Table of Contents

GTALUG Pre-Meeting Dinner Options
Some Operating Principles

GTALUG Pre-Meeting Dinner Options

Some Operating Principles

Needs to be open at compatible hours. Some downtown places close too early.
Needs to allow a group to dribble in. If it requires formal seating, that's likely undesirable.
Needs enough seating that 10 people can be readily accommodated.
Some restaurants (Salad King, I'm looking at you!) are so noisy that people cannot readily talk over noise. (And then it escalates into trying to yell, and it's all downhill from there!)

Open

Kabul Express

Address: 126 Dundas Street E. (a short block east of Church; 200m, 2 minute walk)
Dinner Menu
Yelp 3.5*, under $10 Zomato 3.9/5, $30 for two people
Chris visited 2017-08-08, plenty of seating, seems fairly suitable. We can readily add casually to our party.
as of 2018-04-10, this has been our regular default location

Kinton Ramen

Address: 396 Church St. (north of Gerrard St.) (300m, 4 minute walk)
regular menu
special menu
Yelp
Chain: nine restaurants in GTA!
Very busy at the relevant time, fairly loud, and not very condusive to growing a GTALUG “crowd” gradually

Burrito Boyz (Dundas East)

Address 74 Dundas Street East (250m, 3 minute walk)
Yelp 3.5*, under $10 Zomato 2.9/5, $25 for two people Blog.TO 4*
“The budget-friendly bowls, burritos and quesadillas here can be stacked with almost every topping imaginable.”

Kathy's Corner

Address: 139 Dundas St E (250m, 3 minute walk)
Yelp 4*, under $10 Zomato 3.1/5, $25 for two people
Chicken, pasta, sandwiches

Bocconcini Pizza and Wings

Address: 96 Gerrard St. E (350m, 4 minute walk)
replacing Love at First Bite
Yelp 4.5*, (no pricing)Zomato (not enough votes), $30 for two people
Most recently visited in August 2016; it was a bit further changed, but still carried pizza

Blaze Pizza

Address 10 Dundas St. East (400m, 5 minute walk)
“Blaze Pizza is the Chipotle of pizza.”
Yelp 4.5*, $11-30 Zomato 3.8/5, $25 for two people Blog.TO 4.8
Chris Browne visited; “Similar to North of Brooklyn but with more seating”; modestly positive
Often a bit too busy, and it's difficult to get a lot of seating

10 Dundas East Food Court

(Third floor, 400m, 5 minute walk)

Milo's Pita (Middle Eastern)

Address: 10 Dundas St E, Level 3
Zomato 3.2/5, $25 for two people
visited 2016 Mar 8

OPA! of Greece Dundas Street (Greek)

Address: 10 Dundas St. E, Level 3
Yelp 3*, $11-30 Zomato 2.9/5, $25 for two people
visited 2016 March 8

Curry & Co.

Address: 10 Dundas Street E, Level 3
Yelp 4*, under $10 Zomato 2.4/5, $25 for two people

AliBaba (Yonge)

Address 357 Yonge Street (south of Gerrard St., 400m, 5 minute walk)
Website for 357 Yonge
Yelp 4*, under $10 Zomato 3.0/5, $25 for two people
Shawarmas etc.

Buffet Palace Indian Cuisine

Address: 361 Yonge St., second floor (450m, 5 minute walk)
Yelp 2.5*, $11-30 Zomato 4.4/5, $40 for two people
Buffet, long table suitable for large group

Roti Roll Caribbean Cuisine

Address: 361 Yonge St. (450m, 5 minute walk) (A little hard to recognize from the street but it is there)
Yelp 3.5*, under $10 Zomato 4.0/5, $25 for two people
visited 2015 November 10, 2016 July 12, 2017 March 14

Thai on Yonge

Address: 370 Yonge Street, second floor (South of Gerrard St., 500m, 6 minute walk)
Yelp 3.5*, $11-30 Zomato 3.1/5, $35 for two people
suggested by Bob Jonkman
visited 2016 May 10, 2017 July 11

Basil Box

Address: 351 Yonge St. (part of Ryerson SLC building, 500m, 5 minute walk)
Yelp 3.5*, $11-30 Zomato 3.6/5, (price not listed)Blog.TO 4.5*
Vietnamese, Thai
Visited: 14 June 2016, 2017 Feb 14

Big Moe's Burgers and Fries

Address 372 Yonge Street (south of Gerrard St., 500m, 6 minute walk)
Yelp 3.5*, under $10 Zomato 2.4/5, $15 for two people
There is also a Thai place and a liquid-nitrogen-cooled ice cream place in this “sorta food court”

Paramount Fine Foods - Middle Eastern

Address: 253 Yonge St. (500m, 7 minute walk)
Menu for Ontario locations
Yelp 3*, $11-30 Zomato 3.7/5, $40 for two people
visited: 2017-05-09
Full table service, so it is higher than most usual options on “need for coordination”

Hot Star Large Fried Chicken

Address 374A Yonge Street (south of Gerrard St., 550m, 6 minute walk)
Menu
Yelp 3.5*, $11-30 Zomato 2.8/5, (price not listed)
http://www.hot-star.ca/menu.html
Taiwanese fried chicken

Banh Mi Boys (Vietnamese and Asian Fusion)

Address: 399 Yonge St. (600m, 7 minute walk)
Menu
Yelp 4*, under $10 Zomato 4.3/5, $25 for two people
visited 2015 December 8

Shops at Aura Food Court (384 Yonge Street)

Address: 384 Yonge Street (downstairs food court, 600m, 7 minute walk)
We can each choose a restaurant and eat at the common tables

Taste of the Orient

opened end of 2018 March.
Chinese of unknown qualities

Sushi & BBbop

Korean and Japanese Sushi Menu Bbbop menu
Yelp 4.5*, $11-30 Zomato 3.1/5, $30 for two people

Aura Sushi

King Place

Address: 236 Sherbourne St. (700m, 9 minute walk)
Menu
Yelp 4*, $11-30 Zomato 3.0/5, $30 for two people

Ramen Raijin

Address: 24 Wellesley Street West (1.3 km, 16 minute walk)
visited 2016 February 9
Yelp Review
this Globe article rates it #4 (a high rating): http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/restaurant-reviews/5-top-spots-for-ramen-in-toronto/article8127132/

Untried

Good View Restaurant

Address: 134 Dundas Street East (a small block east of Church, just east of Kabul Express)
Chinese
http://www.goodviewtoronto.com/menu.aspx
https://www.yelp.ca/biz/good-view-restaurant-toronto

Not enough seating?

Steak and Cheese

Address: 50 Gerrard St E
Website
Visited: 2017-06-13
Low on seating, but able to accommodate our crowd

North of Brooklyn

Address: 469 Church St. (North of the meeting location close to the Wellesley station)
Yelp Review
visited 2016 January 13
Not enough seating (table for four + counter against a wall)

Too Pricey

The Senator

Address: 249 Victoria St. (350m, 5 minute walk)
Yelp 4*, $11-30 Zomato 3.9/5, $50 for two people
~~faux~~ upscale diner: cheapest Entrée 2015 Aug 4: 8 oz Cumbrae's Naturally Raised Beef Burger $16

Logistically Unsuitable

Hokkaido Ramen Santouka (Japanese)

Address: 91 Dundas Street E (at Church) (180m, 2 minute walk)
Yelp 4*, $11-30 Zomato 4.2/5, $45 for two people
this Globe article rates it #1 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/restaurant-reviews/5-top-spots-for-ramen-in-toronto/article8127132/
Checked 2017-08-08, too busy for our purposes, and requires full party to be available to check in.

Too noisy?

Salad King

340 Yonge Street, Second Floor
Thai. Cheap and cheerful. Communal tables.
http://saladking.com/

Kinka Izakaya Original

398 Church St, north of Gerrard
formerly Guu
should be given another chance
http://www.kinkaizakaya.com/
https://www.yelp.com/biz/kinka-izakaya-original-toronto

Too Distant?

Gandhi Cuisine

Address: 554 Queen Street W (distant, 2.8km, 35 minute walk)
Yelp Review

Sizzler Kabab

Address: 381 Spadina Avenue (distant, 2.0km, 25 minute walk)
Yelp Review

Closed

Lou Dawg's (Barbeque and Sandwiches)

Address: 76 Gerrard St E
Yelp Review
DCB observes: noisy
Stewart judges: not very good BBQ (but his baseline is Kansas City joints)
visited: 2013 December 10
closed 2019 Jan 18
formerly: too noisy

Kaiju (Japanese Curry)

Website (stayed tuned)
Yelp 4.5*, under $10 Zomato 3.9/5, $30 for two people
visited 2015 April 14, 2015 September 8, 2016 April 12
on 2018 April 10, Jeffrey Pikul reported this had closed.

The Restaurant Formerly Known As Love at First Bite

our former regular venue
location now occupied by https://wiki.gtalug.org/pre-meeting_dinner#bocconcini_pizza_and_wings
Address: 96 Gerrard St. E

z-teca Mexican

Address: 66 Gerrard St. E
Burritos, tacos etc.
visited in pre-historic times
Yelp Review

Korean Grill House (Korean)

Address: 369 Yonge St
Yelp Review
All You Can Eat – probably not suitable for a pre-meeting meal

Dac Biet Burger

Address 213 Church Street (south of Dundas St.)
Asian fusion burger joint?
https://www.yelp.ca/biz/dac-biet-burger-toronto