Route 401 Diner

Reviews about Route 401 Diner

• 5 / 5

  By Jean-Marc Julien
  Awesome staff and food. The best breakfast in the GTA!!
  June 17, 2017
• 5 / 5

  By Brian Kujawski
  Stopped in to grab a quick breakfast one morning on our way out of town. Hard to tell from the outside, but inside this is a quaint and fun diner with good food, run by some great people. Will absolutely stop by again when we're in the area.
  January 29, 2017
• 5 / 5

  By Jerras Rempel
  Great little diner tucked along the highway with prime breakfast special!!!
  December 09, 2016
• 4 / 5

  By Raf P
  Don't judge the place by the looks of it on the outside. Good food and average price and portions.
  October 01, 2016
• 3 / 5

  By Peter Ehm
  A quiet, hidden-away local diner with adequate food and old-time atmosphere.
  
  When visiting Toronto in mid-2016, I wanted to ensure that our busiest day started out right with a good breakfast, so that meant searching the local area for good eats, and Route 401 came up on a few lists.
  
  Parking wasn't so great, but we still managed to squeeze into the small lot with some effort, past a big, deep pothole filled with water. The place isn't much to look at from the outside, but that's not why we try out new diners: it's what's inside that counts.
  
  The interior is the original 50's diner decor, which is in surprisingly good shape and kept quite clean if a little worn from time. We sat in a corner booth and enjoyed that the morning sun didn't fry us through the windows, giving us a chance to take in the diner in all its retro glory.
  
  The food was all right. If I had to describe it in a single word, it'd be 'serviceable' - neither good nor bad. The portion size was decent, enough so that the waitress gave me a 'You can't finish that?' look with her best mom-face on, which I appreciated. It's just unfortunate that the bacon, sausages, pancake and eggs weren't inspired in any way. I've eaten at hundreds of different breakfast places over the years and in my experience, the food was moved out of the kitchen without any real TLC apart from making sure the food was cooked to modern standards.
  
  Overall, I'd probably go back again, as there wasn't much else available for breakfast in the area, but I'm sure that if a new, modern place opens up locally that has truly inspired kitchen staff, then the 401 is going to be in a run for its money. That upsets me, as I'd hoped for better for my first( and likely last )visit, because from the look of the place, the food should practically stand up and shout that there's a long history of true diner food here waiting to be discovered.
  August 13, 2016