Pearl Diver — Restaurant in Toronto

First time customer with friend for Saturday Brunch. Happy to have made reservations. First to arrive and the place fills within minutes.

We start with a dozen oysters and Mimosas. The seafood is wonderful but the drinks lack punch. More of the bubbly and less of the orange juice in these small flute glasses would be nice.

Our server is pleasant but alone struggling to keep up in a sea of patrons vying for her attention.

Lobster Benny, side bacon and Caesars follow. The meal is well presented, tasty and the bacon is crisp. Attention to detail and pride in one’s work are obvious. The Caesars follow the way of the Mimosas, weak.

Dessert ends the meal. Both ordered are delicious and any chosen from the board or menu will not disappoint. Preference goes to the sticky toffee bread pudding. The coffee, as with the drinks lacks flavour. The word weak keeps popping up. With only one Wait Staff on hand, flares are deployed for refills on the coffee.

Two types of Irish Whiskey are ordered. Quality is present. A second round follows but my glass has two large cracks in the crystal. Replacement is brought. Looking into the glass, I find a piece of shell and a tiny bug doing the backstroke. OK, that too is quickly replaced BUT and this is a capital BUT, I am still charged. At the very least that last drink should have been comped or a double provided. Especially since they provide a mere one ounce of liquor for their drinks. A faux pas times two.

Seating by way of chairs and benches are bare wood. A lengthy sit down will leave you sore. BYOC. Bring your own cushion.

The various meals being served look delicious and of good quality. Minor tweaks here and there would certainly improve the dining experience.

UPDATE: June 2017. Second visit this time with my sister. Reservations requested one of the two small tables by the front window with a reply it would not be a problem. We show up on time and sorry, it's a problem. Both tables are taken. My sister chooses a booth further back but the speaker directly above us is a tad too loud for normal conversation. The meal however, Lobster Benny and *Shrimp Po-Boy are beautiful and satisfy us both. Our Waitress is her usual expedient, professional self. She remembers me from my first visit of four weeks ago. As a business, Staff like that you hang on for dear life. They wont botch up a customers' order.

I can't say enough of the taste of this dish and don't want to bore you by dissecting it ingredient by ingredient. Just go ahead and have one.

Still 4 Stars in my book...but waiting for...

I ordered for 120$

steak medium rare with fries Some oysters and 2 ceasar salads. When i went to eat there it was delicious to my memory. The salad was blend. I was like why......i wouldnt order a salad on delivery if I didn't think it was a good one. The steak? A hot mess!!! They cut the meat on the grain instead of against the grain!!! Result to not beein able to chow my meat ! Even cut it......i had to go to a restaurant after that cost me an extra 200 to go eat a real meal! The fries?? They were dry and hard. So its clear to me they were cooked beforz dried out refried n send to me. Not even hot. Just hard n i couldn't eat 1. I swear.......not at all my on place experience. I will never order from there again. And they dont even put there best item on deliver menu which is the scallops n pork belly. That could of saved the day. Im kinda mad...... déception is more accurate.

1 photo is the bag 2 is the mini salad they sent....blend 3 dry n hard fries. I like them small n crispy freshly fried. I cant believe they sent me this. 4 the meat is cut wrong way!!!! Rookie mistakes. Unforgettable cause I had to throw it out really couldn't cut to it or chow. Very bad the cooking temps was right and thats all. The chimichrri looked old n blend 5 the steak up close u can see they cut it wrong way......can't make it up. 6 the meal looked good to start with..... 7 last pic is the meat i went to pay at a other restaurant to replace my bad dinner. And here u can see they cut the meat the right way it was soo tender (at Marked on John st)

I don't know what to say about this delivery 1/5...

Pearl Diver is our favourite special occasion restaurant in Toronto - and we are so happy to see how innovative they have been in their approach to dining with the pandemic in mind! My family and I dined there yesterday for the first time since March and had such a fantastic time that we just had to share!

We ordered the Seafood Tower, fish and chips, sticky toffee pudding, and a bottle of wine. As always, the food and service was superb! The service at Pearl Diver is impeccable - one of the many reasons we go here time and time again. Even eating outside, we were well attended to and staff were friendly and accommodating.

I was a little apprehensive about dining in a repurposed parking lot, but it was actually really nice! They had up a string of lights, plastic picnic tables (the kind without splinters, that is), and the rustic brick of the heritage building made for a nice backdrop. The tables were well spaced out too - much better than I've seen at other restaurants I've dined at in Toronto, the Niagara Region, and in cottage country. The food was served in disposable containers with single-use cutlery, which makes perfect sense during a pandemic. Kudos to Pearl Diver for helping to keep everyone safe!

All in all, we were thoroughly impressed with how well the Pearl Diver made our experience worthwhile and memorable. It was the best dining experience we had together as a family since the pandemic begun and were really impressed with how Pearl Diver had reinvented their delivery while up-keeping their strength in quality of food and service. Thank you...