Hutch’s Dingley Dell

280 Van Wagners Beach Road,
Hamilton, ON
(905) 545-5508
http://www.hutchsonthebeach.com/

Hutch’s has always been part of my life since I was but an infant, and even before then I suspect as both my parents and grandparents would often frequent it on warm summer days. Those of course were the days when it was on the corner by Confederation park, where Adventure Village now inhabits. But of course a fire all but decimated the old building and it was rebuilt about 20 minute walk away.

Hutch’s is always perfect for a summer day, they have a nice breeze coming off Lake Ontario and some awesome outdoor seating areas.
So being a very warm day- in the high 80’s- we decided that Galaxie, our dog needed a good day out and called a cab and off we went to the beach, to spend the day in the sand and light lake waves.

When we arrived, Hutch’s of course was packed, as it always is, I ordered a large fish and chips-$10 (!) + taxes for myself and a small fish and chips- $6.99 + taxes for Melissa, and of course a small fry-$2.25 + taxes- for Galaxie. I noticed a lot of people ahead of me had purchased burgers or hot dogs or club sandwiches, but to me this is just sacrilege, Hutch’s is all about fish and chips.

So after a fair wait I received my order, and since there was a small, yappy dog on the picturesque back patio area, we were confined to a table facing the parking lot- ugh-. My fish as normal was excellent, batter was very crispy and not too heavy and it went beautifully with malt vinegar and ketchup, as did the very amazing, fresh cut fries. Melissa’s fish was strangely underdone and kinda soggy. I have 1 real issue with Hutch’s, their lack of lemon or even the little lemon shaped juice packets, I really enjoy lemon and malt and ketchup on fish. I was really feeling incomplete tho as I did not order 7up- we had brought our own Jones and Dad’s- there is just something mystical about 7up, fresh cut fries and fish, it’s a perfect match.

Again Hutch’s delivered on an overall good experience, not too many places make for a better summer day trip locally- exception being maybe the Arbor in Port Dover -, the food was great as always, service was a little slow but it’s kinda expected. I really am wondering about the popularity of the burgers, they seem to be a real big draw…maybe I’ll bring myself to try one once. But again it would just be so wrong

Rating : 9 out of Ten
A reliable old favorite, another solid performance.