. Not hot, but there is lots of flavour in it. It's served with sour cream, which adds a nice creamy mouth-feel to the dish. The only downside to this dish is the cornbread. I love cornbread. But whatever they do to this stuff is just plain weird and bad. It is charred, which doesn't really help it, because the char is actually usually closer to burnt. So it has this bitter burnt taste to it and far, far too many whole corn kernels. There are some other chunky vegetables in it too, which in my opinion is not simply unnecessary, but just plain wrong. Unfortunately, that drags the chili down some, because you really need something to wipe up the gravy of a good chili. If they served it with a nice piece of artisan sourdough or something like that, it would be out of this world good.

They have a pretty extensive menu, with lots of options for vegetarians, and gluten-free. Everything on the menu has gotten good reviews from my friends (I always order the chili). It's hard to go wrong when picking something from the menu, so choose away. But when you are ordering, perhaps give some thought to accessibility and that it might be worth mentioning to the management that the place isn't accessible, and that it would be better if they didn't exclude people in wheelchairs from their establishment, because we love good...

I have gone to the High Level diner many times over the past few years. This last time will likely be my final visit.

We came in around 6:30pm , and our party was 4 adults and 2, 3 year olds. The server took our order which included 4 meals for the adults, and one for the kiddos to share, as well as a hot chocolate, ceaser, and a can of beer.

We got our caeser and beer after waiting 15 mininutes and then within 2 minutes got our food. The hot chocolate came after the food and had whip cream on it even though we asked it didn't.

I got a "club house" but it was actually a BLT with a small piece of dry chicken breast on it. The ratio was off, it was mostly lettuce. The positive was that the maple aioli was pretty tasty.

At the conclusion of our meal we ordered three desserts to go that the server put in the respective bags and gave them to us. She then gave us the bills that were split three ways. After handing them to us she took them back and said they were wrong.

When she returned she gave the bills back. I paid the bill but noticed that there was no opportunity for a tip. After the server left my friend said it was because an 18% gratuity was added. I spoke with the server as we're leaving and she told me that the gratuity is added tables of 6 or more and that it does say that on menu. I asked that even when two of thr six were toddlers. She said yes, as long as there are six people of any age. I thought that was strange and never experienced that at a restaurant before.

We got home and realized she mixed up the desserts and one of them was wrong.

Anyway, a pretty disappointing outing. Unfortunately the food fell short, and I paid almost 20 dollars for a BLT with a small piece of dry chicken on it.. The service was sub par, and the added gratuity for a table of 4 adults and 2 toddlers seemed a bit outrageous.

I always want to support local spots, but The High Level Diner feels like it may have gotten a little too big for...

This is my family and I’s go to restaurant for having a relaxing and fun experience. I’ve gone over 5 times now and I can easily say everyone should try it at least once

Cav, the server I had every single time I’ve gone there for the last 2 years, is definitely my favourite server in the restaurant business altogether. She’s sweet and kind and always checks on her tables in a timely fashion despite the restaurant being busy almost always, never too much never too little and it’s always a pleasure to know she will be our server. Funny enough, whenever my mom comes into the restaurant, she hopes that it’ll be Cav serving her and nobody else. That isn’t to say nobody else is good, I can’t speak on any other servers, but definitely Cav is an elite level server. She also gave us cinnamon buns on the house on my mom’s birthday which made my mom really happy that day.

As for the food, there’s just no complaints whatsoever. Everything tastes either good and delivers as expected or unique and nice. For example, the salmon has a mango sauce on top of it which adds a sweet kick that’s so refreshing and unusual. Their omelette and Benedict are both so good to the point where my brother and I share half an omelette and Benedict everytime so we can get to try both. Their idea of having the “veggies of the day” in the omelette is fantastic cause you never know what you’re going to get and switches it up everytime.

They also make their ketchup in house which is very refreshing and tastes like marinara/fresh tomatoes. Definitely ask for it if it’s not already provided.

I’m not aware if the chicken is halal so I stick to seafood and vegetarian.

8.2/10 - if you’re on a roadtrip to Edmonton for 3-4 hours, make this a...