Restaurants
Burger Bar
Burger Bar has opened in Kensington Market in the space formerly home to Rice Bar. But this restaurant on North Augusta is more than just a place to fill up on burgers. How about appetizers with a burger theme? Two Cheeseburger Spring Rolls can be had for 5 bucks.
Burger Bar opened on October 13th and while many might wait a month or so for them to iron out the kinks, we just couldn't wait and showed up hungry on day number 2. Sure, we expected a few choke ups but since we were paying customers we didn't expect the service to be overly flawed.
We start with the Saag Poutine, mainly because it just sounded so good, but also because it was recommended by our server. The menu describes the dish as paneer cheese simmered in spices, cream and spinach, served over fries ($9.00).
Now, perhaps we should have compared this poutine to the offerings at Smokes or Poutini's but since one of us just returned from a weekend in Montreal it was hard for her not to contrast with the 3am snacks in La Belle Province.
As for the rest of us? Well, the fries were crispy and well-seasoned but the topping just didn't do them justice. I love saag paneer (a spinach, mustard leaf and paneer cheese curry dish), but this saag paneer was watery and bland.
Service was great at first. Our server made a genuine effort to answer our questions about the menu (albeit with frequent returns to the kitchen), she provided extra plates and helped us to divide our burgers to make it easier to share. But things started to go off the rails once the kitchen made an appearance. We initially ordered the Uni Burger (one topped with sea urchin butter and mustard oil - $10.95). But half an hour after ordering, the waiter informed us they couldn't find the uni butter in the fridge.
Hungry but not discouraged, we decided to try the LambBAM ($9.95) instead, a burger that came with kimchi, Danish Blue cheese and Dijon mustard. With influences from so many different countries we should have known the ingredients wouldn't complement each other. Innovative, but no dice.
The Aiba burger ($9.95) was served with truffle aioli and grape tomatoes. The truffle aioli tasted earthy and nutty and the grape tomatoes were nice and sweet. Unfortunately, the actual beef patty was dry and devoid of meaty beef flavour. This was extra disappointing because the restaurant itself smells like beef heaven (or, well, hell for the cattle). Vegetarians - you have been warned!
The transformation from Rice Bar to the Burger Bar was pretty quick (maybe less than two weeks) and it showed. Although I liked the touches of unfinished wood, the 3D cardboard moose heads on the walls and the exposed filments of their lightbulbs, the space still felt incomplete and non-cohesive. We sat at the only long table by the window. But as it was sunset, this meant that half of us were blinded by the sun (the windows were bare).
The final blemish? After we paid the bill our change was "forgotten".
Burger Bar might improve over the next few weeks, but personally, I won't be back to find out.
Hours:
Mon - Thurs 11:30am - 10pm
Friday 11:30 - 2am
Sat 11am - 2am
Sun 11am - 10pm
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And you didn't go back for a follow up meal?
Reading this pointless bush league review was a waste of my time.
I went on Friday night. Burger was goddamned delicious. Sweet potato fries great. Service great. Food came fast.
They just opened - give them a friggin' break.
The server brought us ice cold sake and when we asked for it to be warmed, it returned almost completely evaporated and near boiling to the touch. The sweet potato fries were generous but not crisp or well seasoned. They were served with ketchup, but it would have been nice to have an aoili or more exciting sauce instead.
First you acknowledge that maybe you shouldn't have gone to write about Burger bar so early. This leads me to think that you will stay objective, only to read a very subjective review. This is both harmful to the establishment and clearly paints a negative
view of the restaurant.
"Burger Bar might improve over the next few weeks, but personally, I won't be back to find out."
Let's all practice some editorial and social responsibility.
I've had 2 burgers from burger bar, they were both fantastic, but I still don't like the pricing structure. I shouldn't have to pay $1.50 per burger accoutrement. Keep in mind that it does NOT come with fries etc.
The wagyu burger, albeit great tasting, is $14. One of my co-workers complained that it was overcooked.
And kimchi, Danish Blue cheese and Dijon mustard on a burger? very unappetizing. and yes, I think BLOGTO should have waited a few weeks to review the restaurant, and gone a second time....then the review would have made more sense....
yuck...Saag poutine...
I guess in this new order of shinny restaurant reviewing there are two teams: The Thoughtful and The Quick and if BlogTO wants to be passing the puck with teammates like Martiniboys that's their choice.
Really after seeing that BlogTO considers Dangerous Dan's the best burger in Toronto I didn't need to read much more from them on the matter.
Take a look at Kaplansky's, one of the most lauded places in the city, but after it's move to College Street the opening days were a mess...including running out of meat several times because of a malfunctioning smoker. If you had a review in that time, would you have left and vowed never to return as well?
Either give it some time or cut down on the venom.
a little compassion and generosity when pulling the trigger on these quick reviews would be nice around here.
http://foodethics.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/food-blog-review-guidelines/
Jerrold - re the "fair to review on day 2 question." Restaurant workers can plan and practice as much as they like, but there are some issues that aren't going to become apparent until the restaurant is actually open. That's why standard restaurant review practices say to wait until the 4th week to review and never to publish a critical review without a return trip to the restaurant."
Thank you. Well said, end of debate.
Further, I do think this review has merits. While it might be more negative than it would have been should June had waited a week or more before eating there, it still provides useful information like menu items, prices and ambiance that gives us a sense of what the place is like.
Lastly, June's review is just a starting point. I'm sure all of us will have our opinions further shaped by the comments in this thread from others who have eaten there.
Item 1 should be:
"If you can't get the first order perfect, you're not ready to open."
Item 1a. would be:
"Except in Toronto, where you can serve crap and treat your customers like garbage for the first four weeks (or longer) and they'll make endless excuses for you."
A review like this shouldn't be dismissed at any point. I'm tired of the long list of celebrated restaurants in this city that have poor service and food, not averge - poor. It's even more rampant when it comes to hyper-trend eateries like this one. No one will call them out when they open and guess what, the problems don't go away. It's a competitive market for burgers. If you can't get it right the first day, the Deadpool will not be far away.
I am going to I'm going to go over get a burger right now.
I expect it to be fantastic. I expect "charming service" as promised on their website. No sympathy, no excuses, no second-chances. I don't care if I am the first customer. Paying is not optional while they work out the kinks. I will add a comment on what I think of the burger.
Well-said if only your "Lastly, June's review is just a starting point." could jive with June's "Burger Bar might improve over the next few weeks, but personally, I won't be back to find out." That last line is, for me, the biggest problem with this review. This conclusion gives the distinct impression that this is a closed matter as far as June and blogTO is concerned. Disclosure is important but it's the conclusion that is key.
Can you point to another example where blogTO has (negatively) reviewed a restaurant in its first week and "let the comments do the talking"?
I was at the Burger Bar in the first week and posted on my site about my experience but I was very clear that it wasn't a review, just early impressions. I've been back since (free coupon) and would want to go again before I post an actual review.
thats a gourmet burger? really, i wouldnt pay for anything that isnt twice the size and has real toppings not three cherry tomatoes.
and at least serve buns that fit the burger.
On the other hand, if a new restaurant is still working out the kinks, and wants to make it clear that this is the case, it should have a "soft opening" for a couple weeks and offer a discount to its customers of perhaps 15% off all items.
This would help us excuse spotty service and overcooked burgers, and, importantly, make us more likely to return later on to see how things have improved.
I feel the disclaimer at the beginning is enough uphold the integrity of this post. IMO, taste is subjective, and I'd like to hear more of other people's experiences at Burger Bar. And if any other staff wants to give it a try in the next few weeks...
Second, the reviewer and her pals tried three dishes and yet we know very little about them. The saag was watery and bland, the "LambBAM" flavours didn't complement each other and the Aiba burger was dry and tasteless. Let's have a little more creativity, shall we? How was the texture? The presentation? Did it arrive hot from the kitchen? How fresh was the food? Was it too spicy or not spicy enough? Was there something unusual or interesting on the menu that you didn't try? How big were the portions? Where do they source their kimchi? Is the saag made in house?
Third, what about the ambiance? The reviewer told us few details. Was the restaurant, including the bathrooms, clean? What kind of patrons frequent the place? Was the music too loud? A review should not be the end of the conversation, rather the beginning. Take a page out of Devon's book and tell us how it compares to other similar restaurants or other restaurants in the area? Did you feel you got a good deal for the price? Is it a good place to go with a group?
Fourth, all restaurants/restauranteurs are not created equal. If Mark McEwan or Jamie Kennedy open a joint, they have the money for soft opens and experienced staff and so if you go on Day 2 and the meal is crappy, you have every right to complain. This is a burger shack and it sounds like they're just trying to stay afloat long enough to make a go of it. Have a little charity. This comment is directed as much at some of the posters as the reviewer.
Finally, I think it's simply unfair to review a place on Day 2. It doesn't make it better, as one poster suggested, to disclaim that you're reviewing on Day 2. Give the restaurant a week, at least, to iron out the kinks. If you absolutely must review on Day 2 and you have a bad experience, give the place a second chance, unless the flaws you find are clearly structural, such as cockroaches coming out of the kitchen.
On their opening night I remember an assistant running in trying to find a booster seat because they hadn't anticipated someone would bring a child on the first night (or at all it seems). They were literally sprinting around the neighbourhood trying every store they could find, but to no avail.
If -they- can have a rough first week, then I'd say it wouldn't be surprising if any other restaurant would have a rough first week too.
This is especially true if those kinks comes from the kitchen side of thing. It is one thing to have poor customer service, but having badly prepared food is a whole different matter. There is absolutely no excuse for serving a patty of charcoal on what could otherwise be an amazingly tasty burger, nor should an innovative take on a popular classic be introduced without sufficient taste-testing (which I could only assume is the case for the Saag Poutine). It has been noted in other comments that the restaurant does indeed have some good tasting burgers contrary to the ones reviewed, then Burger Bar suffers from inconsistency in its quality of food which again should not happen in any restaurant regardless of how many days it's been open.
Someone earlier said no matter how much you practice there will still be issues upon opening and therefore a 4 week wait is necessary before being reviewed. However, I think that it is completely possible to practice and ensure a good quality of food before a restaurant opens which Burger Bar did not do (or didn't do well), and it should not be let off the hook no matter how long it's been since opening.
I think June was spot on in her review. For those who thinks that it is somehow ethically wrong for her to write her opinion on a restaurant that just open, I suggest that you go try it yourself (make sure it's been 4 weeks!) and write your own review. Because the restaurant obviously will run as smooth as butter right at the 4 weeks mark and everyday after that, and your review will stay completely objection without an ounce of subjective opinion.
As well, while it may be generally accepted that a restaurant should be given a week before being reviewed, I do not agree with that. The opening of a restaurant is its first opportunity to impress its customers; to show why customers should go there to eat. The onus is on the owner to ensure that its staff should be well train, ingredients well organize, and food properly tasted before opening. You would not go into a job interview being ill prepared and demand the employer give you a week to prepare. Preparation should be done ahead of time.
should we judge a band's first cd as we do their 5th? maybe someone's first film compared to their 3rd? where has tolerance for growth in our culture gone? if blogto wants to support rash, unsubstantiated and commercialized thought, then so be it. but don't try passing it off as just 'opinion'. shame on you. you know the power of media and its affect on the masses. for every 10 people that read a negative review and say 'screw it, I'm going anyway', there'll be 30 that won't bother.
again - we're talking about someone's lively hood. I dare you to open up a restaurant. not everybody that opens a restaurant is Mark McEwan. nor should they be. otherwise we should just let the city of toronto put an a la cart on every corner and call it a day.
btw: june, it's all good. it's not personal.
Right.
What an interesting bunch of comments.
I'm not here to attack the writer, that's been done. and I wouldn't bother anyways.
You need the content and we need to be talked about, an interesting situaton it puts us in.
Now that we've been open a full 2 weeks, would I like to be reviewed now? No not yet. But, the reality of the web, and blogs in particular, changes the game. So I can't do a damn thing about it.
I'll continue to improve my business, and hopefully you will return and love your burger, the atmosphere and service.
And we can all live happily ever after.
What part of that response did you find lacking in humility?
Kudos to Brock for having the balls to respond to you jerkos who don't have a clue about how chaotic all restaurant launches are. Or how wrong it was to do a review after it was open for just 2 days.
Isn't it kind of ironic that you are criticizing a reviewer who just started writing reviews while at the same time trying to defend a restaurant that just opened? Kudos to you. I'm also curious as to why you think the reviewer knows nothing about writing reviews without so much as mentioning the rationale behind your comment (i.e. more like Commenter's comment), maybe that'll help June become a reviewer that's more to your liking.
Papa:
I think we definitely should judge a person's first CD, first film, or a restaurant's first week with the same set of minimal standards as the fifth CD, third film, or the fourth week since opening. It's not a matter of intolerance towards culture growth, I'm all for creativity and growth as long as a musician knows how to tune their instrument properly or a cook knows how to prepare and cook food properly.
I do agree though that Brock deserves some kudos for responding. I love your attitude, and I hope those who disagree with this review bring 30 of their friends to try your burgers in place of the 30 who are driven away by this review.
Also, waiting a few weeks to review a restaurant is not just about ethics or fairness. It's not some arbitrary rule that Craig Claiborne and Ruth Reichl came up with in their ivory tower over a bottle of '82 Margaux. It's a matter of usefulness: If we recognise that a restaurant is likely to change (by fixing mistakes and perhaps also by slackening off when the honeymoon period ends) then we should also recognise that for someone reading the review in two, six, or twelve months seeing what The Burger Bar was like on day two (even with the disclaimer) is not going to help.
Brock: Thanks for participating in the discussion. I appreciate what you're trying to do but have one question for you. If I can get a letter from a Toronto Public Health Inspector stating that while they strongly advise against it there is nothing prohibiting you from cooking a burger medium-rare will your kitchen do that?
A review should attempt to be a representative experience. A review on Day 2 is not representative of much at all since the restaurant will still be finding its way in small but important ways. Disclaiming that the review is, in effect, not representative is at the very least, odd, and at the worst, meaningless, since it's still out there.
I don't see how a review can be anything but a personal experience. To be truly representative, wouldn't a reviewer need to have try out every single dish on the menu on randomly selected days over a period of time to get anything resembling a representative experience of the restaurant? How can one or even two trips give an objective impression that is reflective of the general opinions of a restaurant? If you want to get a representative view of the restaurant, a review written from a low number of visits is essentially meaningless regardless of when it is from two days, two months, or two years since the restaurant opened.
Tim Sin on October 27, 2009 at 6:06 PM
Mr. Hate:
Isn't it kind of ironic that you are criticizing a reviewer who just started writing reviews while at the same time trying to defend a restaurant that just opened? Kudos to you. I'm also curious as to why you think the reviewer knows nothing about writing reviews without so much as mentioning the rationale behind your comment (i.e. more like Commenter's comment), maybe that'll help June become a reviewer that's more to your liking.
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No, it is not ironic whatsoever.
It is a generally accepted practice to not review a place that early into its existence. I did not make up this rule. It is unfair to the restaurant to do what Ms Too has done since a bad review so early could kill the restaurant. What's so hard about waiting a few weeks? As someone else pointed out, Caplansky's first week or two was a disaster. I would discount any review of the place in those first few weeks just as I discount Ms Too's here.
If Ms. Too wants to write restaurant reviews, she should follow the rules. If she waits until the joint has been open a month, I will gladly take her review seriously because then it'll be legitimate.
Christ why is this so difficult to understand?
That said, come in, introduce yourself, and i'l serve you a RARE burger if you want. If I know your not a health inspector or a snitch (how could I tell?)
I know the quality of the meat we serve, I worked for months on the blend with our butcher, and I realize that the kitchen cooks our burgers to health standards (ie. over cooked), which i think sucks, but as of tommorow I am addressing it with the kitchen crew to improve on it.
Would somemone really open a place called Burger Bar, offer natually raised beef as its basic burger, have organic and wagyu and not give a crap?
Well I do.
Thanks to all, for their critisism and support (not matt), If I screw it up, everyone here carries on as usual, I'm the one with a reputation, finances, and lively hood at risk.
Best
Brock
Representative does not mean objective, it means representative of what a reader might expect to experience if she dined at that restaurant on a typical day. What would a reader expect to see, smell, feel, hear, taste, and pay? I don't think you have to try everything on the menu to give a flavour for the place, but showing up on the second day limits how typical might be the experience. That was my point.
I ordered a way overpriced wagyu beef burger that was burnt to a crisp, and served on a bun that was an inch bigger in diameter than the patty (see Aiba burger above). I ate more bread than the beef, and tasted more of the grill than beef flavour as well.
One thing that blew my mind was the extra charges for condiments. $1.50 for a tiny little saucer of mayo for our bland onion rings/burgers? Are you SERIOUS?
While I agree that a restaurant should be consistant, I think there should be a little leniency when it comes to recently opened restaurants. Even super expensive, upscale restaurants owned by Jamie Kennedy, Susur and Mark McEwen will run into unforseen bumps in the first couple weeks. Much of it can be completely out of their control, such as a delayed order of sunshades from the manufacturer. Or sometimes those bumps are near-unavoidable due to the cost of trying to overcome them (such as keeping the restaurant closed longer and having soft openings to make sure the staff knows its stuff and make sure the menu is perfected)
A kobe burger with fries and a drink will run you over $25. I can get a medium rare kobe burger on Wednesdays at House on Parliament, including great fries and a topping that changes weekly but often includes cheese, for $14.95. A pint to wash it down will run me another $5-6 for an after tax and tip total of $25.
If you look at the ratings above, it's 3.1 out of 5. For a place that you're gonna drop $20 for a cheese burger, side and drink, 3.1 is not very impressive.
Neither was the burger. It was good. Nothing special, nothing worth going back for though at those prices. It had a pinkish tinge to is and was juicy. It tasted like beef but really didn't have enough oomph to it.
The sweet potato fries were really tasty though. I rather liked them but the chipotle ketchup was flat, flat, flat. The fries were much better without it.
The next day I had a bacon cheese burger and fries at a local diner and it was $5.75 without a drink. A bit better burger but frozen fries (I don't get all upset about frozen fries if they're decent like some do). All in all a much better deal and where I'd take my business before BB.
DT
Don't even try and tell me the pickles were made of cucumbers, I won't believe it.
Ever been to a farm?? Drive by one??
Taking into account that it was super close to the opening I think I would give it a try again, but not until I give them a long time to work out all the kinks in the kitchen.
I don't like you. You are not a good food critic.
Too bad, the Rice Bar was pretty good. But I don't think the Burger Bar will stay around for long.
food was ok at best.
service fake friendly.
but it was nice to sit outside.
This place is nothing special. Good to try out but not to come back. Not worth the money.
the room is a bit dim and look likes a saloon but no problems with the servers who are forgetful but always friendly
we prefer the burgers here to craft burger which is sooo hip & sooo over-rated
The burgers definitely tasted homemade, with both the advantages and drawbacks of that fact: The meat was pretty good and had a comforting, home-cooked kind of taste to it -- but it was served on a plain, cold bun that tasted like it just came out of someone's fridge. And so did the toppings. It tasted like the burgers I throw together in my own kitchen, in other words. That's certainly not the worst thing, but at $10 for a regular old burger with cheese, I was kind of expecting something I couldn't do myself. (I should say, though, that the onion rings were legitimately pretty delicious.)
Service was okay, too -- servers were friendly, but the food took quite a while to show up... which, considering there were only two other tables in the place with us, was kind of surprising.
In sum: we left there satisfied enough, but probably won't be back.