Diner’s Corner

Whenever I’m in Toronto I make sure I visit this place. Easy, relaxed vibe, great music and the oxtail is BEYOND. I always encounter the nicest people sitting out on their patio — I have even sat across from international reggae artists at this hidden gem.
This is the spot that you go for oxtail in Toronto when you want to relax on a patio, sit back, have a drink, listen to some music and you just never know who will show up at this institution for Jamaican food in Toronto. Service is always great!

A great place to get ox tail dinners. Best I have had in Toronto.
I have eaten there once and I did take out the next time.
The place looks like a no frills place, but the food is awesome. Friendly people as well.
I hope to try other items on the menu one of these days.

Un restaurant jamaïcain au centre ville de Toronto: pas cher, bon et sympathique. La clientèle est un bon mélange de connaisseurs aventureux et de gens du pays. Le service est un tantinet lent mais ça né fait qu’ajouter à l’authenticité du lieu !

As far as Jamaican restaurants in Toronto go, this one is the best. The food is fresh and authentic. The ingredients are quality, and while that quality is reflected in the prices, it’s worth every penny. I had the brown stew snapper which was perfectly cooked and seasoned, with fresh okra and veggies in the traditional fashion. The rice and peas were well seasoned and the festival was delicious. The plantain was hot and fresh, just as it should be. Do not come here if you care about fancy furnishings and ambiance. The atmosphere is friendly and casual, the patio is sweet and so are the servers. Having scoured the city for the best Jamaican food, I can honestly say that Diner’s Corner is your best bet. Enjoy!

This place was recommended to us by a Jamaican man who was our cashier at the Jamaican Grocery store in Kensington Market. Basically, we asked him where he went for Jamaican food on his day off! There were not many reviews and what we read were mixed so we were a bit skeptical but we are always willing to give a small mom/​pop place a chance. So here we are… good sign when we come in and the patrons are not the touristy type… Yay… mostly Jamaicans here… the staff is friendly… feels like I’m at relative restaurant… they are very relax and I like the background reggae music… We had the oxtail, festival, salad, red bean and rice, jerk chicken. I didn’t know what a festival was and the waitress was so nice. She brought out a couple so that we can try and see if we like… and we LIKED… a lot! I’m not Jamaican but I love great food… and we loved their food… perfect portions… guys… order the larger size… it’s only a few dollars more and well worth it!

Good vibes, had the requisite conscious ambient reggae playing, service was friendly and relatively fast, yet the jerk chicken was dry and the rice n’ peas were a bit on the crunchy side. We went on a Saturday afternoon in November, so there wasn’t much traffic, nonetheless DC had a very tired feel, almost as if so they were waiting for restaurant liquidators to come and put them out of their misery.
There are just too many good Caribbean restaurants in the GTA to choose from, word to the wise-don’t waste your precious time here.

Several of us hung out on their patio during Pride 2012 (excellent people watching location). Had a great cow soup, oxtail, rice and peas, plantains, dumplings, salad, and oxtail — all presented temptingly well. There was so much food we all had to share each others stuff over a 3 hour period. Diners Corner at Gloucester and Yonge have been in the resto game, and same location for 20 yrs. Comfortable (island style) indoor and outdoor seating, attentive service, and consistently good Caribbean food are some of the reasons you should check this spot out.

I think the problem here was our expectations. We were craving some delicious and spicy jerk chicken and basically were served Swiss Chalet. I mean don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with Swiss Chalet… unless you want some spice.
Now, if you’re not into spice… the chicken was definitely tender, juicy and delicious. And the service, well the service couldn’t have made me feel more at home. There was a point in the evening where I actually wanted to cuddle up to the lady serving us, she was sooooo sweet and motherly.
The festivals (balls of dough) were tasty too.
The place is casual and serves tender delicious chicken, but the lack of spice is not what I had in mind when I ordered jerk chicken.

This was probably the best Caribbean food I’ve ever had. Everything we tried was good (Brown Stewed Chicken, Jerk Chicken, the Festivals, salad). While you pay a little more than one of the take-​out Caribbean places serving up the standard roti and jerk chicken, and the service here can be a bit slow, it’s worth it.
A must try in the downtown Yonge corridor.

This is good West Indian food!

One of those places that you’d walk by a million times, unless you had a friend to clue you in.
Well friends, Romans, Unilocalers, consider yourselves clued-​in now.
Located on an unassuming sideroad, opposite the far trendier Fire on the East Side and classic Olympic 76 pizza shack, Diner’s Corner is more intimidating than welcoming. Signage promises a combination of Chinese, Caribbean and Candian food-​a triple C threat that makes unassuming passers by wonder «is this even a thing?».
A glance inside does nothing to answer that question. The room looks like a repurposed dive bar, with old, mismatched tables and paper napkins on proper table cloth. Cutlery and glassware is similarly mismatched, and service is indifferent unless you seem like you know what you’re doing. Order from the Caribbean side of the Janus-​faced menu, and the staff warms up considerably.
Note to Chinese food fans: While there is such a thing as Chinese-​Caribbean cuisine, if Diner’s Corner is any indication you’re probably better off walking to Dundas or Spadina in search of Chinese-​Chinese. Chicken stir-​fry arrives in a massive portion, but it’s mightily underflavoured; the bird is tough, the sauce is runny and a haphazard tangle of vegetables is better used in the side salad that accompanies Jerk lunch plates. As a proudly Quixotic amateur Chinese cook, I rate it about as good as what I can produce; which is to say i wouldn’t pay for the experience again. File this one under sticking to a restaurant’s strengths.
And what strengths they are. Diner’s Corner offers one of Toronto’s best takes on jerk chicken. A small portion sees a hacked-​up quarter bird, all most flesh and crispy skin under blackened jerk spice. It’s a dish that encouraged bone-​gnawing. A side of curried gravy is a grown-​up version of chalet sauce; perfect for moistening slighlty oversalted rice and peas. A token salad with French dressing might seem out of place, if the veggies werent so fresh, and the sweet dressing not a cooling counterpoint to the steady heat of the jerk rub. Fried chicken is equally good; the batter barely registers except to crisp the skin.
A massive curry chicken roti sees more of the same tender bird in a curry sauce that could use a bit more body and a lot more heat. Standard curry veg abounds; it’s fine, except for potatoes which have gone a bit cottony.
Do you like fried dough? Of course you do. Order the Festival. Savoury dough-​knots that evade classification as appetizer, bar snack or dessert. They’re addictive beyond measure.
Sure the place is a bit random, but Diner’s Corner is a welcome change from the parade of Pan-​Asian-​Shawarma-​Chainburger-​Pizza madness that is downtown Toronto.

Back for more Brown Stewed Chicken, this time we brought our parents along (who were born and raised in the west indies). It was their first time at the Diner’s Corner.
We ordered 3 of the Brown Stewed Chicken dinners with rice and peas. After listening to us raving about the stewed chicken, Mom couldn’t wait to try it for herself. Dad ordered Curried Goat (his personal favorite).
It was pretty busy, so after about 20 minutes our server brought some complimentary fried plantain and festival… I guess it pays to be a regular! Once the food arrived conversation ground to a halt and there was little to be heard except chewing and lip smacking.
Our parents gave a thumb’s up to Diner’s Corner.

My review of Diner’s Corner must unfortunately assume the role of Diner’s Complaint: disappointment.
At first I was quite excited that the restaurant was open after 10pm and was within walking distance (lengthy walking distance) of the hotel we were staying at.
We entered and were greeted by the sounds of Bob Marley on the radio, regular customers limin’ at the bar and a warm, if no frills environment.
So far so good.
The menu was thorough, offering up many staples of Caribbean cooking with an emphasis on Jamaican. One discovery that upped my hopes was an appetizer of festival. Little dough balls that taste like West Indian bake is how I can best describe them.
If my meal had stopped at the festival, I’d have easily offered up 3 stars. But alas, my entrée of chicken roti did not meet my festival induced expectations.
Nor did my wife’s jerk chicken satisfy her craving for a taste of the Caribbean in Canada. The jerk was accompanied by rice, yes… but cold rice. Clumpy rice. Rice that you’d expect was sitting for quite some time. Her jerk chicken was also stringy.
My roti was huge but size did not compensate for poor taste. The inner curry filling was more gravy-​like than I’m accustomed to. Any hint of spice or seasoning was banished to my memory of roti past. The ghosts of roti past haunted me that night for straying from Little Guyana shops in Queens, NYC…
But yes, the roti at hand was a downer. Even the chicken failed to move my taste buds.
Our waitress was also on the aloof side, which is excusable if the food is passable– when combined with poor eats, it’s just annoying.
The price was fair enough for two– about $ 28, coconut water drinks, appetizer and entrees.
Perhaps it was an off night given the other reviews here. But when I return to Toronto I’ll likely turn elsewhere for my Caribbean cuisine.

Great food, and reasonably priced.
Do NOT go there looking for a beautifully decorated place with a hot vibe. It is very bare bones, plastic tablecloths, and the service isn’t fast. But oh! The food!
Definitely must orders: festivals (yummy dough things) with oxtail gravy on the side (the gravy MAKES it), jerk chicken and the wings. I like them hot, but whatever you think. I have heard good things about the fish and goat, too, but I have a hard enough deciding between the jerk and the wings, so never get past those.
Enjoy!

I’ve had a lot of trouble finding a good Jerk chicken place. There’s definitely a lot in Toronto, especially on Yonge Street, but I’ve never been too pleased with any of them. Little did I know there was one around the corner from where I work all this time! I now visit sometimes twice a week for lunch and often bring my coworkers with me who are also now fans. I always go with the Jerk myself, but my friends have tried the fish dishes and the Brown Chicken… and everything is always good! Oh, and I would order extra Festival (deep fried dough) to be safe. If you’re in a rush this isn’t the place to go… Be patient and enjoy the best Caribbean food in the city.