Denny's — Restaurant in Toronto

2025: French toast, good service and still easy to drink coffee. Good way to start the day.

2018: For those uninitiated, yes Toronto has a Denny's. The all American Diner is located on the south west corner of Bay & Dundas and other than my experience with the front end Reception Staff, service is quick and polite.

Early Friday morning with a sprinkling of tables occupied. I stand at the entrance for several minutes while one is on the phone and another stares blankly at a cash register she clearly cannot make work or understand. As she keeps peering over her shoulder for someone to assist the now several people line forming behind me, I spy a preferred booth and when finally approached, tell them exactly where I want to sit. Not an issue.

My Server Alex, is quick to take my order and gets extra points for noticing something foreign in my water. The latter is quickly replaced. The All American Slam (I'll forgo the required American hyphen) arrives just as ordered and with freshly toasted rye bread. A choice of two hot sauce is available. You may also opt for roast potatoes or the usual hash browns. I take the hash browns, for when in Rome...

I am not dissatisfied with my meal. The scrambled eggs are well prepared but the bite size sausages and skimpy bacon leaves me wanting a few grams more of each. The traditional melted orange cheddar goo over my eggs is not overpowering so fear not the goo. The coffee is easy to take and Alex does not leave me hanging at refill time.

The restaurant is clean and from what I can see, so is the kitchen. Would I go back? Sure. It's open 24 hours which makes it supremely appealing if you've had your fill of Fran's or other such eateries in the area. Although having a front sidewalk entrance with a semblance of a parallel ramp, mobility impaired guests will struggle with the limited space afforded to operate your chair or scooter through the doors and angle required to get inside. Never mind the raised concrete lip which will have you curse to no end or have you fall back onto said sidewalk.

The HST 1 & HST 2 on the bill leave one out of Country couple scratching their heads and frankly I had to look twice at it. When asked, I tell them it's a tax and forego, as did Denny's, explaining GST. They thought it was some kind of required double tip. Alex is good but he's not THAT good.

Free WIFI. It's their...

I had an unfortunate set of circumstances where I had to work early. After looking locally for a early morning breakfast diner and asking them for dine-in, Denny's delivered.

Walking into a quiet and empty restaurant, I was welcomed by a fairly coherent English speaking hostess and just sat myself at the bar. The atmosphere is quite contemporary and the seating is mostly booth and tables. Though they don't seem have much in selection of alcohol, they do have an extreme variety of breakfast options.

At first I selected myself a slam and a fruit bowl. Generally I found the sausage quite cooked with care and eggs over medium were close to the easy side. The hash browns are great being very thin and liberally pan fried on the surface. For the portions, it's filling but at around $20 per meal, but it's a bit costly for your minimum wage earner. For the few visits I've had, they missed out on offering spreads for my bread and didn't see it at the bar.

Overall with their open 24 hours scheme, I would return especially when I need a meal at 5 am and unable to get it from other breakfast diners. Though there are not a lot of Denny's locations in Toronto, I have not much to compare to besides other diners. Generally at other diners, the menu has more options besides eggs and hash browns while Denny's mostly sticks to these two starch and protein options. For anything outside of breakfast, there isn't much besides rehashing eggs and potatoes. Reducing it down, the price seems less and less appealing. A filling breakfast and good service, but lacks everything else which makes it no non-sense dining for anyone who is into...

The best thing about this Denny's is the service. My server, Khan, was very good, and in fact all the servers are good. Servers are friendly and helpful. The management is unfailing friendly and helpful. Varun and Ram are outstanding. The staff are the best thing Denny's have going so they better take care of them,

I have to say that the quality of meals and value-for-price ratio at Denny's is steadily falling. Meals are getting more expensive and you get less with each meal. Order a grilled cheese sandwich and you don't get a slice of pickle. Ask for a a couple of pickle shavings to flavor the sandwich and they charge you an extra $2.00 on top of a $10 sandwich.

They used to have three or four delicious soups and switched them up every day. Now they have one - chicken noodle. The whole menu is designed to look as appetizing as possible and priced to extract a minimum of $20 per head per visit, so bring your wallet. I would love to sit at an executive meeting at Denny's where they set the price-points on their menus. Just to see how they select the price point to get the customer to order, all the while gritting his teeth.

Denny's has always been positioned as the quintessential middle-class diner. And yet... if you look around, you can find menus a cut above for the same or not much more price.

Conclusion: you come to Denny's for the atmosphere and the service, but you are defo overpaying to get it. The standard of living of our middle class has collapsed over the last ten years and the Value-Cost of a Denny's meal is...