Location: Bramalea City Center food court.
Type: Chain restaurant.
Web site: awrestaurants.com
Atmosphere: Orange and brown food court chic.
The Burger: Mama burger with cheese
#of Pattys: 1
Special Sauce?: Yes (Mayo)
Toppings: Ketchup, mustard
THE PLACE
Growing up, A&W was known for its root beer first and its food second but recently (in the cosmic scheme of things) they've been talking a lot about how good their food is and what great ingredients they use, using as their spokesman someone who looks like he eats at a burger place.
This A&W is in a food court. It has all the things food courts have. Yelling children, tables you are pretty sure haven't been washed in some time and that one guy who wears sunglasses inside and sits back in such a way that he obviously thinks he's mere seconds away from being surrounded by gorgeous women.
Also A&W's color scheme is orange and brown, which is not attractive at all.
THE BURGER
The first problem I had was they don't really have a "cheeseburger" per se. They name their burgers after members of the imaginary Burger family (Mama Burger, Papa Burger etc. There is no Grandma Burger because screw her). The closest they have to a cheeseburger is the Teen Burger,, which comes with cheese and bacon. I wasn't really in the mood for bacon so I went of the Mama Burger with cheese.
The first thing that strikes you about the above picture might be how nice the fries look. I know that's where my eyes went. Perhaps you noticed the burger just sitting there looking like a half finished Muppet head. You certainly don't look at the burger and say "Wow, I must eat that."
The burger to bun ratio is terrible, making it look like two buns with red and white paste on it rather than a burger, cheese or otherwise. The cheese was nicely melted but not completely. The patty had a nice, but not a great, taste. The special sauce (mayo) added nothing to the burger. Basically as far as taste goes, it is a nice, middle of the road burger that looks maybe, kinda ok, I guess.
The fries were really good though, but this isn't French Fry hunter.
So what do you give a middle of the road burger? A middle of the road rating that loses points on presentation.
Rating: 2.0 out of 5.
