Kathryn's Grill and Bar — Restaurant in Pickering

Been a long time customer here for almost 15 years. I usually come here with my partner and have a great experience as the previous staff members were long time employees who we had built a great relationship with over many years. A few weeks ago I came in to do takeout and noticed that the person serving me was new. I didn’t think much of it at the time however when I came in again to sit down a few weeks later I noticed that I did not recognize any of the staff members. Upon chatting with our sever we came to learn that new ownership had taken over and all new staff was hired. I was gutted to hear this as the previous staff had been amazing. Our experience that day was just okay. Food tasted alright but not as good as normal. However what we noticed the most was the change in atmosphere. The new staff did not have that family friendly vibe to them that the previous ones did. In all honestly the new staff seemed very grundy and like they belonged in a dive bar not a family breakfast restaurant. Despite this I decided to give them one more try and got takeout yesterday. Firstly, I tried to call them 4 times to place my order and each time the phone did not even ring. I went in waited about 5 minutes before anyone acknowledged me even though the place was completely empty with only 2 tables having guests. This was very surprising as it was around 12:30 on a Saturday. Finally someone came over to which nicely let the staff know the phones weren’t working and that I would like to place an order for takeout. Instead of taking my order first the lady serving me spend 5 minutes walking around the restaurant trying to find all the phone and why there weren’t working before coming to take my order. Once my order was placed I waited. Upon waiting I noticed they added in a shelf above the cash and filled it with alcohol bottles. This was not there before and really promotes that dive atmosphere that the new staff add too. Finally I got my food and took it home. When getting takeout i always order the same thing and never have an issue. This time my food felt undercooked. The homefries were hard and my well done sandwich was definitely not well done. Overall I'm very dissapointed in the changes that have been made by new ownership as many other long term customers are. This is no longer a family friendly space. The quality of food and customer service has plummeted and I will not be returning again. Sad to see a Pickering staple go...

This place has been around for a very very long time. I used to live very close to this place and went semi-often. After many years I went back for mother days to have their breakfast.

Overall this place was decent. Breakfast foods such as bacon, eggs and toast are very simple foods to cook and very hard to mess up. The bacon here was amazing and cooked to perfection. Eggs as well were very good. The home fries here aren’t the best, like at all. The home fries are barely seasoned and ever so slightly pan fried. There was hardly any crust or crunch to their breakfast potatoes. My mother also got a 3 egg meal and generally enjoyed her but had the same things to say about the breakfast potato. My father got an omelette and very much enjoyed his breakfast. Overall if there is one food item that could be greatly improved on, for me it would be their breakfast potatoes. If you aren’t gonna deep fry them, then at least pan fry them for some crisp.

Service here wasn’t the best but it was excusable - we can here on Mother’s Day, a day where every breakfast spot is very very busy. For my eggs I ordered scrambled with cheese and unfortunately my eggs with cheese was sent along another order so I was stuck with scrambled eggs no cheese. Our initial server did take quite long to bring stuff such as more milk and cream, more napkins and we waited some tjme for our toast. We had no option but to ask another server for a few of these items and she helped out and made sure we got what we asked for in a very timely manner.

Overall I had a good experience at Kathryn’s Diner. Price is very very fair especially for the quality of food and the portion sizes. I have been going here for many years and I definitely plan to go again. I would also recommend this...

I have been coming here for years. Today I came in for the first time since the summer and something felt off. New management, new staff, new prices, new hours.

For starters I walked in and was told I can sit anywhere like usual. I sat down at a booth and it reeked of bleach. Nice that its clean, gross that its that strong. We were greeted by a lady in training and she grabbed us some drinks. Glasses came out dirty so we got new ones.

When we were ready to order our meal the lady in training came back and said I’ll grab you a server so she can take your order, it only took a few minutes not that bad!

I ordered the Kathryns combo as I had every time in the past, and I order the french toast instead of the pancakes. Took about 25m for the food to arrive. The portions are still plentiful, the home fries aren’t as crisp as they used to be, bacon was good, french toast had a bit of uncooked egg on it but it wasn’t the end of the world.

However once we were seated and ordered all service stopped, none of the “How are we doing here?”, “Do you need anymore coffee?”, “Is there anything else I can get you?” none of it! We even heard the one server there arguing with the kitchen about something on the menu!

When we went to pay we were charged extra for the french toast when the server even asked “Would you like pancakes or french toast?” We had never been charged extra in the past, what a bummer!

All in all, the service could have been better and they should have been honest about the pricing changes. The food was still good and nostalgic, but the atmosphere has totally changed since the new management took over and it doesn’t feel anything...