Is Frankie's Still Open? Restaurant Takeover Update (Toronto, ON)

Frankie's, a long-running diner on Queen Street West, was the twelfth episode of Restaurant Takeover (Food Network Canada), airing on 2012-11-15. TVmaze's synopsis describes a worn diner with shrinking profits, whose namesake owner was ready to let it go. The show sent chef Derek Minkensky and designer Montana Burnett to see whether they could restore his belief in it. The Globe and Mail's television listing for Friday, Nov. 16 described a once-busy diner losing money and customers, and said hidden cameras help the team find what is missing before a makeover is planned.

A blogTO review of Frankie's, which carries no date, describes a West Queen West diner fixture of about 35 years, family owned and located across from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, known for burgers and a $5 breakfast. According to blogTO, the room was gutted and overhauled during a two-week closure, and the reviewer credits the work to Restaurant Makeover rather than Restaurant Takeover. This entry reads that as the Takeover episode, since the show is the successor to Restaurant Makeover. The pages I read do not itemize the new menu or decor.

The diner's website, read on 2026-10-19, is titled Frankie's Diner and gives the address 994 Queen Street West and a phone number. It lists weekday and weekend opening hours, though the page's two hours sections give slightly different closing times. It carries an Order Now link to the Ritual ordering service, a downloadable menu, and breakfast, sandwich and burger sections. The images on the page carry April 2023 dates, and the page shows no 2025 or 2026 date.

A Wanderlog page lists the same address with hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday and 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, and a Google rating of 4.5 from 1,683 reviews. That page is undated and shows no individual reviews.