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/

The Fifth Pubhouse

Date Visited: Dinner on Saturday Jan 24, 2015
Company: Walk-in for 6

The boys were in downtown Toronto for a suit-fitting all day on Saturday so I met up with them for dinner before seeing American Sniper. We were going to the Scotiabank Theatre in the entertainment district and just down the street was the Fifth Gastropub. I had no idea this was the same location where Easy on the Fifth was in the upstairs. The guys arrived around 5:30PM and got a table for 6, it was very empty when I arrived shortly after. The restaurant looked very cozy with wooden furniture and warm lighting.

Their menu offers an interesting and wide selection of dishes to choose from. I opted for the 5th Burger because I didn't think I could go wrong with it. It took a reasonable amount of time for our dishes to arrive, +Stanley ordered the Duck Confit so they warned us it would take a bit longer. The Burger didn't look like it had very much sauce or toppings on it. From the first bite, I could tell it was very lean and wasn't juicy at all. It tasted fine but it was very plain and needed some flavour. I wasn't a fan of the fries either, they were way too hard and overcooked.

Our waitress was fine except that when she asked if we wanted anything else, but she was distracted talking to +Alex and ended up just bringing us our bills even though some of us were craving some dessert. It was a little awkward to bring it up then so we just let it go...

Food: 1.5/5 - The burger was nothing special, very disappointing for a gastopub.
Decor: 2.5/5 - Good atmosphere and ambiance but we were seated at stools with no backs when the restaurant was empty??
Service: 2.5/5 - It was OK but considering the place was empty, nothing outstanding.
Willingness to go back: 2/5 - Wouldn't go out of my way but it does have a nice selection of beer if you're in the area.
Overall: 2/5

Website: http://thefifthpubhouseandcafe.com/

HUSH Restaurant, Patio & Bar

Date Visited: Dinner on Tuesday Jan 21, 2014
Company: Reservation for 5 ladies before seeing Les Miserables

There was a group of us going to see Les Miserables at Princess of Wales Theatre on Tuesday night and I wanted to find a place to have a quick dinner beforehand. There are a ton of restaurants in the area of all different types of cuisines. HUSH was a reasonably-priced, American restaurant that I've heard of through the -licious' events that seemed like the perfect place to go for a casual dinner. 

I made a reservation for 6PM and hoped that I could make it down from Oshawa in time after work, which we did... (that's if we didn't have a few wrong turns downtown). We parked at the Princess of Wales underground parking which was across the street and a few restaurants down from HUSH. Our table was right near the window and gave us a view of the lively King Street West. The lighting was very dim but the decor was very classy and urban which livened up the place. We had two different servers oddly, which was mentioned to us by the first one. It appeared that one took care of us in the beginning and then they switched but the first one was still around in the area (maybe they share the area?). 
There were a lot good choices on the menu and it was hard to decide! Their sandwiches and burgers all seemed delicious but I decided to go for the Seafood Linguine consisting of shrimp, lobster, baby spinach, grape tomatoes, fresh herbs, sun dried tomato pesto, broccoli & roasted garlic aioli, a classic choice for me. Our orders came surprisingly fast after they were placed, great for us because our show was at 7:30PM. Everyone's food looked amazing, we all got different things and the presentation for all of them looked spectacular. The Linguine had huge pieces of shrimp and lobster sticking out and lots of veggies mixed in the sauce. The sauce was very thick, almost like chowder, but I thought the flavour was great. I really enjoyed the tomato-y addition with the pesto, definitely different from other Seafood Linguine I've had. I also tasted some other veggies in the mix, like zucchini but all of the flavours blended together nicely. The pieces of toast were awesome for dipping in the excess sauce. The pasta also was cooked perfectly. 

As we were having our meals, we noticed someone else ordering a dessert that looked like fondue. We checked the dessert menu and found out they have S'mores, to share between 2-5. We had about half an hour before our show and asked our waiter if they would take more than 15 minutes to prepare and eat and he said no (of course), so we got them! He wasn't lying because he came out right away with them! They were such a cute idea. The waiter light the burner and the flames immediately shot up a brilliant blue. We each got our own poking stick with Marshmallows, Graham crackers, Caramel sauce, and Lindt Chocolate to share. We had a lot of fun cooking/burning our marshmallows and creating S'mores. My sweet tooth had its fill for a while after that though. I wasn't impressed that they didn't fill our water once or really check on us throughout the dinner. All our waters were empty and I wanted a drink after the dessert. 

We got our bills though and I mentioned in the reservation that we needed separate bills which they accommodated and even split up the dessert evenly for us. :)

Food: 3.5/5 - Really enjoyed everything! Their dishes offer a lot of variety and creativity with quality ingredients.
Decor: 2.5/5 - Very typical King St W decor... dim and chic at night, I'd like to see it in the day and apparently there's a patio in the summer!
Service: 2/5 - Not the best service but the food came very timely.
Willingness to go back: 4/5 - Definitely! So many things to try there, great reasonably priced spot in the area.
Overall: 3/5
Website: http://www.hushrestaurants.ca/