The dinner menu at Hill's Maple Leaf names two of its clubhouse platters after the brothers who opened the Memorial Avenue restaurant — Tony's Favourite, with bacon, tomato, turkey, lettuce and mayo, and Paul's Favourite, with ham, cheese, turkey, lettuce and mayo. Tony Hill and Paul Hill set the Orillia diner up at 181 Memorial Avenue in 1981, and the menu still moves through the lanes they staked out: clubhouses with their names on them, broasted chicken on the dinner page and on a separate grab-and-go family menu, all-day breakfast that does not collapse after the morning rush, and a rotating special for every daypart. The Hill name on those sandwiches runs further back than the 1981 door — back to Thomas "Hot Dog Tom" Hill's hot dog stand, opened in Orillia in 1926.
Breakfast at Hill's is a full lane rather than a short opening act. Pancakes, peameal bacon and the Hungry Man Breakfast — three eggs, two pieces of peameal, bacon and sausage — all sit on an all-day page. Lunch carries the appetizers (mozzarella sticks, onion rings), the burgers (a bacon cheeseburger off the lunch board, a banquet burger off the dinner platter list), and poutine with add-ons from bacon and mushroom to chicken. Dinner runs broasted chicken in two- and three-piece portions, fish and chips with a half option, Salisbury steak and onions in the dinner-special rotation, and liver served with onions or bacon. Dessert lands on rice pudding with whipped cream and cinnamon, and the grab-and-go menu sells whole homemade pies by advance order. The daily specials — a breakfast plate from six to eleven, a Monday-to-Saturday lunch plate, and a dinner special with soup or juice, beverage and dessert from eleven to eight — keep a full meal in play at any hour the door is open.
Hill’s has a local story that reaches back to 1926 and Hot Dog Tom. That history gives the current Mike and Chris Hill era a real through-line rather than a borrowed retro look.
Broasted Chicken is both a sit-down dinner anchor and a grab-and-go option. That dual role makes it the strongest bridge between Hill’s dining room and take-home use.
Breakfast has enough presence here to shape more than the morning service. Pancakes, Peameal Bacon, Hungry Man Breakfast and the daily breakfast special make Hill’s useful whenever the breakfast mood hits.
Hill’s is strongest for familiar comfort food with a real diner backbone. Tony’s Clubhouse, Broasted Chicken, Fish and Chips, Salisbury Steak and Onions, Poutine and Rice Pudding give the cooking enough range for repeat comfort-food visits.
The all-day specials give Hill’s a practical value lane without shrinking the meal to a snack. Breakfast, lunch and dinner each have a recurring special, so the strongest value move is to match the visit to the daypart.
Breakfast is not a side lane here. Pancakes, Peameal Bacon, Hungry Man Breakfast and the daily breakfast special make the morning side of Hill’s useful well beyond a quick eggs-and-toast stop.
Hill’s fits family use because the choices are familiar without feeling thin. Breakfast plates, burgers, sandwiches, chicken, desserts and daily specials give different generations an easy path to orders that feel comfortable together.
The grab-and-go side has its own logic rather than feeling like leftovers from the dining room. Broasted Chicken, family meals and pies make Hill’s useful when the goal is a familiar Orillia dinner at home.
The story matters here because Hill’s is tied to Orillia diner history from Hot Dog Tom through the Memorial Avenue era. That context gives the room more than nostalgia; it explains why the food stays direct, familiar and durable.
Share the nuances of your visit to Hills Maple Leaf Restaurant in Orillia — the standout dishes, the room, the service.
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