Return to DANGEROUS DAN's DINER ~ Toronto ON

RIP - DANGEROUS DAN's is NOW CLOSED

What a busy weekend! Social functions, meetings, and visitors for the weekend. For the first part of the weekend, Ricky came down for a visit. We went and saw TRON: LEGACY in IMAX 3D and were pretty entertained. We went to bed late, got up the next day, and we knew we needed a good lunch. Something hearty and a little adventurous. We decided it was worth going out to the East end and return to Dangerous Dan's Diner. 

The last time I was at triple D's was back in 2007, where we had a bird invade Rick's car and we were waking up after New Years.

There have been some changes to the place since then. First, it's a lot cleaner. There was no haze in the air and everything didn't look as icky. Second, they replaced the old car seats with less older car seats, and created a better seating area in my opinion. The menu has also been bulked up.

They also have a new advertising campaign that embraces their less-than-healthy approach. Posters with statements like "22% of Ontarians are Obese. We can do Better", or "While we Still Have Health Care" and my favourite "Meat is Murder. Tasty Tasty Murder." They also have on the menu pot leaves beside certain dishes to indicate these would be great for "Medicinal Cannabis Users" as a joke.

We were looking to do some feasting, that is for sure. We both went with burgers and onion rings, and Rick also got a side of wings for us to split. The onion rings were massive. They were crispy and were exactly what I like in an onion ring (as opposed to breaded onion rings, which are ok, but I prefer battered). I can still smell and taste them right now.

Rick and I also got the Bacon and Cheddar burger - but they have added some specialty burgers like the "The Elvis - Bacon, Peanut Butter and Fried Banana" the "Big Kahuna - Pineapple Slice, Peameal Bacon, and Mozzarella.  Served with Mayonnaise, Lettuce and Tomato"  or the "Big Kevorkian - Fried onion, fried mushrooms, 2 slices fried bacon, deep fried pickle, garlic dressing, mayo." Of course this is also home to three of the craziest burgers in the city:

"The Coronary Burger Special
2 8oz Patties, 4 Slices of Bacon, 2 Slices of Cheddar and a Fried Egg on top. Served w/ Fries and Gravy, Can of Pop and Mayo as a garnish for sure!
Only  $ 15.25


Quadruple C"Collosal Colon Clogger Combo"
24oz burger served with a quarter pound of cheese, a quarter pound of bacon, and 2 fried eggs.  Also comes with a large shake and a small poutine.Only  $ 24.45


The "McEwan"
10oz NY steak freshly ground into a hamburger patty, mixed with beer, shitake and oyster mushrooms, camembert and brie cheese and 4oz pan fried Lobster Tail drizzled with clarified butter. Comes with Hand-made fries and a large milk shake
Only  $ 38.95"

While we may not have gone for one of their monster burgers, our 8oz burger was nothing to look down at. In fact, you need to look up. Compared to years ago, this burger was much better built (flatter patty instead of a high patty) with bacon and cheese, a bed of lettuce. There's tomato and ketchup and mustard, onion, and I withheld the relish.

This burger has a nice meaty taste and is pretty simple - which I think brings out the beef flavour. Ricky described it as having a Greek-like flavour to it. I remember the burger being a bit dry, but this was just right, and with a nice crispy crust - this was a solid burger. But what about the wings . . .

I decided to re-re-review these wings in the 3.2 scoring system. How do they hold up?

The wings come in orders of 10 or 20. What sets them apart from other places is that they keep the tip on the wingette portion of the wing. Some see this as a hinderance or not desirable, but I partly welcome them. Yes they can be a pain to hold and eat, but there is some tasty meat and skin in there!

They also come with a good order of carrot sticks and blue cheese dip. Very creamy, not huge on chunks of blue cheese though.

These wings are large wings. Almost a jumbo. About a medium level of meatiness. It still wasn't the most tender chicken inside either. 

The wings were swimming in their BBQ-like sauce. Rick got the hot wings, but these were not hot at all. They did have pepper rings mixed in, but still no heat. If I were to guess by taste alone, it has an HP sauce base with some hot sauce mixed in - making it more savory than sweet or spicy.

The last time I was here I did not like it, but I've come to accept it. It's different and their own thing. I would like it hotter. The biggest problem is that the sauce totally destroys the crispiness of the deep fried wings, and you can't tasty anything but the sauce.

FINAL SCORE: Excellent onion rings. Good burgers. Ok wings. The wings have a lot of potential with their size. The sauce is unique, but needs more of a kick. 5/10

Dangerous Dan's Diner

714 Queen St. East

dangerousdansdiner.com