Mars Beach

Extremely workmanlike environment with reasonably good pancakes and well-​priced tasty bottomless coffee.
Everything extra is extra, and you can quickly out-​spend your casual budget. Awkwardly empty the few times I’ve gone in.
Amazed this place still has legs, as it never seems that busy but I’ll drop in now and again for a quick bite. It’s OK.

I love it! I got the classic breakfast so it was sipmle and also delicious… I’ll come back and try eggs benedict and the waffles!
They have Wi-​Fi it’s been surprised to me :) I like it!

One of the great delights of summer is hopping on the bike and heading off for breakfast. I soon found Mars on Queen East and enjoyed many a large breakfast in the patio. The food was always just what I like. Plain and generous breakfast fry up.
The service is perfect. The servers are locals with average charm. I could have been anywhere in rural Canada and that made me very happy.
If you don’t like the place then go in the summer during the week and enjoy a great Canadian breakfast. Maybe I will see you there. You will recognize my smile.

I was in Oakville’s main street downtown yesterday, so am freshly reminded of why the Beaches main street scene is such a great place to be. It’s lived in, like the comfy old slippers in dishevelled living rooms we enjoyed playing in as kids — because the ones where the parents covered the chesterfields with plastic were too neat to be fun. People arrive on Oakvillle’s main street by car, which means, among other things, few coffee shops and diners.
So Mars, like the Sunset, owes its life to the street, and its view to the park that abuts the street. It’s what brings me back here, as well as to the Sunset.
Although the bottomless cups of coffee and tea are welcoming, the food needs some pzazz, and also needs to make some contribution to the street that sustains it.
I love dark rye bread, for example, but the dark rye bread that comes with omelettes here, I’ll bet, is wheat bread with a bit of rye and artificial coloring. Why not buy real rye bread from one of two excellent bakeries down the street. Why not find a local artisan cook to make the beans and jam. You get the point.
A restaurant can express the area it’s in, with its food as well as its atmosphere. As well, it can give back to its neighborhood with what I call in my e-​book, Food for City Building «backward linkage» — jobs for suppliers. A place like this could hire several local workers at least part-​time, and also up the quality and freshness of its food.
Why not get this northern italian style «co-​opetition» economy started in the Beaches?

So i walk into mars and ask for a ginger ale abs the waiter says «no problem, whoopdiwoo and all dat» and he proceeds to bring me the Clearest most transparent most light conducted zima light beverage and on top of that as he rests it down he says «your gingerale sir». After much internal debate on what I know a Gingerale should look like, I decide to give my good man the benefit of the doubt and to my surprise, it wasn’t a gingerale after all. In fact, what it was, bubbly, lime flavoured shit. Do I decided YOLO! Might as well add some sugar. Everything tastes better with sugar right… WRONG! The moral of the story is, judge books by its cover. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, chances are its not a goat.

I went to the beach with a few people and my boyfriend, we were all hungry so we thought we might just go to a diner. As we enter (due to lack of places besides this one, so it could be a last choice) the place looks inviting. It was basic. Real basic.
Anyways the inside was a bit cute but nothing special.
As for the food. Not good. My boyfriend’s burger was EXTREMELY dry and over-​cooked. Alongside that I got the burger with avocado in it (I think the California burger) and it was pathetic. Just imagine this… giant slices of avocados. That’s basically the jist of it. They didn’t crush it, It was simply four giant slices of avocado that kept falling out of place. It was small portions and dry and bland for the rest of my group.
The service sucked more than the food. It was probably the worst i’ve experienced. We waited maybe over 30 minutes for the food. Also there was only one waitress. And she was rude and disrespectful. She had a sour attitude and didn’t apologize for the long wait. She gave us a snarky look and such.
Not worth the time.
Not at all.

Mars Beach Diner seem like a casual place to eat, the place looks tidy and clean, have a front and back patio, and not to mention they have a great location that is right next to the beach.
Unfortunately the food and service here is horrendous, food pretty much taste like it is cooked by a microwave, portions are stingy and the service barley exist with sloppy, disorganize, rude and unprofessional staff on hands.
Stay away from this place to save yourself time and money, instead head on over to Sunset Grill for a better service and food, for a little more cash the Green Eggplant is also another great option than Mars, you won’t be disappointed.

Avoid breakfast… coffee and bacon/​sausage are extra. What a rip off.

Huh. I went to Mars Beach and forgot to take a photo. I probably won’t go back, so shucks.
Mars Beach is the plainest Jane of all of my recent breakfast spots. Award for Most Forgettable goes to… Mars Beach. Oh we forgot to invite Mars Beach? We’ll mail her her sash.
Most of the experience was unremarkable. Hollandaise sauce tasted like it was from a mix, frozen potato-​things, Tropicana-​esque juice. My eggs Benny was fine, and my juice was fine, but not great.
They have a really nice front patio, which is large and in charge. The menu is massive and laminated as many good diner menus are. Inside had a faux-50’s quality to it, but it wasn’t really cutesie enough.
This place just didn’t jive with me… but that doesn’t mean it won’t with you. If you’re looking for a reasonably priced Benny in the Beach and are on a schedule, this might be your gal. But probably not.

I want to like this place, but it’s so underwhelming. It has a great patio and good location close to the park, but the food always disappoints. It’s mediocre diner food that doesn’t hold a candle to other restaurants in the area.
The prices are pretty low, but you get what you pay for. There is no originality or care put into this food.
I’ve given it a few tries and am finally saying no to this Mars diner.

My partner and I almost barfed after eating there. Seriously — we felt queasy and sick. It was after the holiday season… maybe the fridge was turned off or something. The food was definitely off. My partner will not eat peamail bacon anymore. She won’t even let me make it.

Second visit, great service again. My eggs ‘n onions, not found on many diner menus in town, was a welcome surprise. The coffee was a step above typical diner fare.
Read my previous review for décor and vibe.

Had breakie here the other day. Was drawn in by the looks of the patio out front. Breakfast with a wonderful morning breeze on a lovely sunny day? Yes please!
I really liked the look and feel of Mars Beach Diner. The waitress was really nice and attentive. The menu looked great too! But i had come here for one thing only. Bacon and eggs. Started with a tea (typical me), but my friend had a chocolate milkshake. YUM! It was super tasty!
Our food was quick and hot. My eggs were done perfectly over medium like i asked and the bacon was super crispy. Mmmmmmmm… criiiiiispy bacon! The real clincher for me was the potatoes/​hash browns. Every place does ‘em a little different. They were really good :)
Also… if you take a stroll to the back of the resto the windows back there over look the play area of Kew Gardens with lots of beautiful trees and happy smiling kiddies. So nice!

I was originally destined for another greasy-​spoon place on Queen East for brunch but liked the look of the patio at Mars.
It was indeed a nice place to sit and enjoy a relaxed weekend meal in the sun. The western I ordered was massive and fluffy, the taste was as to be expected. The homefries it came with were fine but nothing earth-​shattering (as some homefries can be…).
My friend ordered the house salad and I would say we were both surprised by its size — but aside from that there was nothing remarkable about the meal.
I could be happy returning for another brunch here, but with many comparable places in the area I would be just as happy taking the risk of trying a new place.

For a morning brunch @ 1:00, this place was really reasonable. The caesar salad and BLT my boyfriend got was okay, not the best but not terrible. And the breakfast «combos» left something to be desired. But for $ 2.25 I got one sausage and one strip of bacon, and the Belgian waffle was mediocre, tasted frozen. I got and was charged for whip cream that I didn’t order, but it made my meal better, so I can forgive that. Overall good experience, not too expensive or busy. Would definitely go back.

The Mars Beach diner has a nice patio and friendly service. However this was all it had going for it the night of my visit.
I was there on a weeknight for dinner with a friend and ordered a turkey club with home fries & coleslaw. Somehow, and I am still baffled by it, everything on the plate of this simple diner default meal was unpalatable. The turkey club was a tower of 3 dry slices of toast with chunks of turkey, lettuce, tomato & bacon in between. The turkey consisted of some scrappy looking dark meat (no white meat option available) and tasted far from fresh. The bacon had a funny flavour like it had been cooked or stored with other foods. The home fries were small, warm, oiled potatoes that again seemed to have a funny flavour. One bite of the soggy coleslaw was also enough for me.
The restaurant was slow at 6pm, perhaps the food would taste more fresh during a busy lunch hour. I don’t see myself going back anytime soon however to find out.

Went on a Saturday evening when the weather was turning cooler — the place wasn’t too busy, so the service was ok. Took about 5 tries to get the float that I asked for (had to settle for coke, as they were out of root beer…). Food was ok, menu was what you’d expect for a diner, I suppose. As mentioned, portions were small, although the prices weren’t significantly less than similar places. Ambiance was ok — well lit, and crawling with kids (including ours).
There are a number of better options for short-​order service in the Beach — Sunset Grill, Beacher Café. I don’t think we’d go back.

This location of Mars has been open in the Beach for about a year or so. The place itself is very nice, clean, and comfortable. That is where it ends.
The service is horrible. We were server food and waiting another 10 minutes for cutlery. We asked for drinks 4 times before being served. On a busy long weekend they were heavily under staffed and highly disorganized.
The food itself is cheap, but portions are small and very basic. If I had to choose again I would select another option along the strip. Sunset Grill across the street is very similar but with way better service and better diner fare.