[American] Old School

Restaurant: Old School
Location: 800 Dundas Street West, Toronto, ON M6J 1V1
Price Range: $$

[wp-review]

Just opened a few months ago by the same owners of School Restaurant (review here), Old School is the newest addition of the restaurant strip on Dundas Street West and it also open for 24 hours as well!

Unlike the other restaurant, Old School offers American classic home-style dishes such as pancakes, chicken and waffles, and BBQ goodies as well! There is also a General Store at the back which offer take away, baked goods and pantry items.

Initially C and I wanted to go to Patois, however we didn’t realize that restaurant closed on Monday so we decided to try the next door restaurant, which was Old School! The moment we entered the restaurant, there was no host and we waited around 15 minutes before we were seated. One server saw us waiting but he ignored us… and noted that the restaurant wasn’t busy either.

One thing I have to mention, the restaurant was spotless despite being open for 24 hours! The sleek black and white chairs gave off an old-school vibe which contrasted with the various modern drawings on the wall.

To be honest, nothing on the menu stood out to us as a must order and although the menu was extensive, it seemed to be the same dishes with different sides. I have to mention though, the menu was also quite confusing with items that only available at certain days and times, so made sure to look only at stuff that was available then.

For her order of the road-crosser chicken, C received two pieces of fried chicken and some sides. The portion of both our orders were really small for the price that we paid for. The scone was dry and cold, coleslaw was drench in dressings and the potato was just your average salad. However the fried chicken was still juicy, did not have too much batter and seasoned just right. The honey tabasco sauce was really good as well and added just a right amount of heat with some sweetness to balance the flavor out.

By the time I wrote this review, this dish is no longer being offered on Old School’s menu….. I tried checking the website but I can’t seem to find it :(.

For $18 I received 4 pieces of chicken fingers and half basket of fries….again small portion and expensive. The chicken pieces were fried to perfection and had good seasoning, but I think the star of the dish had to be the tartar! The sauce was creamy and had a lot of dill, which added some nice refreshing zing to the chicken. The fries came out piping hot, and I must mention both of our dishes were not greasy at all.

The service was not really good as our server was almost nowhere to be found during the service. Also, when we asked for the bill, no one told us that we had to pay at the General Store which was at the back of the restaurant, I’m not sure why they can’t offer those wireless payment machines? C and I thought our dishes were good but not spectacular, and they were both expensive for such small portion, which interestingly was also the same problem we had at School. However the selection of dishes at School were more unique, so if I have to choose between two restaurants, I would pass Old School and choose their sister’s restaurant.