Grand View Restaurant

This restaurant is the first you’ll come across after exiting Hornblower Cruises via the gift shop. It is aptly named as it provides you a really grand view of Niagara Falls (both the American Falls and Canadian horseshoe falls) while you dine. It’s self-service, so it’s very expensive considering that. A meal for 5 of us cost CAD85 in all.

However, despite the steep price, all the food we ordered was delicious so it’s not too bad. Just make sure you get a window seat so you maximise your money’s worth and get a great view. If you’re not willing to shell out to eat with a view, just walk over to Clifton Hill where you’ll find many other eateries such as Hard Rock Cafe, Starbucks, local restaurants, as well as fast food joints like iHop, Macdonalds, Wendy’s, and even a Clifton Hill Brewery Company.

Personal recommendations:
- Spicy Chicken Salad
- Veggie Wrap
- Dynamite Maki

The Canadian signature dish - Poutine. French fries slathered with brown sauce and cheese curds to give rise to a gooey mess of melted cheese and gravy on crispy fries.

The fries weren’t super crispy, but they were decent and nicely seasoned. Not too salty, especially with the gravy. I love how the cheese curds melted into the fries so there’s plenty of cheese on each piece. Maybe not the best poutine around, but it was pretty good!

A healthy, completely vegetarian option at this restaurant. The veggie wrap is stuffed with fresh lettuce, cooked lentils, carrots, tomatoes, grilled corn kernels and lots of good green stuff that make for a delicious wrap. It’s naturally sweet from all the fresh veg, and super crunchy. Love the colour pop from the tomato wrap too!

Pretty hard to go wrong with the classic Caesar salad especially when the dressing and croutons are prepacked. Overall the salad vegetables were very fresh, crisp and sweet. They were generous with the grated cheese, and the star was the tender chicken breast. Probably cooked sous vide and grilled for presentation, it was super flavourful, while remaining moist and juicy.

All prepacked and ready to go is the Spicy Chicken Salad which comes with a mix of lettuce, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers and carrots. There’s a handful of strips of fried chicken coated in a spicy chilli sauce, and the whole salad is topped off with shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese.

Overall very expensive for a salad, but what else can we do at a tourist attraction like Niagara Falls? Thankfully, the salad is really tasty. I always say that the American and Canadian vegetables tend to be bitter in the green leaves and very sweet in the stems, which is also true in this case. All the vegetables were fresh and crisp, and I love how tender the fried chicken is. The sauce was so shiok! It’s actually quite spicy and a little sour, with this, you don’t even need any extra dressing for the salad. As much as I love cheese, the amount on this seemed excessive and we didn’t eat most of the cheese on the salad, but it was still perfectly tasty. I’d totally recommend this if you’re looking for a healthier meal on a day out at the Falls.

Prepacked maki from Ah-So Sushi at Grand View Restaurant. This maki comes with tempura ebi, crabstick, avocado and cucumber. Half of the maki are covered with seaweed, whereas the other half are rolled with rice on the outside. The Dynamite Maki tastes pretty good. The rice is well seasoned, and the ingredients are fresh. No need to worry about freshness as the turnover times are fast at these tourist attraction spots. Overall quite pricey, but if you’re going to pay, at least you get a delicious meal and a good view from this restaurant.