Restaurants
Reggie's Old Fashioned Sandwiches
Reggie's on King is just the place for folks who like quality bread, local ingredients, inventive flavours and long lines. Sandwich haters and line-veto-ers need not apply.
In all fairness, I've only heard rumours about Reggie's super-long lines. The day my friend and I visited, the queue was, in his words "not too bad" for lunchtime. Unfortunately, a "not too bad" line at Reggie's still warrants a 5-minute wait to order, plus another 10 minutes for preparation. For sandwiches.
It's a good thing those sandwiches are mighty tasty.
We both opted for poultry, choosing a Duck Confit and Smoked Turkey sandwich respectively. The Duck Confit was fashioned with generous slabs of brie cheese, wilted grape tomatoes, Dijon mayonnaise, and the eponymous fowl all on thick, chewy baguette. Tart slices of Granny Smith apple were not julienned as advertised, but nevertheless added zingy panache to the sweet, cream, and spice combo of duck, brie and Dijon.
Although the Duck Confit is certainly one of the most interesting sandwiches since Hillel the Elder's 1st Century B.C.E. version (apple, nuts, wine and bitter herbs on matzoh), the Smoked Turkey was the favourite at our table. Thick slices of soft fresh-baked bread with chewy crust were oozing creamy mayonnaise and tart cranberry chutney, and singing a flavour symphony that more than compensated for a toothsome but slightly dry turkey.
Reggie's employs creativity and quality ingredients, but quite literally at a cost. I generally like to keep my lunch spending low, but at 7-9$ per sandwich--sans sides--I'll be saving Reggie's for payday. They do offer a daily special: $10 for a sandwich, fries and fountain pop, but you know, it's $10 + tax. For a sandwich.
Still, you get what you pay for, and in this heyday of mass-produced sandwiches, Reggie's is laudable for its efforts to use locally sourced, preservative-free ingredients. Meats are roasted in-house and smoked locally at Joy Bistro, and all breads come from local artisan bakeries. Owner Bryan Burke has been quoted as saying that he avoids using preservatives, as "they bring people down".
It's a shame he hasn't applied this principle to Reggie's beverage selection, which is dominated by fountain pops, sugared-vitamin waters and commercial juices. Still, in the long history of sandwiches, from Hillel's matzoh creations, to the Earl of Sandwich's first bread-and beef version, to the school lunches of the 20th century, Reggie's is making a respectable mark with its tasty innovations.
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Excellent review as always, Devon. That turkey sandwich needs to be in my belly right now. Will definitely try this place out. :)
they're all idiots. and the food reflects that.
Once in a blue moon it's awesome. The rest of the time, it's soggy, put together lazily, and the 'fresh' ingredients are less than perfect. The fries are often undercooked, and the serving size varies from day to day, as does the size of your sandwich.
... and the sandwiches are only decent when the 'good' crew are on.
the rest of the time, it's total hit or miss.
which probably explains why the place is dead inside.
I give this place another year for survival.
And that's being generous.
I will be going back again. The reason being is I know how long it takes to make confit, unlike Jack. Pulled pork can't be done in microwave either Jack! Cheese steak, maybe if you don't mind the toughness.
Pulled Pork Sandwich - I dont like it. Go to Lou Dawgs if you want a real pulled pork. I dont like the bun on this sandwich and I dont like the taste of the pork or the sauce. Overall its a total failure.
Tuna Melt - I like it. One of the better priced sandwiches also delivers on flavour with good bread and a nice tasting tuna with melted cheese.
Italian (cold cut) - I dont like it. The sandwich reminded me of an assorted sub. The bread was better but the rest of the sandwich had the same overpowering flavour you would get at Mr Sub.
Corned Beef - Really nice sandwich. The corned beef is cooked so it has a darker look than your normal corned beef but it is still flavourful and moist. Piled high on a nice sliced bread with pickles, cheeze and mustard this sandwich always makes me happy!
"Reggies" Fries - Too many unnecessacy toppings that make it taste gross...avoid at all costs!!!
Fries - Usually pretty good...comparable to Craft Burger but a little less consistant. Once again it all depends on who's in the kitchen that day.
Ceaser Salad - The first time I ordered it was amazing! Great little ceaser sauce that was unique and had nice crutons and bacon. The second time it lacked sauce and had crutons the size of golf balls!!
Overall Reggies is a good place but the high prices and inconsistant food makes it a risky choice (less risky if it's 4am and nothing else is open). If you end up with the good crew on duty you'll have a good experience but if you go in and your being served by somebody that looks like they should be selling dime bags out in the back alley then RUN AWAY!
Now can somebody please tell me something about WOW that just opened up in the area..thats the true new spot on the block. Whats the word?
and oh-so-true.
The poutine was inedible. The "gravy" appeared to be béchamel sauce with too much flour and the curds on one of the two plates didn't melt. (One order was initially divided among two plates, but one of them had to be remade after it suffered an accident en route to our table.)
Four sandwiches, an order of fries, an order of poutine and a fried mac 'n' cheese (which tasted better with aoli) set us back around $40, which seemed quite reasonable. I think we all chipped in $11 and got a bit of change.
I'll go back to try to be proven wrong but I had high hopes for this place.
Who told ya? :)
So I was thinking about going to Reggies last night but ended up at Craft Burger. Walking down the strip I noticed that For your Eyes Only was dead, strippers and security just chilling outside. The new WOW Rotisserie place was EMPTY, Reggies was EMPTY (the dude was standing out on the street) and Craft Burger was almost full of people. That just goes to show who's doing things right in the area. My food at Craft Burger was fantastic...two combo's for $24 with a fancy Boylan's soda to boot! Looks like Reggies is in for a tough fight being next door to the amazing Craft Burger.
Reggies was empty when I went, then people trickled in and it was maybe half full at one point. I need to try Craft Burger.
very dry and over seasoned.
I brought my leftover meat home and I'm going to reheat with beer and put it over fries tomorrow.
Won't be going back.
very dry and over seasoned.
I brought my leftover meat home and I'm going to reheat with beer and put it over fries tomorrow.
Won't be going back."
But I told you not to get the pulled pork. Why didnt you get the tuna melt and fries. You would have liked it you potato!
Last time I went it was quite busy and the cashier was helping the cooks(?). Now the bad thing about that was the cashier didn't have any gloves on; she handled the money and food with her bare hands.
I don't know about you but money is passed from hand to hand by everyone, it's a freakin' germ transport. NOT going back again.