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)
- 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)
- 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)
- “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)
- Chicken, pasta, sandwiches
Bocconcini Pizza and Wings
- Address: 96 Gerrard St. E (350m, 4 minute walk)
- replacing Love at First Bite
- 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.”
- 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
- visited 2016 Mar 8
OPA! of Greece Dundas Street (Greek)
- Address: 10 Dundas St. E, Level 3
- visited 2016 March 8
Curry & Co.
- Address: 10 Dundas Street E, Level 3
AliBaba (Yonge)
- Address 357 Yonge Street (south of Gerrard St., 400m, 5 minute walk)
- Shawarmas etc.
Buffet Palace Indian Cuisine
- Address: 361 Yonge St., second floor (450m, 5 minute walk)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- Taiwanese fried chicken
Banh Mi Boys (Vietnamese and Asian Fusion)
- Address: 399 Yonge St. (600m, 7 minute walk)
- 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 MenuBbbop menu
Aura Sushi
King Place
- Address: 236 Sherbourne St. (700m, 9 minute walk)
Ramen Raijin
- Address: 24 Wellesley Street West (1.3 km, 16 minute walk)
- visited 2016 February 9
- 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
Not enough seating?
Steak and Cheese
- Address: 50 Gerrard St E
- 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)
- 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)
fauxupscale 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)
- 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.
Kinka Izakaya Original
- 398 Church St, north of Gerrard
- formerly Guu
- should be given another chance
Too Distant?
Gandhi Cuisine
- Address: 554 Queen Street W (distant, 2.8km, 35 minute walk)
Sizzler Kabab
- Address: 381 Spadina Avenue (distant, 2.0km, 25 minute walk)
Closed
Lou Dawg's (Barbeque and Sandwiches)
- Address: 76 Gerrard St E
- 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)
- 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
Korean Grill House (Korean)
- Address: 369 Yonge St
- 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?
hugh