Thank Goodness for Super Submarine: Niagara Falls Food Review

               There is no shortage  of places to eat in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Every single chain restaurant I can think of is there.  Fast food places like Burger King and Wendy’s to family restaurants like Ruby Tuesdays and Applebees are all represented. There is also very high end upscale dining. Places that you would expect to wear a suit in many of the hotels. There are also breakfast places and All you can eat buffets. Finding food is easy.

The problem is everything in the tourist area is way over priced because they are taking advantage of tourists. Remember this is a city. It is not an amusement park or a sports venue. When I go to a Red Sox game I know a hot dog will be five dollars. In a city where one can walk across the street to another five places, I would have thought there was some competition.

We stopped at Burger King and there Whopper meal was over $8. Ice cream cones were regularly $5 for a small. This may sound cheap to whine about these prices, but I don’t think a family of four should have to spend $40 for Burger King.

Here are my reviews of the places we ate.

Tim Hortons  We ate breakfast every morning. This was the only place in the tourist area that was reasonable or cheap. Laurie got a coffee and a bagel every morning. I got a muffin and an OJ. It was about $7 total. I respect them for keeping the prices low.

Margarittaville

I had never been to Jimmy Buffett’s Margarittaville so I was excited to try it. It was only two blocks from our hotel. They were completely understaffed. The main dining area has about forty tables. There were only about 6 tables being used but there was a 20 minute wait. The reason- they were short staffed. We went to the bar where there was no wait. The bar tender had to tend bar and wait on the ten tables in his area.

For food I got fish tacos (they were called seafood fajitas but it was just tilapia). Laurie got a chicken club. I got a Hurricane to drink. Laurie got some mixed drink and a beer. On the menu, it said there would be four fish tacos and veggies. I got TWO tacos and maybe 15 wax and string beans. This meal came to $68!!! We left a decent tip. So for 2 tacos and one drink my meal was almost $40!!! The only bright side was Laurie’s fries were delicious. I left not full and angry about the cost.

Boston Pizza

The next night we went to Boston Pizza. It is right in the Clifton Hill tourist area. Laurie and I split a medium pizza. It was half tropical (spicy chicken, feta cheese, pineapple) and half BBQ. It was absolutely delicious. We each got a soda. I don’t know the final cost but the medium pizza was $27. It was obviously way over priced but it was delicious so I was happier.

Niagara Falls State Park

The day we went to the state park (American side) we got lunch at their snack shack. We each got a burger and fries. Each meal was about 9 dollars. The burger was really good.

ALMacs Buffett

The worst restaurant I have ever been too.

There is a sign outside there window for all you can eat for $16.99. Since I was spending more than that anyway I talked Laurie into going. The sign lists all the food including roast beef, pizza, salads, chicken wings, etc… I thought worst case we could pig out on pizza.

I was wrong. Worst case scenario was the food was barely edible. The tiny chicken wings were wrinkled from being out under the heat lamp all day. The one piece of pizza was stale and rock hard. Most of the food was gross. I cannot over state enough NEVER GO THERE. Laurie asked for a glass of water. They made her pay for a bottle of water ($3.50). It was possibly the worst dining experience ever.
 
We read reviews later from trip advisor.com. One went like this “I would rather get hit by a bus than eat at this place again. At least I could eat the hospital food instead.”

This place was so bad it was listed as #248 out of 256 Niagara food establishments, leading us to ask “What the hell is worse than this place.”

Finally hope in the form of Super Submarine

On Thursday after doing some touristy things we needed to find a place for lunch. We walked all over. There were steak houses selling 8 ounce steaks for twenty seven dollars (I would have needed three of those to get full). A place called Shoeless Joes sold two pounds of Buffalo wings for $32. Finally Laurie decided to go to Johnny Rockets. There meal would have been twenty bucks for a burger, fries and soda. I couldn’t do it. I was done with being financially raped. It’s one thing to splurge on vacation, but this was just a burger.

So I took the keys and drove to the non-tourist part of town. I headed towards Walmart on McLeod Road. After only five minutes of driving I saw a sign for Super Submarine. I pulled in. It was exactly what I was looking for… a simple sub shop. I got more than I bargained for when I saw the sign for two assorted subs (this is what they call an Italian) for six bucks. That wasn’t six bucks each. Two for six dollars. Laurie and I each got one. Each sub was about 13 inches. You can choose the veggies and sauce (oil and vinegar, etc..) They were very awesome. We decided to bring a sub home for supper so we got a chicken cutlet. Even after sitting for four hours it was still good. Way better than Margarittaville and certainly AlMacs.

If I would have found this place the first day, I would have eaten there every night. It was maybe 10 minutes from the waterfall, but so much cheaper and better than everything else I ate all week. The owner has been there 27 years (I asked). They are so quick with their hands. Each Italian sub was made in about thirty seconds. It was really cool to watch.

The address is 7116 McLeod Road, Niagara Falls

They only take cash

Wrap up
So as you can see until I found Super Submarine I was disappointed in the food. Because of my small portions at Margaritaville, I did not want to try Planet Hollywood, Hard Rock or Rainforest Café. There was a Hooters but we didn’t go. At the family restaurants, a typical meal that you’d pay 12.99 for plan on paying about $17-20.  A typical fast food joint was three or four dollars more than their normal price for a value meal.

My advice for anyone that stays on the Canadian side and has their own vehicle should drive away from the falls McLeod Road is very busy with a lot of strip malls. I saw other pizza places and food on that road. For my money though, a delicious $3 Italian is a great deal.