Burger's Priest

Date Visited: Lunch on Saturday Jun 27, 2015
Company: Take-out with +Will Ives

+Will, +Alex, +Brian, and I had plans to see Jurassic World on a rainy Saturday afternoon in the Entertainment District before heading to a Birthday BBQ for the evening. After meeting at Scotiabank Theatre and seeing that our showing was sold out already, we decided to grab lunch before catching the next show. Will remembered that a new Burger's Priest had opened up in the area right by the Burrito Boyz/Smoke's Poutinerie building so we headed in that direction. Will and I went over to get burgers while Alex went to get a burrito.
Will and I climbed the steps and entered new and shiny new Burger's Priest location complete with a flashy sign outside. It had ample standing room on brand new hardwood and limited tables around the perimeter of the space. We walked up and took a look at the menu for a bit, I was a bit confused on what The Option and The Priest were. Apparently, The Option is two breaded and deep-fried portabello mushrooms with cheese in the middle. The Priest is The Option + a Cheeseburger which is what I ended up getting with a few more condiments. We found a table to sit at to wait for our burgers to be made... timing was an issue due to our movie so we headed straight back to Burrito Boyz once we got our orders. Surprisingly, Alex hadn't gotten his burrito yet... I thought ours would take longer but it must have took about 10 minutes (seemed forever!).

I unwrapped my burger to see a monstrosity of a thing to eat, I was dumbfounded on how to even begin the first bite! Nonetheless, I went for it, and it was amazing... cheese oozed out of The Option like lava... what a sight. Bite after bite, more cheese kept on coming out of no where, it was heavenly for me. I was very impressed on how contained and structurally sound the option was, hardly messy! The cheeseburger part was simple but also delicious, it was incredible how great these two paired up together. We shared some fries from Will's combo and they were pretty good too. Very standard but I enjoyed the size and soft texture, not so much on the crispy side.

I think everyone should try Burger's Priest, it's definitely worth the $10 you spend on the burger. I can't imagine coming here very often unless I wanted to become obese so prepare yourself for it!

Food: 4.5/5 - Wish I didn't have to eat it in a rush so I could savoir each bite!
Decor: 3/5 - Very clean and fresh, not much decor going on yet though.
Service: 3/5 - Wait time was pretty standard.
Willingness to go back: 2.5/5 - Worth bringing noobies to try it but I wouldn't regular the spot!
Overall: 3.5/5

Website: http://www.theburgerspriest.com/

JOEY

Date Visited: Lunch on Saturday Oct 12, 2013
Company: Thanksgiving weekend reunion lunch with +Elliott, +Stanley, +Will, +Brian, & +Alex

While planning a reunion lunch during the long Thanksgiving weekend with some friends, I was trying to decide what area of Toronto was best for everyone to meet as we're all located in different areas of the GTA. While the toss-up was between Don Mills and Yorkdale Mall, both with great restaurants, Yorkdale had the easier accessibility. I tried to make a reservation on the Thursday before the planned date and JOEY responded back that their large group reservations were full and usually book up weeks in advance. This made me worry because I know how busy their Eaton Centre location is for dinner. Either way, we decided to go for a walk-in as I really didn't believe it would be full on the long weekend. So we all gathered one-by-one outside the restaurant at Yorkdale and went in to discover that the place was only about half-full to my delight.
We were seated immediately in a large booth as a server came to take our drink orders. JOEY is considered a more upscale, but still casual dining place with locations across Canada. They do cater for the more ritzy crowd and I notice that they have many young good-looking employees staffing the restaurant. This location was huge with TVs everywhere and an upstairs as well. It was a beautiful day so the sun was shining through the many large windows to show off the sharp decor of the restaurant. It couldn't have been a more fitting day to get a Summer Sangria which was on special for $6. The sangria was filled with berries and some orange coloured slush, which made it even more delicious than a regular sangria. I loved this drink and is probably my favourite sangria I've had at a restaurant so far. It's sweet and fruity where you can't even taste the alcohol :)


Their food menu is very extensive with a variety of culture (Sushi section) but also to sticking to classics. There are many interesting options and prices are mid-ranged. I wasn't feeling too hungry so I decided to just go for the Soup with Salad. The Soup of the Day was some Chicken, Vegetable, and Rice mix and it was very tasty with many seasonings. I was a bit disappointed that they didn't even fill the bowl all the way to the top and the soup was hot, but not steaming which I would have preferred. The House Salad was delicious, topped with almonds, feta, random shaved vegetables, and a house vinaigrette that wasn't too heavy. It also came with some Garlic Bread, it was a pretty big piece and the bread was nicely toasted and soft on the inside. 

+Will and I also ordered Cheeseburger Sliders to share. They had pickles and a secret sauce on them and it was all it needed really. They were so cute and easy to eat but smaller than I had expected. Nothing too special about them, it was an okay dish. They came with side of chips which were a bit bland as it had no seasoning.

Food: 3/5 - Dishes weren't bad, fresh ingredients all around though.
Decor: 5/5 - Loved the decor here, so elegant and chic.
Service: 2/5 - Took quite long to get our dishes.
Willingness to go back: 4/5 - Would definitely check out JOEY's again! Perfect place for a classy get-together.
Overall: 3.5/5
Website: http://www.joeyrestaurants.com/