Red Top Drive-Inn

Red Top Drive-Inn

219 St. Mary’s Rd

204-233-7943

January, 2012

If you live anywhere south of the Red River, you’ve probably driven by the Red Top Drive Inn Restaurant hundreds of times.  You cannot miss the towering sign with the monstrous mug of Coke sitting at its apex.  Although you spot the sign easily, the parking lot is a little more challenging to find.  You have to turn into the neighbouring lot to access the Top’s lot, which has its entrance at the back.  Pretend you’re driving to Shelly Glover’s office to protest Stephen Harper’s latest erosion to society and you’ll find your way to the Top. 

While there’s no sign of a red roof from the outside, you swim in a sea of red once you walk through the doors.  The Top reminds me of a less formal Rae & Jerry’s, complete with the red benches and the dated server uniforms.  A dedicated crowd frequents this diner so you may be in the middle of a long line if you go during prime dining hours.  

Primarily a burger and fries shop, like most diners are, the Top claims that “Our hamburger is made daily in our own kitchen from fresh lean ground beef.”  The regular burger comes with mustard, chilli sauce, onions and dill pickle; the Lot-O-Burger also includes cheese, lettuce, mayonnaise and tomato slices.  The vegetables taste fresh although the scarcity of onions makes it difficult to know they’re there.  The burger comes with two huge slices of pickles stacked on top of each other, leaving the remainder of the burger pickleless.  While the dressings are nice, it’s the patty that makes or breaks a burger and this patty is very thin, overcooked and over-salted in some areas.  Although the Top is a sit-down, menu listed restaurant, there is really nothing special about the burger that would elevate it over any regular burger from a fast-food chain.  

Putting the burgers in a different context, the spaghetti with meat patties comes with a massive mound of spaghetti under a sizable spread of chilli, topped off with two burger patties.  The pasta tastes better done than al dente but not mushy.  The chilli acts as the sauce but falls well short on flavour.  As a chilli by itself, the Top’s version is probably the meatiest chilli around, fully ground in its mashed state.  One of my carnivorous friends describes it lovingly but I prefer more balance in my meals.  Just as the chilli itself needs more vegetable matter, the spaghetti dish needs more than just chilli as a sauce.  If you add a pint of tomato sauce to this concoction, you would end up with a competent spaghetti with meat sauce meal.  As is, this bland dish endears itself to no more than the most vegetable-loathing of meatheads.  The same thin, overcooked burger patties do little to enhance this meal but add to the meat content.

The chicken fingers also offer a considerable amount of meat; the over-plump, over-sized fingers come lightly fried and crispy on the outside.  A little less time in the fryer would have left them moist on the inside, but as is, they’re not dusty.  The accompanying mountain of fries comes tanned and well cooked, with just enough seasoning.  The poutine option comes with thick and rich gravy but there isn’t enough to soak through the body of potatoes.  As well, there isn’t nearly enough cheese.  Some of the sprinkling remains unmelted and (I hate to say it) a short zapping in the microwave would have fixed that).  

Most of the items come in huge proportions, so consider that in ordering your food.  My order left me wallowing in satiation, and again when I ate the remainders over the next feeding.  One meal should not leave you over-full, over two meals!  Blue collar workers and hard labouring people would love the massive proportions as well as the proliferation of protein.  For the rest of us, the Red Top is an icon that serves typical diner food and a slice of nostalgia.

**½ /5

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