This place is nothing new, but has recently popped up in the Ottawa area in the past year. I have heard tons about this burger joint from a friend who tells me a story about eating their burger in the US and how awesome it was. So, when a joint finally opened up in my area, I had to check them out.
The premise of the burger joint is very simple. Fresh burgers, made the way you like them. It's simple yet it works! The ordering is simple. How many patties do you want in your burger, and do you want cheese and/or bacon on it. Then from a long list, you get to pick what else you want to add on the burger. The toppings include mushrooms, ketchup and hot peppers. Fries are also an option and IMHO, should be a must order. There is an option of regular fries and cajun spiced fries. You get a number for your order, and you get sent to wait as they make your burger. Since they make your burger fresh, it does take a few minutes to get your burger, but you do get to watch them make it while you wait. Every order will end up in a brown paper bag (which of course, after about 2 mins, you will start to see the grease stains, the sign of a good burger joint). Burger at the bottom, then if you ordered fries, they will put some fries in your container, then add it to the bag. Here is the fun part. They then take an extra scoop and just dump it in your brown paper bag to top off the fries!!! The fries are very tasty and the quantity is always plentiful. The burger would range somewhere between good and very good. Comparing other places where you would get "fast food" burgers, it's better than McDonald's, but not as good as the works. This is of course reflected in the price, as it is priced less than the works, but more than McDonald's.
The style inside the restaurant is almost diner/kitchen style, which suits the restaurant very well. Every order is made for take out, but if you want to eat in, there are tables available. There are also free peanuts for those who have more room to eat.
I would say that I was not disappointed by the burger and I have gone back. The burger did not blow my mind, but I did not go in expecting that type of burger. I think they have filled a good niche in the burger spectrum that was missing in Ottawa.
Review (out of 5):
Food: * * *
Value: * * * 1/2
Atmosphere: * * *
Service: * * * *
Price Range (dinner): $15-$30
Website: http://fiveguys.ca/
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Big Rig Brew
A new micro-brew pub opened up recently in the west end by current Ottawa Senator Chris Phillips. This peeked our interest as this fills a big gap in the west end for a micro-brew type location. We went on a Sunday around 6 and it was still a 30 min wait. To pass the time, we took a seat at the bar to have a drink and try out some of their brews. It was $7.50 for a sampler of 4 types of beers, which I thought was very reasonable. At the time, they were serving 5 types of beer: the red, the gold, the brown, the stout, and a seasonal weiss beer. None were disappointing but one of the beers came out ahead easily as the #1 consensus, which was the brown. There was even a giant board reporting on what beers are available, and what beers are being conditioned and coming up soon. Very nice added touch.
The food was very delicious and tasty. We decided to start with the Big Rig Pulled Chicken Nachos. The nachos were tasty but a little disappointing. The chicken looked like diced chicken, not pulled chicken and was nothing special. The Canadian Tortiere had lots of very good spices and flavour. Good’a Chicken & Avocado was an excellent combination of flavours and Philly’s Grilled Cheese & Beef was plentiful and also an excellent choice. For it, it was true, I did need to eat the meal with a knife and fork. The later two came with fresh cut fries that were seasoned just right and crispy, just the way I liked it. The tortiere came with some mixed veggies that left a little more to be desired. The deserts sounded delicious, but the food was good portioned that we had no room left for sweets. The table next to us was celebrating a birthday and they brought out a giant fresh baked cookie for them. It smelt wonderful and was a really nice added touch. It did come out on a tin pie plate, and I know I am being picky, just doesn't seem to fit the rest of the atmosphere in the restaurant.
When it came to the service, it seemed like the staff was overwhelmed. It took 20 mins at the bar to settle up so we could take our seat at the table. When ordering, the server forgot the addition of a side upgrade and did not get the right information from the kitchen on what the side veggies were. There was also no ketchup offered for the fries. Albeit they have only been open for just over 2 weeks, I would expect the staff to become more experienced over time and these small kinks work themselves out.
The restaurant itself looks very clean, spacious and modern looking. There was plenty of TV's on showing the different sport channels. It was noticed that one TV was on a good 2 second delay compared to one beside it showing the same channel. This may not be good if you plan on going here to watch a live sports event.
I very much enjoyed this place. The food was tasty, the beer was very good and the prices were comparable to what I would expect coming to a micro-brew. Great job so far CP12!
Review (out of 5):
Food: * * * * 1/2
Value: * * * * 1/2
Atmosphere: * * * * *
Service: * * * 1/2
Price Range (dinner): $15 - $35
Website: http://bigrigbrew.com/
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| Me enjoying my Philly Grilled Cheese and the Brown Beer. YUM! (Thanks to C. For the photo) |
The food was very delicious and tasty. We decided to start with the Big Rig Pulled Chicken Nachos. The nachos were tasty but a little disappointing. The chicken looked like diced chicken, not pulled chicken and was nothing special. The Canadian Tortiere had lots of very good spices and flavour. Good’a Chicken & Avocado was an excellent combination of flavours and Philly’s Grilled Cheese & Beef was plentiful and also an excellent choice. For it, it was true, I did need to eat the meal with a knife and fork. The later two came with fresh cut fries that were seasoned just right and crispy, just the way I liked it. The tortiere came with some mixed veggies that left a little more to be desired. The deserts sounded delicious, but the food was good portioned that we had no room left for sweets. The table next to us was celebrating a birthday and they brought out a giant fresh baked cookie for them. It smelt wonderful and was a really nice added touch. It did come out on a tin pie plate, and I know I am being picky, just doesn't seem to fit the rest of the atmosphere in the restaurant.
When it came to the service, it seemed like the staff was overwhelmed. It took 20 mins at the bar to settle up so we could take our seat at the table. When ordering, the server forgot the addition of a side upgrade and did not get the right information from the kitchen on what the side veggies were. There was also no ketchup offered for the fries. Albeit they have only been open for just over 2 weeks, I would expect the staff to become more experienced over time and these small kinks work themselves out.
The restaurant itself looks very clean, spacious and modern looking. There was plenty of TV's on showing the different sport channels. It was noticed that one TV was on a good 2 second delay compared to one beside it showing the same channel. This may not be good if you plan on going here to watch a live sports event.
I very much enjoyed this place. The food was tasty, the beer was very good and the prices were comparable to what I would expect coming to a micro-brew. Great job so far CP12!
Review (out of 5):
Food: * * * * 1/2
Value: * * * * 1/2
Atmosphere: * * * * *
Service: * * * 1/2
Price Range (dinner): $15 - $35
Website: http://bigrigbrew.com/
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