Toronto/ Niagara Falls Questions!

Society Travel & Tourism
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Salaams fellow guppies :slight_smile:

We will be going to Toronto mid July inshallah for a little over a week on vacation. It will be hubby, myself and my 6 year old. I know there’s a lot of threads and posts regarding what to do/eat, but they’re all a few years old so I wasn’t able to find relevant info.

Any recommendations for halal eats in the Downtown Toronto area? I"m from California and have heard Canada has many halal fast food options as well as really good Hakka cuisine and desi food. What are some must try places? I also heard the Halal food festival is going on around our dates. Is it worth going to? I know the one here in California was not that great.

Also, options for transportation to/from airport and downtown area hotel? We will not be renting a car because parking rates are soooo high.

We plan on going to the CN tower. Is there discount tickets available anywhere? Is it worth booking the 360 restaurant?

What is the best way to get to Niagara Falls from Toronto? What about going back to the airport from Niagara Falls? I read about the Niagara airbus going to Pearson airport, but that costs over $250 and had really bad reviews saying it was unreliable as well.

Things to do in Niagara?

Is it worth staying booking a hotel overnight in Niagara or can it be an all day trip while staying in Toronto (near convention center)?

Thanks in advance

:slight_smile:

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Re: Toronto/ Niagara Falls Questions!

W’Salam.
I am sure you will love Canada :slight_smile: - I will send you my # if you need someone local for help / guidance.

EATERY: We have all sorts of options for Halal eat. Thai, Chinese, Malaysian, Indo, Pak, Premium Steak Restaurant (Muslim owned to Major franchise). The problem with big nice good weather weekend is that these places will get busy in prime hours, so something you want to plan for. GTA (Greater Toronto Area) is essentially divided into EAST end (Markham, Scarbrough, Toronto ish, etc) and WEST end (Mississauga, Brampton, etc). You gotta pick the restaurant in whatever end you are at - it may not be worth to travel to other end of town just to eat and back (if its busy hours of traffic).

For now, I will suggest

  • Kara Mia / Desi Eh Restaurant: These are two restaurants connected together. Kara Mia is halal Italian, Desi Eh! is Pakistani (try their Multani Karahi)
  • Zauq: Pakistani restaurant, pretty nice ambient and good food
  • CRAVE GRILL: General steak and stuff.
  • HAKKA MAGIC: Decent , very good priced Chinese food. Very conveniently located.
  • Watan Kabab: Afghani place. Best Chicken for afghani
  • Pramier Kabab: AFghani place. Nice ambient decorations.
  • Bamiyan Kabab: They have multiple locations all over GTA so any of em is good.
  • nandos chicken: Portguese grilled chicken - various locations. All halal
  • Popeyes Chicken: I am sure you are aware of these - all of these are halal

EAST End:

  • PAtna KAbab house : Nihari and kabab are the main thing (closes early. Family owned)
  • Iqbal Food Restaurant: They have a grocery store too that is more famous but goto restaurant beside them
  • Lahore Tikka House (downtown): Extremely famous, some people love it - other hate it. I will suggest try it if you are in area - their kulfi is hands down best.

Why not uber the rides? I am sure you know about UBER? Taxi is expensive here. I am not sure of your budget but renting is probably the best thing you can do (especially with the kid). You can rent cars in downtown by hour too (zip cars, hertz do it too now?).

CN Tower is nice, but the restaurant is definitely not worth it - even less if you only eat halal. Food is just not good in 360 restaurant. Yes you can get discount ticket but its been so long I don’t remember much, if you know exact dates I can try looking it up for you.

Best way to N.Falls? your own car. 45 min drive. Next best thing? Go bus probably (go on google maps and search from your hotel to N.falls. It will tell you bus options). Ya don’t spend $250 just to go N.falls.

Niagara has host of things - casino (don’t have to gambell), malls, restaurants. They have this one strip where all sovinier shops, tours, big wheel jhoola, rides, tim hortons, galleries, hunted houses, …
You can do all in one day - probably much better experience if you stay overnight. Next day try all eat breakfast, or iHop (very expensive on Canada side - but its like CN Tower, you gotta eat their pancakes once for sake of saying it). Halal options are there but slightly limited. You definitely will be very exhausted when in N.falls and end of night it will be a hassle to come back. If its a big weekend, it will take 3-6 hours to come back because rush is that much.

TIM HORTONs. That’s our thing - you must get hooked on this coffee bakery place!

Hope this helps

PS: you can get my contact info from EPIC STUDIO | PHOTO + CINEMA , I am not sure if I should post here directly? lol

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Re: Toronto/ Niagara Falls Questions!

Bamyan Kabob is not a pakistani restaurant. It's afghani.
Lahore Tikka House, well they give u paper plates to eat in (or styrofoam) when ur paying like $12-$15 per dish, no way would we go there.
Best to ask if they've changed their policy about that.

Our family usually goes to Shaheen Tikka and Kebab, its a good pakistani restaurant, decent and away from the downtown (eastyork area near thorncliffe) specially when u want just pakistani food.

Tim Hortons, lol, pretty much the worst/cheapest coffee crap around. Canadians r dumb enough to waste money on it. I'd advise u to buy elsewhere. Mcdonalds has better coffee.

Use GO Transit or Coach Canada/Greyhound to get between Niagara and Toronto. Toronto will be expensive for hotels in summer so try the suburbs such as Scarborough or NorthYork etc for hotels and then just subway it downtown (TTC service). If using public transit, use Presto cards u can get some savings on travel.

Be carefull in Niagara, the hotels like to charge a "tourist fee" type of scam on everyone, its illegal but they get away with it. Most people go there for the day and then just go back to toronto. That's better than getting ripped off in niagara due to so many scam fees, not just by hotels but also by restaurants.......so be carefull.

Avoid being out in the city and downtown very late night, due to street crimes. (shootings and stabbings).

Don't rely on the names. Some restaurants and shawarma places etc are not halal, depending on owners. Always ask before deciding.
CN tower resto is pretty expensive and i doubt if they have alot of halal options, not worth it.

You will save yourself a lot of hassle if u rent a car. Public transit here is pathetic, slow and expensive, takes too long to get somewhere.
Rent a car and be free! Toronto to Niagara takes 2.5 hrs if you start/leave early.......

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Re: Toronto/ Niagara Falls Questions!

Thanks for all the tips! We will be renting a car for the weekend and will use Uber for local travel during the weekdays. We will end up cancelling our Niagara hotel reservation and just drive and spend all day there and head back to Toronto.

Our hotel is near Yonge St (close to Ryerson Univ)- is that a safe area? I plan to go out with my six year old on my own quite a bit. Is it safe to go to Gerrard St and back to this area walking or use public transport? The comment about shootings/stabbings is a bit scary!

A lot of great food recommendations :). Are all Popeyes halal? What other fast food restaurants are halal? Is there a reliable website or place where I can look up halal places? I usually use zabihah and yelp.

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Re: Toronto/ Niagara Falls Questions!

Not sure if your cup of tea - there is also MEDIVAL TIMES. Its a show and a dinner. In show its medival times knight who come and fight on horses. Dinner (you can request halal) , usually chicken with unlimited pop + some salad and small dessert. Its on special right now, $37 per ticket.

Theres also RIPLEY'S acqarium. Toronto zoo. etc.

Patna Kabab is better I find than Shaheen, all depends where you are in GTA area.

Yes, AFAIK all popeyes are halal. Virtually all shawarma places are halal (but always best to ask or look for sign). I guess google it, there is always things coming up.

There is "HALAL GUYS" opened up close to you, you should try that. Yes I will say its pretty safe area especially when normal people are around.

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Re: Toronto/ Niagara Falls Questions!

We have halal guys here too, but glad to know its close :).

Side note: are halal gummy bears/candy easy to find in Toronto? If so, where? Also, is the mithai good in Canada and worth bringing back as gifts?

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Re: Toronto/ Niagara Falls Questions!

Hmmm you will have to get me some good mithai so I can judge if its worth bringing it here. Gulab Jaman please :p

I think we are pretty good for that - and baklawas etc. No need to bring it.
We also have real Pak aam (mangoes). Not available in states.

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Re: Toronto/ Niagara Falls Questions!

whaaaaaaaaaaat! mangoes? I wish I could bring them back to the states!

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Re: Toronto/ Niagara Falls Questions!

Check out Groupon, they have great hotel deals in Niagara Falls. I think of you want to visit the falls and relax, definitely get 1 night by Niagara Falls. I have travelled with kids and at the end of the day when they are exhausted you want to just get to the hotel and rest.

In Niagara, not sure if mentioned but do the Maid of the Mist ferry ride that goes close to the falls, kids really enjoyed.

I tried the halal Popeyes near the falls, and it as gross. Your better off doing anything else. Have fun.

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Re: Toronto/ Niagara Falls Questions!

P.s Or try a bid on priceline for hotel near the falls

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Re: Toronto/ Niagara Falls Questions!

Thanks for all the help guys! Our trip was AMAZING :). We got the city pass and did CN tower, Ripley's aquarium, museum and Toronto zoo so it was a good value. My daughter really enjoyed everything and wanted to stay in Canada! Niagara Falls was simply breathtaking! So happy we got to see the Canada side compared to the US side. We ended up doing only a day trip to Niagara, which was enough for us to see the views and dine and shop. We did do the cruise @Afro-Sheen and its definitely something we all enjoyed :).

Halal food was amazing and we were soo surprised with the endless halal optons available! Lahore Tikka House, Halal Popeye's, Paramount Foods, Nando's, Top Gun Steak and Burgers and a few other authentic Pakistani places in Mississauga for halwa puri/ tikkay/ etc that I can't remember of name of! Let me tell you, Top Gun has some of the BEST burgers I've ever had! Y'all should definitely try it if you haven't already.

Oh, and I did get to enjoy the Pakistan mangoes too!

Thanks everyone! We hope to visit Canada again inshallah!