Nate's Family Kitchen
Nate's Family Kitchen
Nate's Family Kitchen
Nate's Family Kitchen
Nate's Family Kitchen
Foods from Nate's Family Kitchen

Comments

2013 Aug 20
Not surprisingly, the Queen Street Nate's has closed. For Lease signs in the window.

2013 Jun 7
Had lunch at Nate’s (Queen St location) for the first time.

The service was average – definitely more to be desired.

The food I ordered was delicious! I had a reuben (a fave of mine) and it was definitely one of the best I’ve ever had. The meat was extremely juicy and flavourful. The sauerkraut was piled high. The swiss cheese was well melted. All the ratios worked well although a smidge more cheese would have been nice.

As others have stated, the prices are surprisingly high. For two sandwiches (one pastrami, one reuben – not platters) and two canned drinks, it totaled $27 before tip. Uh, say what? Yes my sandwich was very good but that is shocking.

2013 Jan 3
There is a new Nate's Family Kitchen location downtown at Queen and Lyon, below the Glue Pot Pub. This review is for this new spot. While I don't recall seeing "family kitchen" on the sign, the menu definitely had it. I work nearby and was excited to have "famous" smoked meat for lunch, so I ventured over. Being budget-conscious, I frequent places that offer quality take-away, saving myself the cost of drinks & tip, and usually eat at my desk or in a food court, with bottled tap water. Regrettably, I discovered that Nate's offerings do not mesh with my lunch routine. They have a dining room and it would seem they are aiming to do most of their business in there, rather than cater to the take-out lunch crowd. The smoked meat combo plate I ordered was simply too expensive for the amount of food. Everything tasted good, the smoked meat was no Schwartz's, but it was much better than other local offerings like Dunn's. Pickle was crunchy and coleslaw was fresh, if uninspired. I was surprised how few fries made it into my container. I mean, I don't need to be overloaded, but the fries, while tasty, were on the skimpy side. The amount of food was actually OK in that I wasn't over-stuffed. But I like a large lunch, and am used to paying between say, $7 and $11 for Asian plates, burger combos, big subs, etc. This meal was close to $15 after tax, no drink. Not sure what it is about smoked meat that commands a higher price in this town compared to other proteins. Service was borderline surly as well. The lady seemed put off when I declined her repeated attempts to up-sell, with cheese, drinks, etc. I realized I had no drinking vessel at the office as I had forgotten my water bottle at home. A small will run you $2.30 here. No thanks. Strange since the pop cans were $1.25 and they are the same size & price elsewhere as the ordinary water. Anyhow, I would have been OK paying $10 for this lunch but not $15. With nearby Manhattans offering massive burgers & wraps with insane fry coverage at $10ish, Including Drink, Nate's just doesn't provide enough value. I may return to try their breakfast which seemed much more reasonably priced.

2012 Apr 30
I get a random, once a year craving for smoked meat. Yesterday the craving hit so hard as soon as Nate’s family kitchen caught my eye. I’ve been to this location before, and I admit, I wasn’t blown away (it was mainly the curt service that I didn’t appreciate), but I remember the smoked meat was to my liking.

Lo and behold, the same redacted guy was serving as last time. I’m sorry if it sounds libellous, but the bald server guy stares at you with an intense look, speaks in a totally monotonous tone, doesn’t speak with any expression or intonation, he literally tossed the plate on my table when my order came in, my order sat at the call window for about 3 minutes before he picked it up, and the extent of the communication is: “Hi”, “Any thing to drink?”, “Good?”, “Yep”, “Nope” etc. I saw some other biker type patrons try and engage the server with a joke (I heard it and it made me chuckle), but the server didn’t even crack a smile or respond. Sketchy!! I’m really not sure how such a fellow got a job in the hospitality industry. The server made me feel awkward and uncomfortable.

The food. Nate’s family kitchen is over priced, for what should be seemingly cheep food. Their standard smoked meat, fries and coleslaw platter is 13ish bucks. I wanted to try something more deli inspired so I chose the very interesting looking “Reuben Tower”, which clocked in at around 13.99. The Reuben Tower consists of smoked meat, sauerkraut and Swiss cheese stacked on top of a potato latke. It was served with a generous portion of fresh Greek salad and a little bowl of delicious crispy fried onion. Wow that is a lot of deli goodness!

I really enjoyed this meal! It was impressive to look at, fun to eat, and the different textures and flavours of the constituents made it a very satisfying dish. The Greek salad was great. My only qualm was with the latke; it was more like a McDonald’s hash brown, and it was a bit on the soggy side. Kettlemens makes a far superior latke.

I ordered a Cott’s Black Cherry soda with my meal. They charge 2.95 for a can of ‘B-brand’ pop. Are you kidding me? Ripp-off! All in, my meal was 18.95 before tip. I didn’t leave a tip, and yet I felt like I had wasted money – especially since I was expecting to pay something like 15 tops.

This place has potential, but the high prices (for preserved food), and the unacceptable service is enough reason for me not to return – that is unless the insatiable urge to get smoked meat grabs me again sometime in 2012.

2012 Jan 14
I tried the standard 2-egg breakfast here one morning. The atmosphere is like any standard diner (the good and the bad). Service was super friendly!

The eggs were properly cooked and the (brown) toast was fine. I opted for the smoked meat, which was okay but it left me regretting not having bacon. I'm used to eating smoked meat in thick juicy piles rather than thin pan-fried (dried out) slices. Probably just a personal preference thing...

The horrible wilted piece of purple kale really did nothing to help this plate. The sour tasting orange didn't either.

2012 Jan 8
Had a chance to finally check out Nate's Family Kitchen this morning for breakfast. The place was doing fairly brisk business, but the tables were turning fast enough that you wouldn't have to wait for a table and we were seated promptly.

What would otherwise be considered a fairly average and unremarkable diner-style breakfast is made special by a few delicious twists.

Where else can you get eggs benedict served on a latke with back bacon?

Want a basic eggs and hashbrowns breakfast? Get grilled smoked meat (delicious!) instead of bacon or sausage.

It's this sort of thing that makes Nate's stand out. I'm planning to go back soon for a proper smoked meat sandwich soon as they looked amazing arriving at other tables around us.

2011 Nov 15
Sounds a bit like advertising. It has got curiosity going. Think I will wait for someone else to go. Hard to beat Schwartz along with a nice Sunday drive.

2011 Nov 15
I'm with you FF. Perhaps us regular posters on here should all try to go to Nate's and post an objective review?

2011 Nov 15
All I can say is that multiple positive reviews of Nate's Deli Express and multiple negative reviews of Nate's Family Kitchen appear to have been posted by accounts that are related in some way.

If anyone can shed some light on this situation (facts not speculation please!) that might help make sense of it.

Why can't everyone just get along?? :-(

2011 Nov 14
Seriously what's with the wave-pattern neg-revs for this place?

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