A&W - Mama Burger with Cheese - Bramalea City Center

The place: A&W

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.

 

John's Family Restaurant - Cheeseburger

Place: John's Family Restaurant

Location: 1 Fisherman Dr, Brampton

Type: Independant

Atmosphere: Family Style Restaurant

Burger: Cheeseburger

#of Patty's: 1

Cheese: Cheddar 

THE PLACE

John's is a relatively new family style restaurant that is brown. Very, very brown. And grey. Anything that isn't brown is grey. Brown, grey and faux wood. It's amazing how brown and grey and faux wood this place is. It's almost as if whoever owns this place just couldn't figure out the colors they wanted and just said the first two colors that came to head and, once it was out there, became very dedicated to it.

Also when we ordered our drinks we were brought a can of iced tea and a glass. I don't know what that was about but there was someting not right about that. But we went in around 1:30 pm on a week day and the place was really busy, so there must be something great here.

THE BURGER

 

Let's start with the top, literally. The bun was weak, barely toasted, and my fingers crushed it immediately just with regular holding. Not a good start. Fortunately there was a nice hunk of cheese. The patty tasted pretty good, not fantastic mind you, just pretty good. It was well cooked and a little juicy. It had all the right smells and all the right tastes. The meat didn't overpower the cheese, the cheese didn't overpower the meat, it was just the right balance.

One thing I really liked was that the patty did not have that "frozen meat" taste that your average big chain burger has. It tasted freshly made, which was nice. 

This was definitely a better than average cheeseburger, but not too above average. Good, but not over the moon good.  It's a shame the bun was so distractingly weak, it really took away from the whole experience.

The fries were stringy and a little over done for my tastes, but then it's hard to get fries to my tastes when they are string style.

I have to admit I had trouble rating this cheeseburger. How much weight do I give a bad bun? It was bad enough that it distracted from the whole experience, but it is just a bun. In the end I gave it some thought and think I came up with a good balance. 

Harvey's - Cheeseburger

Place: Harvey's

Type: Chain

Web Site: www.harveys.ca

Atmosphere: Wood paneled fast food

Burger: Cheeseburger

# of patty's: 1

Type of cheese: Cheddar

THE PLACE

 

Harvey's is Canada's national hamburger chain. Beloved as much as Molson beer, the Toonie and Mountie hats. Loving Harvey's is a national pastime. And what isn't to love? The orange and dark blue decor, the famous orange "Harvey's Trays." Harvey's, Tim Horton's and Swiss Chalet make up the holy trinity of Canadian fast food.

But That is your fathers Harvey's. Today their restaurants are all wood paneled and soft brown. A modern look for a traditional burger. Even the trays are brown these days. Yep the old Harvey's is looking pretty good.

THE BURGER

 

First of all the one thing Harvey's hasn't changed is you get to pick your toppings and they put them on in front of you. So if you don't want onions (and why would you?) there is none of that pesky asking for onions not to be on, you just ignore the onions and they come nowhere near your burger, the way God intended. 

So you've gotten your burger without the onions and you sit in a wood paneled booth, what does the thing taste like.

Here is what I wrote right after my first bite. "Holy crap this is a good burger!"

Why was I so shocked? Because I have a history of not liking Harvey's burgers. They used to be these square pieces of frozen meat that tasted more frozen than burger like. But this was something else. You could taste to burger, there was a good hunk of cheese, the bun didn't crumble under my fingers.

Of course it's not perfect. There is still this frozen taste that most fast food burgers have, but it was minor and not overwhelming. In fact sometimes the actual taste from the burger drowned it out. 

The fries were also good. Crisp on the outside, potato like in the middle. Really very nice.

There are a lot of fast food burger places out there, and every restaurant has their own version with fancy tastes and sauces. The Harvey's cheeseburger is just a plain, good cheeseburger. Nothing fancy. Just good.

So I give Canada's own Harvey's cheeseburger a 3.1. By far the best "fast food" cheeseburger out there.

 

Wimpy's Diner - Wimpy's Famous Hamburger with Cheese

Place: Wimpy's Diner

Type: Chain

Web Site: wimpysdiner.net, wimpysdiner.ca

Atmosphere: 50's Diner

Burger: Wimpy's Famous Hamburger with Cheese

# of Patty's: 1

Type of Cheese: Cheddar

THE PLACE

Wimpy's Diner is a 50's style diner with flat screen TV's. You can sit in booths, tables or at the counter. There are things in booths where you can put in a coin, pick a song at have it play like your own, private jukebox. On the walls are pictures, plaques and tchotchkes. It's a nice, warm atmosphere with nice colors and comfortable seats. Honestly it's a nice place, complete with some guy yelling in the kitchen in a foreign language. That was a nice touch.

THE BURGER

Let's take a look at the Wimpy's Famous Burger with Cheese. 

Look at it!

Look!

Holy crap that's a big burger! I mean the meat to bun ratio is crazy. I like a little more meat than bun but this is really ridiculous. I had no idea where to start eating this thing. The bright side of this bizarre patty was the cheese. Wow look at that cheese! There was a really excellent amount of good old fashioned cheddar cheese on this thing. The bun though was strictly meh. Lightly toasted but it had no strength, you can see my finger penetrated the top and that was just from me putting the bun on the burger. (Below)

Other than that it's a really nice looking set up, just weird with that big patty.

But enough about its size, how does it taste? Well that's the problem. First of all the meat was a little greasy on the outside but a little dry on the inside. Not a lot, just a little. The patty tasted like a burger but a little strange. Spicy. As if the cook used just a little too much pepper. There was a little bit of that frozen patty taste. These flavors mixed with the regular cheeseburger meat taste to create its own unique taste that, while not completely good, was also not completely bad.

The cheese, my God look at the cheese, was darn right tasty. It's impossible not to taste the cheese through the burger and, while it looks like it might be too strong, the cheese was just right. The bun I have already dealt with.

The French fries were really nice and were an excellent compliment to this cheeseburger, and the drink (Iced Tea) came in this really nice glass that I would like to have taken home.

I want to give this cheeseburger an excellent rating, I really do, but the pepper and frozen taste, plus the size of the patty, plus the bun, really took some points off. Plus it wasn't a "cheeseburger" it was a burger with cheese added, which isn't the same. I'm going to give the Wimpy's Famous Burger with Cheese a solid 3 out of 5. I would have this again but I'm not running out to do it today.

Burger King - Double Whopper with Cheese

The place: Burger Kimg

Type: Chain

Web Site: www.burgerking.ca

Atmosphere: Fast Food Joint

Burger: Double Whopper with Cheese

# of Patty's: 2

Special Sauce: Yes

Toppings: Lettuce, Ketchup

THE PLACE

L

Burger King is ... Well it's Burger King. It looks like a fast food joint. If someone travels through time from the 1800's and wants to know what a fast food restaurant looks like, show them the above picture. They'll get it right away.

THE BURGER

L

First let's talk about the fries. I like Burger King French fries. They are tasty, but I bought a large and got this amount (see above). That is not a large amount of fries. That is, at best, a medium. This is disappointing. In a world where Five Guy's literally fills half a bag with fries, this is just horrible. Come on Burger King, you used to be better than that.

Of course this is not the French Fries Hunter, but I thought it had to be said.

Not onto the burger. The double whopper with cheese has always been a favourite of mine. It's a half decent burger and very sloppy. Look at the above picture. Look how sloppy that is. (The picture doesn't do the burger justice. I photographed it while it was on my lap and had to use a flash. I'm not a photographer. My wife is, but I thought I didn't need her help. Maybe I should put my ego aside next time. But this isn't the My Wife is a Photographer Hunter.) that is one sloppy burger, and I like it.

The first thing I noticed was the Whopper doesn't have that "these patty's are frozen" taste, they tasted like real burger patty's, which is a bonus. The problem is that the flavor of the patty is muted. It's there, but not very strong, that is because the secret sauce is overpowering. It's a trade off, want sloppy then you gotta have a lot of the secret sauce. So maybe it could be a little less sloppy.

The cheese is a big slice of cheddar, but it couldn't be tasted because, again, the secret dauce was overpowering. Maybe they should rename it the Double Secret Sauce burger with Cheese.

Overall I liked it, but the secret sauce is really a problem, a big problem, so I have choice but to give it a :  

O

Wally's On Steeles - Wally Burger with Cheese

Place: Wally's on Steeles

Location: 1351 Steeles Ave. E, Brampton

Type: Independent

Atmosphere: 

Burger: Wally Burger with Cheese

#of Patty's: 1

Type of Cheese: Cheddar

THE PLACE

Wally's is a hard restaurant style to nail down. It's modern looking, it's restaurant looking but what is its overall atmosphere? Part of the problem is that Wally's was made from the ashes of another restaurant and had to work within its framework, which is why there is a fireplace in one corner that, otherwise, wouldn't make much sense. Also there is a lot of wood veneer which, a friend pointed out, will probably begin peeling after a couple of years. So is it classic? Is it modern? It's a bit of both. At least it was warm and the tables were clean, really can you ask for more?

THE BURGER

Let's get this out of the way right at the start. This is not a cheeseburger, this is the Wally Burger and then you could add cheese to it. A cheeseburger takes the cheese as a part of the whole and plans for its flavors and cooking. This is a burger with a slice of cheese thrown on for fun. But I'm not going to hold that against them, I just wanted to point out how much something like that bothers me.

The problem with The Wally Burger with Cheese is bigger then a slice of cheese, the problem goes down to its very essence. There is something very bad with the Wally Burger, and I could not put my finger on it. Was it under seasoned? Yeah, maybe, I don't know. Was the burger fresh? Honestly can't tell. It tasted like it could be frozen, but maybe not. Possibly over cooked? Well yes, a little.

That there is the problem. The Wally Burger tasted unlike any burger, cheese or otherwise, than I have ever tasted before. It was not a good taste, but it was a strong taste. Even now, with the bennefit of hindsight, I can't figure it out. After about half way through the burger the word "rubber" popped into my head, but it wasn't fully that. Basically it was an altogether new taste and it was bad.

There was a nice slice of cheese, thicker than at most chain restaurants, but the taste was completely drowned out by the taste of the burger. The bun was good. Well toasted and firm enough.

Unfortunately the fries that came with it were soggy and stringy. Also there were no refills on iced tea, what the hell is that?

So listen, I have to be honest and I have to be fair, the burger with cheese was edible but that taste was just terrible so I have no choice but to give The Wally Burger with Cheese 

The Works - Reese PBC

Place: The Works

Type: Chain

Web Site: 

Atmosphere: Industrial

Burger: Reese PBC

# of Patty's: 1

Special Sauce: None

Toppings: Crushd Peanut Butter Cups

THE PLACE

I've covered The Works before, so let's just say it's an industrial look and leave it at that.

THE BURGER

Here is how it works. Take the already great Works burger, stuff it with peanut butter and chocolate and top it it's crushed Reese Peanut Butter Cups. Let that sink in for a moment. It is literally a peanut butter cup burger. The calorie count alone must be amazing. And yes, it's not a cheeseburger. I think the sheer decadence of this burger makes up for the lack of cheese.

But does it work? Kinda, but not completely. The peanut butter cups on top of the burger was a brilliant idea and tastes amazing. Unfortunately the peanut butter and chocolate inside the patty wasn't a good idea. The heat from the patty melts them so much that the chocolate looks and tastes like brown water, and the peanut butter is just a big, liquid mess that you barely taste. 

Fortunately the burger itself was the usual high standards, the bun was great, the fries were above average. If I were in charge I would just put the peanut butter cups on top and leave it at that, but I'm not so here we are.

This is definitely an above average burger, far above average but not as high as the usual fare from The Works. It's a solid 3.7 out of 5.

Also it's not a cheeseburger, but not everything can be perfect.