Diana’s Oyster Bar and Grill
2105 Lawrence Ave E, Scarborough, ON M1R 2Z4
Raw oysters…you probably either perked up at the mention of that or cringed. I never knew what the fuss was about with raw oysters. I had some in the past and they were ok, but it wasn’t food or seafood I craved. Fast forward to last summer when I had some raw oysters at a Summerlicious dinner and in Key West, Florida, and I am a changed person! Maybe it was the freshness and brininess of those oysters, but I have been craving raw oysters ever since and have been trying to find fresh, cheap raw oysters in the Greater Toronto Area. Since the GTA is not near an ocean, I found the options were somewhat limited. I noticed someone had mentioned Diana’s Oyster Bar and Grill though, which I had been to once a long time ago, so I asked my husband if he could take me there for my birthday.
There are two locations of Diana’s Oyster Bar and Grill – one in Scarborough at Warden and Lawrence (the location I had been to previously) which opened in 2010, and one in Markham at Woodbine and Esna Park which opened in 2015. The Scarborough location also has their Seafood market, which has been around since 1985. We went to the Scarborough location of Diana’s Oyster Bar and Grill this past Sunday for lunch because I wanted to order the Lobster, Crab & Shrimp Roll they had on their lunch menu. They also had Malpeque oysters from P.E.I. for $1.25 each and other types of raw oysters for $32 for a dozen. In addition to the Lobster, Crab & Shrimp Roll, I ordered five of the Malpeque oysters, and my husband got the Fresh Wild Haddock Fish and Chips off the lunch menu.
The Malpeque oysters came with three kinds of condiments – Scotch bonnet pepper sauce, red wine vinegar and onions, and cocktail sauce. I mostly used the Scotch bonnet pepper sauce which wasn’t that spicy but had a lot of flavour, and the red wine vinegar and onions which was tasty as well. The oysters themselves were fresh and perfectly briny. Five Malpeque oysters were definitely not enough, but it satisfied my craving…for now. The Lobster, Crab & Shrimp Roll had big chunks of flavourful meat so it was a good amount of seafood on top of lettuce, tomato, and toasted bread. It came with clam chowder, salad, or fries. I had chosen the salad because I thought the clam chowder would fill me up too much, but in hindsight, I should have gotten the clam chowder. My husband’s Fresh Wild Haddock Fish and Chips was delicious as well. The haddock was fresh and there was a lot of fish that was lightly battered, the coleslaw had a light vinaigrette, and the fries were crispy. My husband said it was some of the best fish he has ever had.
As you can tell, we enjoyed our meals at Diana’s Oyster Bar and Grill. If you like seafood, they have a lot of fresh options or if you prefer to cook the seafood yourself, their Seafood market has different kinds of seafood that you might not find elsewhere in the GTA. The one thing the Greater Toronto Area is missing is an ocean, but I miss it a little less knowing that Diana’s Oyster Bar and Grill and their Seafood market exist. Being a seafood lover, I am looking forward to going back and also getting a dozen oysters next time. 😉
