Restaurants
Cheesewerks
Cheesewerks is the city's newest, quirky grilled-cheese specialty shop, giving Kensington Market's The Grilled Cheese and the also recently opened Construction Site a little competition. Located in the relatively sparse South Bathurst area, the glassy enclosure boasts fresh house-made soups, baked goods, libations, and of course, plenty of grilled cheese sandwiches, ranging from bare-bones classics to imaginative creations.
The brightly lit, sleek interior of Cheesewerks, though only two weeks old when I stop by earlier this week, is bustling with winter coat-clad thirty-somethings chowing down on oozing sandwiches and drinking house-made "artisan" sodas ($3). With a dining room set against a wall mosaic of cheese-inspired orange and yellows, I feel a little like I'm part of a playtime lunch-break in elementary school. The juxtaposition of playfulness and minimalism punctuates the menu as much as it does the décor.
My friend and I spend some time looking over the city-inspired sandwich menu. Wanting to try a few flavours, I go for the "Toronto" ($9.50), lauded as a "mini-tower of grilled cheese sliders from Toronto's foodie neighbourhoods." I am asked to select two of the following three choices: "Koreatown" (gruyere and kimchi), "Danforth" (aged goat cheddar and olive tapenade), and "Little Italy" (buffalo mozzarella, tomato and basil). Salivating, I opt for the Koreatown and Danforth, which sound the most interesting. My friend picks "Los Angeles" (8.50) — a delicious-sounding combo of havarti, smashed avocado, arugula and citrus. Our stomachs rumble in anticipation.
After we wait for seven or eight minutes, my name is called and I feel a little puzzled when I pick up my order. The intriguing "mini-tower" of grilled cheese sliders is just a regular grilled cheese, with two different halves. Misrepresentation aside, the Danforth is quite good — the cheese oozes and drips onto the plate as I eat it, and the tapenade is a welcome salty counterpart to the milder goat cheddar. The Koreatown, however, is disappointing. The shredded gruyere is rigid and unmelted and the cold kimchi only adds to my squeamishness.
My friend is patiently still waiting for her sandwich when we finish the first half of mine. Eventually the counterperson informs us that they're out of arugula, and asks whether she'd like to try something else instead. We ask him for a suggestion and he responds "I don't know... anything else." Thinking he must mean substitutions, we ask again what might be tasty. He suggests "The Charleston" ($9.50) — double cream brie, caramelized onions and citrus compote. Though it's a different sandwich all together, we go for it and ask for some specialty ketchup ($0.75) too.
When the sandwich comes out, he brings us a bag of St. John's Bakery organic gingersnap cookies ($1). We appreciate the gesture and take it as an apology for the wait, though no explanation is provided.
The Charleston is truly delicious. The ultra-soft, melted brie threatens to seep through the bread, halted only by a barrier of toasted walnut crust. The apricot chutney is a touch sweet for my taste, but works nicely with the earthy walnuts and tang of the dripping brie.
It's evident from the staff who seem a little flustered by the rush, and the lack of product knowledge from the counter-person, that the spot is still quite new. When they iron out the kinks a few weeks from now, however, I'll return to get some more of that gooey-goodness into my system.
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I don't think I will be going personally until people start saying "it filled me up, worth the $10".
75 cents for ketchup just adds insult to injury (is that even a phrase?)
An attack? Yes, everyone's out to get you because you don't like bread.
Overpriced? Just because you have different values than someone who would enjoy this, doesn't make the restaurant wrong for deciding it's price point. Have you payed 12 dollars for a beer at a baseball game? I sure have, and it was worth it.
I had Los Angeles sandwiches and it was good. I felt it was a little greasy, but it was satisfying, had interesting enough flavours, and was definitely enough to make me want to go back to try another one. Service was fine when I was there, but it's apparent that the staff aren't than well trained. They seemed on their way to getting there.
The price.
I could get a freakin' 2-meal Gandhi Roti for that price!
You can go to Alex Farms and buy $10 worth of gourmet cheese and make all the sandwiches you want at home.
You pay extra for a substitution?
Worst part is that it is expensive AND not filling! Painful.
Also - to Tuxedo - I am lactose intolerant and asked them if they would have lactose free cheeses at their shop and they told me that they would and were perfectly accommodating when I asked them at the Distillery to please grill/toast the grilled cheese on its own without using butter.
It's true though, really good quality or unique cheeses are *extremely* expensive these days, so I can see how a sandwich could get expensive when the owners have to pay for supplies, rent, employee salaries etc. but still, I do feel that $7 should be the cap for a higher end grilled cheese sandwich.
Oh - and if you're looking to spend $10 and be stuffed, head to Wvrst. I was there earlier last week and was reminded of how great a place it is.
The rib eye, shrimp, meatball, chicken are all amazing tasty and quite filling sandwiches! the quality is awesome!
They are not California filling, but what is?
What's good in the area you ask?
Tavolino, Big Smoke, Alimento, Thompson Diner, One that got away, Wvrst, Old York, are all GREAT places in no particular order to add to regular rotation! I don't much like Reggies, but many do.
Skip Cheesewerks until they look in the mirror and fix the issues everyone is experiencing. That should speed up the process!
great idea, execution still needs to have its kinks worked out.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cool-Hand-Luc/213875101970125
I'm not rich but also not poor. I work hard to earn my money, but even if I was wealthy, I couldn't pay more than $5 for lunch/dinner. I live in Chinatown and $5 buys filling meal!
Artisan bread and cheese does not mean someone popped by the Dominion and picked up a baguette from Ace Bakery and took the 1-yr cheddar from the dairy case and threw it on a grill. The bread is handmade and locally sourced and in some cases made only for Cheesewerks. Likewise the cheese has been specifically chosen from local if not Canadian specialty craft cheese makers. I don’t know where you folks shop for good cheese but I did a fondue at Christmas, with only 3 varieties, from a good monger at the St. Lawrence Market and it cost almost $86 before the wine was added – and it only yielded about 2 cups - they were an awesome 2 cups mind you and there wasn’t a single shred left. The sandwich concoctions at Cheesewerks are amazing, unique and MORE THAN WORTH THE MONEY.
More than that, there are a couple of very unfair comparisons to California Sandwich here. I’d say it depends on the CS location but there is no arguing they make a fantastic product. BUT, if you were to take that same product and source all the ingredients locally, organically and from sustainable practice supply methods the cheapest you’d get one of their sandwiches would be easily $15-$20 – so STFU about the cost of a loaded grilled cheese sandwich.
For those of you Manwich eaters who complain it’s not filling enough – I weigh 240 and am 6’ tall and have a healthy appetite, i.e. not a mini – I am hard pressed to eat more than the Cheesewerks original sandwich and wash it down with lemonade and not feel completely satisfied. Then again, I didn’t come for lunch to stuff my face full until I felt bloated. This is gourmet food folks, if you want to feel the insides of your gut touching your ribcage, stay home and eat Kraft Dinner and hot dogs for chrissake.
As for the great ketchup controversy, I was at the Christmas market a couple of times this year. Cheesewerks was handing out their ketchup to every patron the first time I went. One glance at the garbage showed that people were thinking it was just Heinz and not eating any/most of it. So they stopped giving it out I was told the next time I went by because the perception is/was it’s just a condiment out of a can – which it isn’t. Like the sandwiches and cheese and soup et al, the ketchup is especially made as well. In hindsight, given all your ridiculous bitching, I’d say give the miserable fuckers Heinz and call it done. Wow – excuse someone for trying to make an effort to actually consider the condiment as an integral part of the grilled cheese experience.
Finally, this restaurant IS locally owned and operated. It IS a start-up venture by a local family. They DO support other local businesses. They ARE sourcing local ingredients of the HIGHEST QUALITY. They are EMPLOYING people. YOU are commenting on someone’s hard work and earnest desire to bring you the best possible grilled cheese experience. If you think charging $7.50 to $10 for a sandwich with this much thought and consideration for taste and goodness is too expensive then make your own Velveeta special and stay home you catty, grumpy bunch of pompous jackasses.
I wonder who did the demographic research prior, because none of my friends (who also live in the thompson) are interested in a cheese sandwich store either.
*shrug*
About the review; It was honest. And I fully agree that when they get the new-biz jitters out of the way, this place will be crawling with regulars.
Don't let comments get you down kids!
People want GOOD affordable options !!!! They don't care if the restaurants looks like an Ikea cateologe, they want something with soul, something authentic, w/e
Fact: There is nothing artisan about metro sliced beef wrongly named slowed stewed brisket.
Fact: A 6' 240lb man does not become obese by getting full on a cheese sandwich and lemonade. I call BS.
Fact: Not everybody wants to eat white carbs, fat and salt with no vegetables in sight. Especially January!
Fact: There are many other places to eat with top quality ingredients where value and satisfaction are high.
Fact: Who cares about the ketchup when the value isn't there?
Fact: People need a full lunch or dinner from CW, not to eat something cute.
Fact: There was huge anticipation for CW to open. It let people down and they are now responding. These people would much rather lover the place, but can't!
Fact: If these people (probably your friends) don't change their offering soon, they will be extinct.
You mean a let down, like your restaurant?!
You won't survive either, based on feedback.
LOL
Super yummy - high quality food.
Oh, and reading the comment from "Phil" - who, c'mon, is clearly associated with the resto in some way - just ensures that I will never recommend this place to any clients. I'll keep pointing them to the Thompson Diner if they want overpriced, but still decent food.
I have to agree the price seems a bit steep when I looked down at my tray and saw just the sandwich sitting there. It looked appetizing enough but the presentation was kind of sparse shall we say. It’s not outrageously overpriced just seemed like parting with $18 for a sandwich and a beer – meh. Maybe if they made the tray smaller it wouldn’t look so lonely.
That being said, the taste was really darn good which goes a long, long way in my book.
My wife noticed they also do wine pairings and had a dairy case where you could buy some interesting cheese selections for taking home.
We’ll be back.
To say the ketchup was made on-site and how delicious it was, obviously not one person found it delicious at the Christmas market and hence, it ended up in the trash. Why don't you offer regular and gourmet ketchup for customers so they get to choose instead of forcing them to pay $.75?
My opinion is if you want your food to be appreciated, take notes of your customers suggestions and make changes accordingly. This is not a hate group. If 1-2 people gave a bad review, I can understand but when a majority of customers are saying the same thing, it's time to do something about it!
I have never been to cheesewerks but I can say that I don't think there is anything wrong with a business trying to bring the standard grilled cheese to a new level with artisanal products. Again - since I have not been there I cannot comment on the quality or quantity - these things I don't know. But what I do know is that no new business, run by honest people just trying to follow a dream or make a living, deserves the hate that gets put on them in websites like this. Any good and decent person should be disgusted by the stream of foul, rude hate on this website. I know I am. It makes it look like everyone living in Toronto is bitter, miserable and just waiting for an opportunity to rip people apart. You all should be ashamed.
Whatever happened to constructive feedback? Giving a new business a break while they work out the kinks and try and make it a better experience for the people who have comments for improvement.
I'm sure all of you people posting have jobs and feel you work hard for your money - and the next time you want to come onto a website like this and unload whatever pent up garbage you store in your soul - remember that karma's a bitch.
Let the snobs that want to go around criticizing and trying to destroy everything in the city that represents other people's hard work start their own blog. In other words, let them put in their own hard work and see how well they do.
1. Alimento
2. WVRST
3. Big Smoke Burger
You can eat at the above places and be full for less than $11. If the sandwiches were cheaper at Cheesewerks (like $6-$7) then I'd be ok with eating there because to be fair, it was pretty tasty! But because these mini sandwiches go for $10 upwards, I won't be going back. And I live next door to the place.
We use the most expensive cheese and bread for our sandwiches. Best quality products for our valuable costumers. Those who complaint about the price are not our target market anyway. You cheap people deserve to eat crap and we are sorry for not selling crap.
The owner of Melt and all friends/relatives, need to stop spamming boards with their illiterate messages. You can actually see their missing teeth when you read the inane, obnoxious posts they spam the blogs with.
It is only because of their ongoing fake, pathetic posts that I will never eat at Melt.
Of course Sam is not the owner of CW, give me a break.
I found it strange that ketchup wasn't already out on the tables or served on the side with the sandwiches given that ketchup is practically a staple for most grilled cheese eaters. If you are going to specialize in something, you should get the details right and price yourself right. I wouldn't recommend this place.
For what I paid for and what I got is more than fair. Was very filling and had to ask them to wrap up the other half of my sandwich to go. They even ask me if I wanted another bag of chips - now that's what I call customer service.
To your point about ketchup being on the table need to disagree with you again.
Their sandwiches were delicious!!! I'll be there again over the weekend with my family.
Two days later I had to go to the place to try another, the L.A. I came with a party of 5. My bf had the Bejing (he is the pickiest eater and he loved it) the other 3 people did the Toronto with little Italy and Danforth. They loved theirs as well but they did comment they wished they ate the Italy half first cuz by the time they got to it the tomato had made it a tad soggy.
All the sandwiches came with homemade pickles and chips so it was a full meal. $7-$10 price range roughly.
Wish it was at a more convenient location, but I would total spend $10 a third time!! :)
I'm surprised about the negative comments, I suspect they haven't actually tried it. Don't knock it til ya try it! So yummy!
O AND I had the curry ketchup sooo yummy worth the $0.75!
I was so taken aback I had to ask the girl at the counter to break it down for me. I didn't realize a couple strips of bacon added $3, the fact I got it to go added another $0.75 fee plus the small soup is not available to go. At that point, it was too late to cancel so I left with my tail between my legs, feeling robbed.
When I got home (2 blocks away), I opened up the box to find the bottom half of my sandwich was completely soggy. The flavor was mediocre and the chips were stale. The 'large' soup I had to order was definitely not large but it was at least, tasty.
A very disappointing experience.
I have not tried this place yet but I just wanted to comment on the merciless cyber bullying that seems to have unfolded on this blog post.
I'm worried that I might not be getting a balanced opinion here, because anyone who has dared to give a positive review has received backlash and been attacked.
I agree that the prices seem high, but if the bread and cheese are good, I'm willing to try it. I can afford $10-12 bucks for lunch, personally.