The Star Diner - Kingston

Our family met up with family from Kingston for lunch there. The Diner was Perfect setting nice 50's decor. Everyone loved their food including my picky tween. There server was great very attentive to our needs as well as the other tables she had and quite amusing to boot.

We have driven and walked past The Star Diner many times in the past and never given it a second glance till a friend recently recommended that we visit it. The Star Diner is located in a nondescript block in midtown Princes Street just a few doors from Giant Tiger and near the midtown Kingston Shopping Centre. It just blends into the background streetscape so completely that it is so easy to pass by and write it off as just another midtown restaurant.We chose to eat at The Star Diner on a Sunday evening on our way to another function in Kingston. On weekdays, parking in the area can be a challenge but on a Sunday evening, there was no difficulty with plenty of onstreet parking available.The interior of the Star Diner is pure history and very much as I remember them in the 1960s and 1970s when every city and town had its diner. The vinyl covered stools and counter are there. The booths are there. The overhead hand-written menus are all there. For nostalgic atmosphere, The Star Diner rates right up there as a hidden gem from a bygone age!Food is basic, traditional and comes in good-sized portions. See my photographs and online for menus. I had the scallops and chips with a bit of coleslaw on the side. Food was cooked to the right amount and displayed in a traditional 'no frills' manner on the plate. One of the highlights for me was having a traditional strawberry milkshake (there are several other flavours available), the taste and appearance of which brought back many memories! Highly recommended. As the restaurant was not busy at 5pm on a Sunday afternoon, service was good, friendly and attentive without being overly intrusive.Will I go back again? Yes, certainly. Will I take visitors there? Yes, certainly. The Star Diner makes a refreshing change from all the other local restaurants in the city and, from a nostalgic and historic perspective, something to be appreciated for what it is!

Friendly owner and staff. They seemed to know most of the customers. The lady recognized me when I showed up the next morning, and she remembered what I had the morning before.

I went to the Star Diner for dinner with a friend. We ordered liver and onions for one of us and a hot turkey sandwich for the other. After about 10 minutes a guy came and told us they didn't have any turkey. My response was that was ok - that I would have the hot beef sandwich instead. When my food arrived, it was cold. The beef didn't taste like beef. I don't know what it tasted like but it wasn't meat of any kind. Both of the meals were extremely salty. The liver and onions were not good. It could not be eaten. Nearing the end of the meal, we were asked how the food was and my friend said it was salty and half of the food was left on their plate. The server asked if he could serve up something else. By then both of us were too annoyed and refused the offer. Nothing was done to reconcile this situation. We were still charged full price even though over half of one meal was left and complained about. We would have gotten a better meal at Harvey's across the street for half the price. Will never go there again - not even for breakfast.

It was just what we expected - a small local, hectic diner with great food and super staff. Good portions and a typical diner menu.