Diana’s Oyster Bar and Grill

Haven’t been back for a long time. Came for Father’s Day.
Greeter was awesome. Immediate recognized my father has difficult walking and sat us closer to the exit. Oysters were great! Some lost their juice by the time it was served possibly by the way they were farmed or shucked. Was told a farming issue… Waitress was not as friendly as previous visits. Heavier set lady. Seemed almost defensive when mentioned about the juice issue. Other wait staff was more attentive and friendly. Maybe she wasn’t happy that we asked other servers for help since she was not present.
Clam chowder is definitely a must! Got one to go as well for the wifey.
Caesar salad was served without the leaves being cut. Not sure why but my elderly parents were not happy about cutting up their salad… I guess it looks more presentable that way.
Soft shell crab was decent. Batter was not what we expected. It was similar to fish and chips type of batter. Usually a lighter batter similar to agedashi dofu.
Ponzu was not ponzu either. Ponzu is a Japanese citron with Japanese soy sauce. They added some grilled red peppers and I think shallots with minimal hints of citrus fruits.
Grilled octopus was decent. My mother said it was tastier at Eden on lakeshore.
Overall not what I expected. Usually a great experience and food is on point. Maybe cause we ordered many specials that weren’t on the menu normally or the luck of who served us. Will definitely come back since my parents love seafood and theirs is one of freshest.
I hope this doesn’t come off as complaining but more as constructive feedback to improve. We enjoy eating here normally and would like them to be successful so we can enjoy their food for years to come.

I absolutely LOVED this oyster bar. It was my first time dining here and for lunch we had 12 fanny bay oysters, a clam chowder, and mussels for appetizers. I could taste how fresh the oysters were and the clam chowder was thick and hearty! The cream sauce for the mussels was the icing on the cake.
We also had the fish and chips which was great because it was lightly battered, the crab and lobster roll (AMAZING) and a tuna sandwich (I wasn’t a fan of). I would definitely come back in the near future !

5 stars:
We were seated in the patio for dinner tonight and had a lovely experience. I haven’t been much I into oysters, but now I’m sold.
Oysters: 5 stars: We tried the malpeque (from PEI), and the fanny bay (Vancouver island). We were told that the oysters from PEI were saltier, and the west coast oysters were creamery. Personally I loved the east coast (PEI) oysters the best. I also really enjoyed how the oysters were very large in size!
Clam chowder: 5 stars: honestly it was one of the best clam chowders I have ever had. Bowls are also pretty big, and definitely shareable with two people.
Appetizer platter: 4 stars: 4 of us shared the appetizer platter– had smoked salmon, calamari, octopus, greens, avocado and olives. However I felt like it was pretty small for a platter.
Paella: 5.5 stars: this was my favourite part of the meal. The paella was loaded with mussels, clams, crab meat, large shrimp. It was delicious.
I would recommend anyone who comes here to share all meals. Everything we tried was great, and it was nice to be able to taste a bit of everything.

Booked mothers day reservation and still had to wait an hour for our table. The greeter was very poor in communication as she just kept repeating that our table will be ready in 15min. It was actually what she told every customers who were waitinf. The more customers were being backed up, the waiting area was packed with very unhappy customers.
Bottom line is. if you have an important event don’t book at Diana’s! They will mess up your event.

Great for oysters at the bar with beer or wine, but completely mediocre and overpriced for lunch or dinner (and I live across the street — I’ve been here many times for dinner!). Staff are friendly and knowledgeable, restaurant is clean, food is fresh. But the food is so unremarkable! One time, for lunch, I ordered a grilled tuna wrap and got canned tuna. The staff were quick to apologize and took it off my bill… but yuck! Canned tuna at a seafood restaurant?
Calamari is good, fish entrees are always fine… but for the price, I would go just about anywhere else. I don’t know how else to explain this other than «uninspired». Relatively common fare, and not in a classic way. I would expect this kind of presentation to be about $ 10 less per plate.
Last spring/​summer they had a mussels, fries, and pint of beer special on. That was delicious! I hope they do that again.

I visit Diana’s seafood a few times a year. It’s a bit pricey but worth it. The seafood is always fresh and I’ve never gotten sick (unlike some other restaurants). Book in advance if you are going for any special occasion.
One of my go to dishes is the Clam linguine.
I’m looking forward to to visiting the North York location next.

3.5 — Had dinner here tonight and really enjoyed the freshness of the seafood, the great atmosphere and the lovely service we received. We started with 20 oysters, large prawns and calamari. The oysters had fresh horseradish and sauces to go with them. They were incredibly fresh and delicious. The large prawns were sweet and the calamari was made from fresh squid. It was fried a bit too much for my liking but my family enjoyed it. I had the bouillabaisse for my entrée and my family also ordered the grill platter and paella. They were generous with the seafood in all the dishes. The variety was great! My crab legs and shrimp were a bit overcooked but the mussels, claims and fish were perfect. The broth was also delicious! Definitely, a great seafood joint with very reasonable prices.

Food was good service was good. On valentine’s day not bad. Just the lighting had some issues with it flicking had to ask a few time to get fix. Other wise good. But not a good place for date. Cuz the tables are really close to each other. No privacy, especially on a holiday. Good presentation was good. And sizes were big. The flavour a bit a the either sweet sour or bland side. But I’m not complaining, fresh food not too overpriced. It was acceptable. Would go again. But I normally just go to the market for oysters. Loved the filled octopus on the appetizer platter and the grilled calamari, the friend one was good too. Had the clam chowder not bad, did find a bit of seafood grain in it though. Also had the salmon and paella. Salmon was dry on the edges, not a big fan of sour sauce on top, the veggies were really oily (grill I guess mean alot of olive oil). The paella was nice, the rice cooked soft, the shrimps and mussels were big and fresh… The crawfish on the side… Was interesting.
We didn’t order wine cuz we were light drinkers and would need to drive home, the bill was about $ 140 after tax and a generous tip for two :)
Not bad for this kind of restaurant. :)

Came here to try oysters for the first time. The waitress was really friendly and helped us pick the right sauces and wine to pair with the oysters. Ordered the fried octopus which we loved. The risotto was terrible. The seafood paella is really yummy, will definitely be back to try this again.

Came here for lunch with my coworker and we decided to order a bunch of appetizers to share.
Appetizer Platter for 2 ($ 28)
This dish came with 4 items: Smoked salmon, grilled octopus, caprese salad and grilled calamari. The presentation was definitely a disappointment as it didn’t look that appealing. Essentially it was just grilled calamari and octopus served with 2 different salads. The Grilled Calamari portion is comparable to the calamari/​octopus in this platter, if not less, so essentially you are paying an extra $ 13 for the 2 salads? I would not be able to justify the portion of the 2 salads worth the $ 13. Ingredients were fresh but this platter was nothing special and over priced in my opinion.
Grilled Calamari ($ 15)
This was nothing special — the calamari was grilled nicely, not too chewy. It was served in an orange brandy sauce which wasn’t much of my liking.
Oyster Rockafeller ($ 13)
The baked oysters was probably the best dish of all that we tried. It was baked with bacon, spinach, cheese and panko crumbs. Comes with 3 but we ordered an additional one ($ 3.25) since we had 4 people.
Crab Cakes ($ 12)
Comes with only 2 crab cakes and arugula salad. It was tastey, but could definitely use more crab meat. I really liked the spicy mayo drizzled along the sides of the plate
Steamed Mussels ($ 17)
The mussels was served in a creamy sauce wih crispy fennel, green onion and pancetta. I really enjoyed the mussels — ingredients were fresh and the sauce was very flavorful. Portion was big as well, good for sharing. Definitely a better appetizer to order in terms of value compared to the other options.
Ahi tuna tartare ($ 18)
This was one of their specials for the day. I found the price was very steep, as the portion was fairly small. I did enjoy this dish though, tasted very refreshing with the the mangoes adding a nice tangy taste. They should have included more pieces of chips though as 4 definitely was not enough to go with the tartare.
Overall the good was good, very enjoyable meal.
I heard that their new markham location has horrible service. I would definitely recommend people to stick with this location as opposed to visiting the markham location.

I went to Diana’s Oyster Bar and Grill with my expectations high. If you are eating Oysters, as long as they are fresh they should be great. As predicted they Oysters were pretty fresh and delicious. We also had soup, mussels, clams, crab cakes, and calamari (grilled and battered fried). I was in Seafood Heaven. Only thing was that the service wasn’t that great, our server paid little to no attention which is disappointing as the food was great.
Another time a friend brought oysters from Diana’s and it was $ 100 for 150 Oysters. Pretty much a steal of a deal if you ask me. They were just as fresh just because they were unshucked. Not a big issue for us because we had at least 3 of us including myself that knew of to shuck the oysters. It was just the labour that had to be put in that was time consuming. I don’t mind working for my food and I would do it again for sure cuz it was worth it to me. They were so delicious and you know what they say about oysters, they are an aphrodisiac. I recommend Diana’s Oysters because they have some great things on the menu and I guess you can say they were some Shuckin Good Oysters. JimStar Out!

Finally got a chance to try this place out! My aunt was visiting and really want to try raw oysters so we decided to drop by this place for lunch.
We ordered the soup of the day (I believe it was a ginger, carrot, and smoked fish soup), fish and chips, a dozen malpeque oysters, and a dozen fanny Bay oysters. Everything was very delightful! The soup was very flavourful and smoky, while the fish and chips was very fresh. But omg the oysters were fantastic and fresh! It was so good that we ordered another dozen fanny Bay just to top it off. Granted the price is a little steep but definitely worth a visit!

Diana is the best place to eat fresh, unbaked oyster in Scarborough
They have oyster special for Monday and Thursday. fanny bay is pretty juicy and fresh;
Grilled calamari is my fav dish here
Service is friendly, the environment is nice
They also have a fish market beside
Definitely will come back again

Great space and tastey oysters, but service was very mediocre. Food took FOREVER to come out. We came as a large group, so I understand how things can be tricky for coordinate. However, it shouldn’t take 20 minutes for raw oysters to come out when then entire restaurant is essentially empty. At least they gave us bread.
I guess I’m also picky, and cranky coz I’m so frigging hungry waiting for an hour for my main dish, but it really annoys me when the server doesn’t keep track of who ordered what properly and gave my wine to my neighbour, or brings out a dish and asking the group who ordered this. Like I’m supposed to remember what weird name oysters I ordered?!
The more I write the more anger and hungry I get. It’s been 1:50 since our sit down time, and I’m still waiting for my main.
Will post again after I actually eat.
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OK. 2 hours later, finally got my artic char lunch special. It was done to perfection, and was very good. Or maybe I’m so hungry that anything would taste good at this point.
To the server’s credit, she brought us bread and made sure our water was filled throughout the 2 hour wait. I guess the kitchen is slow or understaffed.
Anyway food wise, great restaurant, but my personal first time experience was something else. I’d be willing to try again with a small group.

I would give it 3.5 stars but Unilocal doesn’t allow for half a star.
We went for a weekend lunch with another couple. The lunch specials didn’t look too appealing to me so we went with the regular menu.
Apps: I had the Manhattan clam chowder (tomato based broth with veggies) while hubby had the regular Diana’s clam chowder (cream based). They were $ 8 each. We were quite disappointed with the chowders; the Manhattan chowder tasted much like an over priced vegetable soup, not too clammy at all. The cream chowder was lukewarm and mostly potatoes, and not clammy either. We deninitely felt ripped off with the chowders.
We also had some fresh Oysters to share.
Oysters were really fresh and there were quite a selection to choose from. They are sold as each (range from $ 1.8 to $ 4 each), no discount for bulk so the bill does add up fast if you wanna eat a lot of Oysters.
The server said on Mon and Thu, they have an oyster discount where you can get a dozen for $ 15 or $ 20 depends on the oysters.
Entrees:
1) Lobster and shrimp tagliatelle ($ 28): delicious rich sauce and generous amount of lobster chunks (mostly claw meats though) and shrimps. Will get this again if I come back here. This was the best choice of entrée IMO.
2) Pan seared scallop risotto ($ 32): only came with 3 scallops, would expect more seafood at that price. Risotto was on the salty side and I didn’t like the green peas embedded in it, the peas didn’t go with the seafood at all. I would not recommend this at all; pick a different entrée.
3) Catch of the day: pan seared BC snapper with potatoes and veggies ($ 25). Fish was freshly delicious.
4) Wild Halibut fish & chips with home cut fries, coleslaw, and tarta sauce ($ 25). It was okay, nothing to rave about. They were very stingy with the tarta sauce for a $ 25 entrée.
Overall, I think this restaurant is over hyped. Food quality is good, however, I can’t justify the price. Unsure if we will return

I’ve always seen them at night markets across Toronto so I thought to give it a try with my family. Really amazing atmosphere. Food was delicious and fresh and I would definitely come back again. Price is a little pricy but its to be expected when it comes to seafood. Oysters are a must try and the lobster is good as well. Looking forward to trying the clam chowder next time as it looks super appetizing.
Staff members were nice and well educated with the menu. Only thing that could have been better was the time it took to be served. Can’t blame them though because the preparation for oysters happen when you order.
Over all VERY satisfied with my experience.

Best oysters I’ve ever had.
Best calamari I’ve ever had.
I found the menu a little too expensive. While the food was fantastic, for the price you pay, it should be MIND BLASTINGLY fantastic.
But I will definitely come back for their oysters.

I’ve been to Diana’s a few times and if it wasn’t for the distance, I would probably visit a lot more. My friends and I made a reservation for 6 on a Thursday and when I arrived the restaurant wasn’t too busy. At around 7 was when things got busier and the waiters took longer to come around and check up on us which was understandable considering the number of diners. They were friendly and always reassured us that water or the menu was coming and apologised for the wait which was nice. Service was great and it’s one of the things I enjoy about Diana.
Food was great too, as always. I got the steamed lobster, 2 pounds with rice and grilled veggies and the bill for that came up to $ 66. The number seems daunting but for what you paid for, it’s very reasonable. The lobster meat was tender and not overly cooked. I love the rice that comes with it, it’s nicely seasoned and the grilled vegetables makes for a great accompaniment.
Friends got the steamed mussels and while I’m not a fan, it was pretty good too. Again, the meat wasn’t rough but instead tender so that you can actually taste the genuine mussels.
I’d recommend this place to anyone who’s a seafood lover. The oysters are always fresh and always a favourite. The restaurant itself is nice and has a patio for those wanting to eat outside.

I’m surprised I haven’t written a review for Diana’s, this would be my 2^nd most recent visit. First visit was when my BF took me here for Valentine’s Day and it was superb (the service, the food, the menu all made the VDay amazing), totally recommend this place for fresh seafood while also knowing how to do a really good steak as well! Came here for lunch recently, their lunch specials are really good. Tried their oysters (dozen malpeque oysters for $ 15), lobster roll with clam chowder and coleslaw (which was served on a weird teacup plate). The service seemed to hoover around the older customers, because we were not given any bread during our wait for our mains. I had to request a spoon for my clam chowder, service seems to be a bit slow or picky/​moody.
Definitely can say it is pricy for lunch. But it’s a seafood restaurant and they didn’t cheap out on the lobster in the roll.
You would not have thought much of this place if you drove by it due to the location of it. It is located next to their seafood store where my BF goes to buy fresh seafood/​seafood stock. Prices can be high but you pick and choose what you want.
You get what you pay for! Will come back but probably keep it more for special occasions.

We’ve been here a couple of times for lunch and dinner now, and honestly, we’ve walked away each time extremely pleased with not only the food, but also the entire experience.
We’ve tried the lobster bisque, clam chowder, crab cakes, baked pear and blue cheese dessert, their raw oysters and pastas. I’ve got to say though, it’s only their seafood that really stands out, so my suggestion to to go for their raw oysters, soups, and crab cakes and other appetizers in general, and leave the mains (pastas, meats).
A fairly big caveat is that as far as I know, they don’t take reservations, which can get annoying, especially if you want to bring along a couple of guests.
Prices are reasonable, considering it is seafood and most of the oysters are from out of country!
A suggestion though, if you’re willing to sacrifice the experience, is to go next door to their fresh market and pick up products there (raw oysters, crab cakes, canned soups) and prepare the food at home. It’s /​almost/​the same for a far lower price!
Overall, though, this is an amazing restaurant and I’d definitely come back here for their seafood!