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| - I've walked past the Golden Gate Restaurant a lot of times. From the sign outside it looked traditional, perhaps a bit run down, but I'd never been inside to actually test my hypotheses.
It turns out I was both right and wrong.
I was wrong about the place being run down. Inside is a clean, low walled, set of dining booths with a line of wood tables and chairs lining a wall. It gives the feeling of an older diner without feeling run down, dank, or otherwise unpleasant.
I was right that it served traditional diner fare, though had t realized that there was also a Canadian Chinese food menu included as well. The menu is extensive; eating even half the things off just one of the two cuisine style sections would take weeks of continuous eating. And that's a good thing because it's functionally impossible to not find something that is appealing. Oh, and I should mention: the prices are tremendously reasonable.
I ended up getting the 'Garden Gate' chicken sandwich (a chicken club with cheese), with fries and slaw, with a side of gravy. I had coffee to drink. All this was about $13.
The sandwich was large enough to be filling without being obnoxiously large. And while there was mayo on it, the sandwich wasn't slathered. Mayo was also on the side in case I wanted any more. The slaw was a bit sweet to my taste but wasn't either watery or limp. The fries weren't anything to write home about but were good enough in either the mayo or the gravy I got separately. That gravy was a bit thin, which was fine by me, but if you're looking for a really thick and heavy gravy you're going to be disappointed.
The coffee was non-exceptional. And that's a good thing! I'm picky, picky, picky about my coffee and while it wasn't great there wasn't anything noticeably bad about it either. I can't say that about most of the coffee that's sold in restaurants so I consider this a positive when it comes to the Golden Gate.
When I was here the restaurant wasn't busy though there were a few families here and local neighbourhood kids. The value was great, the ambiance was good for someone like me who likes quiet, and the restaurant generally had a very homey feeling. I don't know that I'd come here regularly but I'd have no issues dropping by again. There's a lot more menu to try, after all...
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