SNEAKY DEE's ~ Toronto ON

On a quick mission back to Toronto, I met up with Nee. It's been a couple months, and we didn't know where we were going to go. After mulling over traveling to one end of town, and eliminating different cuisines (ever have that problem? A couple of you are going out for dinner and no one has anywhere they want to go? Start by eliminating what you don't want. "I don't feel like Thai/Mexican/Fast Food etc" . That makes it much easier.) we somehow came about Sneaky Dee's. I've never been to this Toronto institution, and somehow we agreed and off we went.


By day, Sneaky Dee's is a Tex-Mex eatery. But by night, this hole-in-the-wall establishment becomes an Indie concert house/art scene locale, and even an anti-Fascist hang out. The look of the place is nothing special, with diner-like seating area that is kept dark in the evenings, a bar, and an upstairs where the real action happens.




Our waitress gave us lots of time between drink orders and giving us the menu for us to decide. Looking over the menu of tasty tacos, nachos and a variety of other Tex-Mex, I found wings. Wasn't expecting wings, but I knew I was getting them for sure. Nee went with Nachos and I also got a side of chili.

Nee ordered the King's Crown nachos, a hefty pile of crisp corn tortilla chips covered with salsa roja, piled high with beans, ground beef, tomatoes, onions, mixed peppers, jalapenos, melted cheese, topped with guacamole & sour cream. There didn't seem to be a layer that wasn't completely covered in something. This is exciting because your getting your money's worth, but the middle chips become soggy very easily.




I figured the wings would be small (I don't know why, I just had a hunch) so I wanted a side dish. A bowl of chili sounded good, and I went with the con carne. There was also vegetarian options, chicken, adding toast or cheese. It came with a split hard taco shell. It was a big bowl and it looked really good. But it was surprisingly bland. Like, really bland. No flavour at all. No spices, nothing. This was a real disappointment. So how would the wings turn out?

2008 THE SCORE 3.0: Sneaky Dee’s ~ Toronto

STYLE:	Deep Fried
PRICE:	$8.55 for 10 (small) $16.55 for 10 (medium) $23.50 for 30 (large)
SAUCES:	Mild/medium/hot Suicide	0/1
HEAT:	Hot: no heat, slightly spicy but more sweet Suicide: dry heat, but tasty
SIZE:	Jumbo – not really meaty though	2.5/3
WETNAP FACTOR:	Wet, but the extra sauce allows to soak the wings	2/3
CRISPINESS:	Crisp – but a bit chewy	2/3
FLAVOUR:	Hot: bbq/hot sauce, really good Suicide: hot sauce with chili powder to kick up the heat	2/3
SIDES:	Veggies and an avocado/sour cream dip, fries add $2.40	2/3
CLEAN UP:	Napkins, wetnaps,	2/3
WING NIGHT:	Monday: -15 wings & 60 oz Draft $18.25 -30 wings & 60 oz Draft $24.15	1/1
OTHER:	Tex-mex, concert/Indie music, pop has ½ price refills
TOTAL:	Good wings, but some improvement could be made. Would definitely go here again.	13.5/20

Wow, these wings were big. Not hugely meaty, but jumbo sized. I was in awe as I was expecting tiny wings. The chicken was crispy, but just slightly chewy, suggesting it wasn't straight out of the fryer.



For the sauces, I went with hit with a side of suicide. The hot was a thick, syrup of what seemed like hot sauce with a bit of bbq sauce mixed in. So it was sweet and spicy, and that wasn't bad. It wasn't bad at all. Not really hot, but really tasty.

The suicide sauce was a big bowl almost overflowing. It looked great and I was excited. It had an overwhelming flavour of Mexican chili powder added in. There was a nice, dry heat to it, making it more of the 'hot' sauce. It was ok and I did dip a few wings in the lake, but I just didn't appreciate the blatant chili powder.

On the side was a avocado/sour cream dip for the veggies that was unique, and gave it a Tex-mex feel, but it was still a pretty blah flavour none the less.

FINAL SCORE: Sneaky Dee's is famous for good food and big portions. They didn't disappoint. Huge nachos, and big wings. Chili was painfully boring. And as for the sauces, I would definitely get the wings again, with an extra side of the hot sauce, even if they do charge extra for that. 13.5

PS: I hope our waitress recovered, she burnt her arm bringing us the plates, one which was surprisingly hot! And thanks Nee for hanging out! It was good to catch up :)


Sneaky Dee's
431 College Street, Toronto
sneaky-dees.com