Vinny’s Panini

4 stars because I’ve always came here for veal sandwich and it’s always been great but recently I’ve noticed that it has changed a bit quality is not as great as before not that it’s not a good place but would be better if they cooked things like they used too.

Still the best-​tasting panini deal in town.
The sandwich price has risen from $ 6.95 to $ 8.95 — but yes, it is still my favourite in the city.
They use a kaiser-​ish bun which is not traditional to the Italian panini canon, and more akin to the Chicago/​Jersey style.
My go-​to is the Eggplant Panini with mushrooms. SO loves the Steak Panini with cheese. Each sandwich with the extra, comes to about $ 14 after tax and tip. Each sandwich is enough to feed a person for two meals.
The buns are basic but do their job to hold the delicious marinara sauce in place. Eggplant is so well roasted, tender and seasoned perfectly. The steak, (thinly sliced skirt steak I think), is cooked just right — tender and flavourful.
The owners are so friendly. Do yourself a favour and become a regular!

Reasonable veal sandwich– not something I would eat everyday for 10 bucks, but definitely not super overpriced. I don’t think veal sandwiches are exceptionally flavorful or complicated at any other place in Toronto to begin with, so this is relatively good. That said, I could very easily replicate this sandwich for a few dollars at the grocery store, and there’s no way I can justify spending this much on just a sandwich more often than once a week.
The staff is perfect: not nice but not unfriendly– they get on with their job and that’s it. No unnecessary conversation unless you engage them, and that’s how I like it.
This place really isn’t worth it going out of your way for, but it’s alright if you’re already here.

Read the reviews and was amazed at how many stars this place got. Please start cooking so you really can judge a simple sandwich. No insult intended towards the public.
The owner reminded me of Mel from, Mel’s Diner”. When you ask him a question he is very glib and a little rough. I saw him make three sandwiches and he forgot to season two of them and remembered the third one he made last.
I had an eggplant sandwich and my friend order the veal. The eggplant sandwich did not come with bread to my surprise and he insisted that everyone loves it. Then again there was nothing on the menu that didn’t love everything according to the owner. The eggplant was breaded with a very thick batter. When I tasted it it was eggplant parmigiana with a pancake breading. In between was fried peppers and mushrooms with a tomato sauce. Well the eggplant was terrible, bad breading and the vegetables were bland as well as the tomato sauce. DO NOT ORDER THAT.
My friend told that the veal was just okay since this sandwich was bland as well but at least he got a bun.
He loaded the tow orders with hot peppers that were not hot.
For the price and service go somewhere else. I am not a fan of California Sandwich but to me it is a better choice.

The only place I’ve tried that’s equally as Good as California sandwich nice place decent price friendly workers

This is my absolute favourite place to get a veal sandwich in this city. The sandwich is huge, the sauce is delicious and the hot peppers really do bite. Call ahead for a smooth pick up and be prepared to wait during lunch hour!

Between this & Amore, this should become Veal Alley. I don’t get veal in California, or anywhere in the states really because we opted to play the extremism card in the face of pragmatism (read: Oh sure stuff chickens in shoe boxes but because everyone else inhumanely treated calfs means a few of course couldn’t dare be humane toward calfs so it’s gone away almost entirely). Here though… yet again it’s pretty straight forward for Canada: Just be nice.
At any rate, Vinny, my girlfriend is asking you to marry her in a review below. And if this were California where a child (the veal sandwich) can have three parents officially, I will say: Vinny, marry me. No questions asked. We can be a happy house with our little veal vittles & babies.
I don’t remember waiting 20 minutes. But according to sources I did. So I will assume you were pounding that schnitzel fresh. I can never get over how cheap great sandwiches are in Toronto. I can’t get out of a shop for $ 10 in SF.
I know there hasn’t been many details here. Just know: don’t make substitutions. Just order the veal.
I don’t eat veal often but when I do, I do it at Vinny’s.

Vinny is a doll. Evelyn W., sorry to inform you that Vinny is VERY happily married to the lovely Jenny, so you’ll have to make do with his fabulous panini. And by the way, folks, the singular is PANINO. If there’s more than one, it’s PANINI. Not PANINIS.
Vinny’s is primarily meat-​based, but if you are really, really nice, Vinny and his mom, Mena, will make you an all-​vegetable sandwich: roasted red peppers, sauteed mushrooms and onions, rapini and tomato sauce. It is the best panino on earth. The love just comes shining through every bite. One tip: try not to come between noon and two. It’s really busy then. Between two and four, things are calmer and the wait is not so long. But however long it takes, it’s worth the wait.

My favourite veal sandwich in Toronto. Fresh bun, generous portion, tender, almost buttery. Eat it immediately, like a veal sandwich should be eaten, if it’s soggy, it’s your fault you waited too long. Don’t complain. THE BEST

Great place!
Very popular with the locals and very busy for lunch, the 20 – 30 minute wait is well worth it!
Outstanding!

Great place. I always ordered the veal, which I love, but tried the steak the other day. Amazing sandwich. For $ 20 for 2 for lunch it’s a great deal, and you won’t need a big dinner it’s so filling.
Thanks Vinny

I have travelled the GTA to find the best italian paninis. As luck would have it my favourite spot turned out to be the one I live closest to. yay! Vinny makes a great sandwich no doubt. I have tried almost every sandwich on the menu minus the eggplant sandwich and this is my synopsis. This is my list of sandwiches from best to good.
1. Steak Sandwich (the best — better than San Francesco’s in my opinion as Vinny’s has more meat in the sandwich).
2. Sausage on a bun (a close second — it took years for me to finally try this sandwich as I was hooked on the steak and thought it would taste like the hot dog vendor sausages). I wish I tried this sandwich sooner.
3. every other sandwich
I got to admit they may not make the best veal sandwiches in the GTA. In my opinion that honor goes to Rocco’s Plum Tomato on the queensway followed by California’s (on the queensway as well). Rocco’s is more flavorful while California’s is bigger.
Be prepared to wait 10 — 30 minutes for a sandwich as each and every sandwich is made from scratch! I always call ahead to avoid the wait. At under $ 8 for a sandwich it is a fair price as the sandwiches are big. I can still eat about 1.5 sandwiches though. I love ordering sandwiches with my wife as she can only eat half a sandwich so I get to eat the other half.
Try it out and enjoy!

Boy this place is really your local place where friends come and have a great sandwich and perhaps a beer.
The veal sandwich is outstanding. Can’t count the number of veal slices with hot and sweet (this would be the ‘medium’ heat) peppers on a kaiser. Smothered in tomato sauce, the kaiser barely holds the food in as it’s dripping from all ends.
The grilled chicken, also same style but with non-​breaded chicken breast. It’s grilled with a good smoky flavor and again the kaiser can’t hold the heaps of meat, peppers and sauce.
For $ 7.50 a sandwich it’s a great lunch, and will fill you. I was already full after half, but i motored on cause it was worth it.
Only thing, you gotta find parking around it is in Toronto, some side streets do have free parking for an hr. If they got a few orders, does take a while. And, it’s a bit cramped, but that’s ok, once I finish i’m outta there.
Thanks Vinny!

Love this place.
I always order either the veal or steak panini and it’s PERFECT every time! The panini is HUGE (seriously, you could divide it into two separate meals). The veal is amazingly tender and incredibly thinly breaded and paired with juicy peppers. You can add other toppings like mushrooms and sweet onions for a small price. Also you can choose from sweet, medium or hot spicy. :)
The only thing is that the bread is just a little too thick but that’s my only small indifference. I have not been able to find anything comparable to this sandwich.
I work in the area so I call in and pick it up 10 – 20 minutes later so I don’t have to wait at the restaurant since there’s not a huge eating/​waiting area.

Vincent, will you marry me?
I’ve had the veal, I’ve had the chicken, I’ve watched people attempt the meatball and I love every messy bit about this place.
The door sticks and I always think it’s locked and I’m too late for a taste sensation. Today the guy laughed at me and opened the door for me. Just sticky. I’ll never learn. Their sandwiches are all perfect. Go for the medium spice as it has hot peppers on it, and is pretty firey. Sandwiches aren’t where I like to test my heat skills, they’re where I seek comfort. And these massive buddies are full of comfort.
Your food might take a while to make (worth it) and in this time I like to dart over to Sobey’s and pick up a few things. Today I grabbed toilet paper, POM juice and triscuits. Now you know.
PEPPER PROPOSES: Seriously! Vinny, wanna get hitched?

Vinny exists! And, he’s a really nice guy. They were out of breaded eggplant sandwiches on the day I visited, and since I don’t eat meat, he made me a super veggie sandwich with extra mushrooms, peppers and onions (although, a little skimpy on the peppers). You kind of have to eat this open-​face style, which takes away from the cruncy kaiser bun effect, but it’s still very tasty and super filling. If Vinny tells you to grab a fork and knife, do it. Ask for extra sauce and get it spicy, it’s not THAT hot and you have more than enough bun to rip off as a chaser if you’re wimpy.

Smashing sammich shop in Christie Pits. I strolled in around lunchtime on a Friday to find the place packed with gritty locals eagerly awaiting their eats. The entire restaurant isn’t bigger than the inside of a moving van, and you probably couldn’t seat more than a dozen people without a fight breaking out. The décor is simply put: orange and blue. There is a picture of the Azurri on the wall and the obligatory TV blaring CP24.
Being a first-​timer, I heeded Kent P’s sage sangwich advice and scored the veal panini. Oh, man. The sauce, the crispy and moist breaded veal, the soft delicious bread, it all spelled perfection. Though I easily could have saved half for later, I stuffed that entire sombitch down, it was just that good. You veal a good panini, Vinny. Kudos.
Obligatory Title Pun: It’s veally amazing OR: the Vinner takes it all!
Menu Readability: Written on chalkboards above the counter.
Need to mention: The sammies can take up to 20 minutes, but we were sufficiently warned.
What this place teaches me about myself: I will wait 20 minutes for a sandwich, provided it is forged by Gods on Earth.

A sandwich shop that’s supposedly better than California Sandwiches AND in my neighbourhood? To good to be true!
In fact, the sandwiches here are pretty amazing, I’m not sure I can say they’re better than Calisan (our nickname for California Sandwiches) since I hadn’t been there in the past year, but the sandwiches here are pretty amazing. Note: their medium is medium, unlike Calisan, where the medium is pretty hot.
We had the veal sandwich and it was great, good bread, not too too much sauce, a little salty, but that wasn’t a big deal. Totally worth it, I will go here again for their meatball sandwich.

Some people say that they don’t like veal.
Something about how it’s cruel to kill a cow while it’s still a child.
Something about how this is against the laws of nature.
Then they have one of the spectacular veal sandwiches here and they start making plans to kill other young animals to see how they’ll taste in sandwich form.
A superb sandwich. Freshly made to order. Hand pressed. Perfectly spiced and cooked.
Unlike other veal sandwich stores in the area, Vinny’s does not overwhelm you with sauce on your sandwich… everything is painstakingly painted on with care. It’s a massive difference and one that successfully differentiates this sandwich from the others down the street.
You have to wait at least 5 – 10 minutes for your food, since everything is made to order.
If you’re coming for lunch, prepare for lineups. Well worth it.

I live right by this little place so it’s kind of hard to avoid as there aren’t many good places to grab food in this section, apart from Universal Grill and the grocery store. It’s a shame they tend to close at 5:00pm most days so you have to hit them up during work hours. (Note: They’ve extended the hours to 7:00pm on weekdays)
I see people drive up and park outside for pick up orders all the time. Local blue-​collar workers head over to Vinny’s for takeout constantly. And for good reason: their sandwiches are incredible. I would compare them to the infamous California Sandwiches, but I actually prefer Vinny’s because they are a little less sloppy and have more flavour. The portions are big. I sometimes eat half the sandwich and think about saving the other half for later, but it’s just too good to pass up on. Plus the staff are always super friendly.
Sitting in is an option but they only have maybe 3 – 4 tables so you might be better getting takeout instead. Most times I walk by the place is relatively busy, though I still think this might be a bit of an undiscovered gem to those outside the Dupont area. I think it’s also family owned, which is always a good sign for me when it comes to quality and service.