where jess ate

I was surprised to hear about the addition of yet another gourmet burger joint to the city, but I guess variety is a good thing so, just like all the other new burger restaurants I see opening up, this one also went on my wishlist. I initially had read about this in Toronto Life, calling M:brger, home of the $100 burger.

This was actually my second attempt to try M: Brgr. Mike and I had initially wanted to try this the previous week, but when we arrived, I was surprised to see a bouncer standing at the restaurant entrance with a guestlist in his hand. Unfortunately, there was a special event that evening, so we went to a different restaurant instead. One week later, we ended up at M: Brgr once again, and this time I made sure to call ahead. The waitress assured me we could just walk in and get a table without any problems. Sure enough, it was nearly empty when we arrived. I was surprised by how large the space was, given the high rent in the King and Spadina neighborhood.

After we were seated, I had trouble deciding what I wanted to order. Anyone who knows me, knows that (A) I’m quite indecisive… I just want to eat everything! and (B) I love condiments! So I took the easy way out and opted for the Little Big Zak – 1x AAA beef, 1x cheddar, spicy fancy sauce, chopped onions, pickle, tomato, lettuce. I considered adding an extra condiment and inquired about their “Michigan” sauce. I was told it was like a chili, so I passed since I’m not a big fan of beans. The “spicy fancy sauce” on my burger tasted a bit like a watered-down big mac sauce. Although it was tasty, it was a bit too watery and ended up leaking down my hands and arms. Another complaint I had was that my cheddar wasn’t melted very well. I prefer my cheese completely melted and gooey!

Mike ordered the Pulled Pork Burger – AAA beef, pulled pork, BBQ sauce, coleslaw, pickle, tomato ($16). Whenever Mike sees a pulled pork dish on a menu, it’s very likely he’ll end up ordering it. The man loves his pulled pork! The burger patty itself was decent, but the pulled pork certainly wasn’t very good. He indicated that Beerbistro’s pulled pork was much better. While eating the burger, Mike noted there was actually no coleslaw in it like the menu promised, but he had already inhaled half the burger before bringing it to my attention! The burger also came with a side of spicy pickle relish, which was my favourite part!

Since the burgers don’t come with any sides, we ordered a Fry Basket – Assorted regular, sweet potato and French fried onions ($12). Again, due to my indecisiveness, we opted for the assorted fry basket, since I couldn’t decide whether I wanted regular or sweet potato fries. Ordering this at the start of dinner seemed like a good idea, but it was way too much for the two of us to share. The fried onions were kind of difficult to eat. We ended up putting most of these in our burgers, which added that extra bit of oomph. We also added roasted red pepper aioli for $2 to supplement the fries, which I highly recommend. Although we really enjoyed the fries, the price was pretty steep given that we could’ve easily purchased a burger combo for that price at another burger joint.

Including the sparkling lemonade (bottled) and the Stella we ordered, the bill came to $60 including tax. I’m not sure we would’ve made a trip here if I hadn’t purchased a wagjag coupon ($20 for $40), and didn’t like the fact that their online menu didn’t have any prices on it. Overall, the food itself was just okay, but given the high prices, I’d expect more than just a decent burger. As a better alternative, I’d recommend W Burger Bar.

UPDATE on May 30/11: M:brgr has now closed.