two thirds fresh and one third frozen.

You don't have to be a keen observer of the restaurant scene to notice that the great breakfast joint has undergone an institutional facelift recently. As discussed in this space not long ago, so-called diners have sprung up around town disguised as Rosedale hipster destinations (closer to Yorkville), Italian pasta joints (College Strip), and even louche girlie bars (all over town).

In the midst of this stylistic mayhem, let's pause for a minute and redefine, for the current generation of nouveaux eggbeaters, just what a real diner is. A real diner is an institution, not a restaurant. It serves eggs. It serves steak, primarily, chosen, cut, and prepared according to timeless methods on which the economic and psychic health of the institution depends. The décor should have an old-shoe quality, and the waitresses should, too. There may be other dishes on the menu, other than breakfast, but these are rarely sampled, and they are almost invariably bad.

So imagine my sense of quiet hopefulness when the Steak I ordered at the Sunset Grill, a modest enterprise that has been open for one million years out in the Beaches, turned out to be, well, not very good. Not that it was a bad steak, mind you. The steak was uniformly huge and served with the compulsory fries, and when you bit into the steak it tasted roughly two thirds fresh and one third frozen. The residue of steakhouse frozenness is endemic to any old-school steak palace, as comforting as plank floors sprinkled with sawdust.

There were promising signs here though. On our next visit, our waitress - a rotund lady with a crumber in her breast pocket - waited respectfully as we studied the menu, then said, "Make it easy on yourself, babe, the 3-egg breakfast is always good."

This, of course, is the special at the Sunset Grill. They'll do eggs Benedict, but this east-end mainstay is definitely a breakfast (as opposed to a brunch) place. Huge portions, extra-thick toast and piles of good home fries keep patrons coming back.
The verdict

There's not much to distract you from your date at Sunset Grill. Bright sunny interior and warm, unobtrusive service create a quiet, anticipatory breakfast mood; the relaxed pace and a hearty breakfast (which most menu items take no more than a few minutes to prepare) allows the mood to develop in the right direction. The street outside is pure beach pleasure, and when you walk down the boardwalk, before brunch, you can watch the early day windsurfers.

Review this Place
Reader Reviews

June 10, 2002
Suzy Q, Toronto, ON
I like this place. glad it is here, in the Beaches!


June 09, 2002
Sam Than, Toronto, ON
The food is wonderful & high average. The atmosphere and coffee is very average. I will come back again and again, just for the service. The service is simply the best, and considering the Grill is just a greasy spoon!.


Around the Corner
Randy W, Toronto, ON
May 7, 2002
Living just around the corner from the Sunset Grill, I have eaten literally hundreds of breakfasts there. And to sum it up in three small words . . fan. tas. tic.