Diana’s Oyster Bar & Grill located at 7501 Woodbine Ave in Markham

I had the pleasure and privilege to be invited to the Grand Opening event of Diana’s Oyster Bar & Grill in Markham this past Saturday (their second location).  This grand opening was actually scheduled to take place at the end of March when I received the e-mail invitation, but due to the Mayor of Markham also slated to be at the event, the event had to be moved two times to accommodate his schedule.  I was so glad that this third time was the charm!  

The grand opening event ran from 1 to 3 p.m. on April 23, 2016 at 7501 Woodbine Avenue in Markham.  Diana’s Seafood is actually already a household name, with many people knowing that they serve some of the freshest seafood in town, namely that of fresh raw oysters.  Many restaurants around the city actually obtain their fresh oyster share from Diana’s as well (such as The Boil Bar restaurant).  Their first restaurant is located in Scarborough at 2105 Lawrence Ave E.

A bigger new restaurant sign is now up at Diana’s Oyster Bar & Grill

This grand opening included many foodies in the blogger community of Toronto, distinguished family and friends, and the Markham councillor community as well.  I was excited to try some of the fresh seafood that they would be providing! 🙂

A reserved parking spot just for the mayor of Markham!

Complimentary coat check available for guests

I arrived a little after 1 p.m. with Nicole and we walked in to the sound of a party already in full swing.  The restaurant space of Diana’s Oyster Bar & Grill was huge and fit for a large gathering.  There was a live DJ with music, balloons and flowers around the room, and many guests already gathering around the large square seafood bar at the back and eating.

After I signed in with the hostess at the front, I was mesmerized with the display of food and the array of seafood available.  It was a full-on buffet of all the freshest seafood that Diana’s Oyster Bar & Grill had to offer, with lots of cold and hot dishes like smoked salmon, shrimp cocktail, raw sturgeon, and oysters as well as servers walking around with platters of food like crab cakes, lobster club burgers, bruschetta, calamari, oyster po’ boy burgers, salmon burgers, grilled salmon skewers, and more.  It was a gigantic seafood feast!

Live band playing at the venue

The seafood bar!

Look at all those oysters!! ❤

Carefully slicing smoked salmon up for us ❤

Shucking oysters!

Freshly shucked!

Smoked salmon crostinis!

Oyster po’ boy sliders

Grilled salmon skewers

Crab cakes with spicy mayo!

Vegetables and dip

Salmon jerky and sliced sturgeon

I said hi to some foodie friends that were there as well and then Nicole and I started feasting on what we had gathered on our places at our table.  There was so much food!

Grand opening drink menu

The bartender pouring a glass of white wine for me 🙂

There was also a complimentary bar for drinks too.  You could choose between red wine, white wine, draught beer (Sleeman or Sapporo), pop (coke, sprite, or ginger ale), or juice (cranberry or orange).  I had myself a glass of white wine to go with the seafood. 🙂

My platter of food! All for me! 😀

I really liked how the servers were so gracious and generous by coming around to our table to offer us more food.  They were also all very professional and friendly.  My plate was still so full that I had to decline the offers until I had finished more food.  Everything was so delicious!

Smoked salmon crostini. Yummy!

I definitely liked the smoked salmon (it also was served on a crostini).  It was perfectly seasoned and not too salty.  Its consistency and texture was perfect too.

Real crab meat inside the crab cakes!

Nicole really adored the crab cakes as it was a ball full of pure crab meat!  It was quite impressive how packed together the crab meat was in the ball.  This was really delicious too with the spicy mayo.

The grilled salmon on a skewer were also tender and delicious.

The cocktail shrimp was very delicious as well.  The shrimps themselves were large and its meat was firm.

Calamari that was so tender and crispy!

Hehe, this calamari looks like a waving octopus!

The fried squid or calamari was also very well done!  It was fried to a crunchy crisp but the calamari rings were tender and went well with the spicy mayo.  Yummy!

Platter of bruschetta!

Yummy!

The bruschetta was amazing!  Despite bruschetta being a common appetizer, I don’t think many restaurants actually do it justice.  Here though, the bruschetta was a huge piece and filled with many great toppings!  It actually tasted like real actual bruschetta, the way that bruschetta should be made.  Even though I was so full already when I ate it, I finished it because it was so good!

There was an oyster shot that was delicious and went down so easily.

Smoked salmon cups

Raw tuna cups

The smoked salmon and raw tuna that came in little pastry cups were unique but I thought that the crunchiness of the bland pastry cups were an interesting match with the raw fish.  Each cup was stuffed full of fish!

More oysters with the food!

Grilled salmon sliders

Lobster roll slider

Grilled salmon slider

The three types of mini sliders that I had (lobster club, oyster po’ boy, and salmon) were all pretty good.  I especially liked the lobster roll and oyster po’ boy. 🙂   The oyster po’ boy was contained a fried oyster that was crunchy and fresh.

Oyster!

Of course, I can’t forget the oysters!  These oysters were perfectly shucked and so fatty and meaty.  They were very fresh and easy to slurp too!  I really liked how substantial the oysters were and the kitchen served good sizes and types of the oysters too.

The mayor had arrived! Spot him eating at the counter 😛

About an hour into the event, there was some small commotion near the front of the restaurant and not only had the mayor of Markham, Frank Scarpitti, arrive, but he was commencing a short speech to commemorate the official opening of Diana’s Oyster Bar & Grill.  There were a lot of other Markham Councilor members there too on hand to help with the ribbon cutting.  In addition, the restaurant’s namesake was present as well — Diana and her husband were both present and beaming  with happiness on their restaurant opening. 🙂

Mayor of Markham, Frank Scarpitti, making a speech

Mayor of Markham taking a photo with the other distinguished guests

After that, we enjoyed a bit more of the food and drinks before we headed out by 3 p.m.

What a beautiful venue 🙂

Large open space

One of the mini clothes hangers that were attached to the sliders

Me and the food I had 😀

Selfie after all the seafood 😀

Parting gift from Diana’s — a box of blue chocolate balls!

Thank you Diana’s Oyster Bar & Grill for inviting me to this event.  I am sure that Diana’s Oyster Bar & Grill will see a lot of popularity and great things to come in their near future!  Their venue is beautiful and large to accommodate many guests.  In addition, their food was delicious, fresh, and high quality.  Hurrah for seafood lovers! 🙂

I actually am looking forward to visiting and dining at this restaurant myself sometime in the near future so that I can enjoy more of their delicious and succulent seafood! ^_^

Diana’s Oyster Bar and Grill logo

FTC Disclaimer:  Although Diana’s Oyster Bar & Grill invited me to a complimentary tasting to showcase their restaurant, the opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of the restaurant.