Bamburger??

[Snarf]

Anyone tried this place? Yonge north of Davisville, and apparently started by the gent who started Toby's years ago, which did good honest things with burgs in the past.

[Ediblethoughts]

Has anyone tried the veggie burger?

[burgerfan99]

Charging $1.25+ for toppings like pickles and mayo in this economy? That's bold but I guess it's something you can get away with if your food is exceptional. The problem is at Bamburger , it's not.

The cheese sauce was bland and had an unappealing granular texture. The fries are those coated 'spicy fries' ala mccains and KFC. The burger? It was hard to get past the cheese sauce, but it seemed okay.

Want a really good high end burger? Get on the subway and go
to Craft burger.

[duckdown]

$1.35 for MAYO? What the hell is going on in the world of Hamburgers. What a ripoff

[Pincus]

Oh, come now, it's hardly mayo, it is Spicy Chipotle Mayo or Garlic Mayo! The extra intense flavour is why they are charging that price!!!

;)

[Davwud]

So are they chipotle pickles or spicy garlic mayo pickles??

DT

[duckdown]

lmao!

[Pincus]

Maybe they are "Succulent dill pickles a la Polonaise".

At least they aren't charging extra for the bun.

[embee]

Don't give them ideas they hadn't thought of....

[Googs]

Having cheddar cheese sauce does not a Toby's Good Eats make. After perusing the menu I find none of the fun burgers from the past. This seems to be just another pretender to the throne.

[Full tummy]

Yes, back in the day, Toby's had memorable topping combos, and you didn't have to pay per item. No doubt the cost of the toppings was reflected in the price back then, but who's going to exercise creativity now and end up with a $20.00 burger.

[embee]

What exactly is the connection with Toby's Goodeats? Who is Jody Ortved?

Several "Toby's" reincarnations have appeared over the years, none very good. The "famous" Toby's was owned by Tom Kristenbrun, who also owned other venues, including Bemelman's, Rhodes, The Ports, and The Copa. Decent burgers and some great desserts; lousy fries.

[Snarf]

The paragraph in the Post referred to Mr. Ortved as 'running' Toby's, which could mean anything. I seem to also remember an antique shop in the early days, where Toby could be found from time to time.

Years of therapy had made me forget the Ports. Thank you for that reminder. Fuzzy dice, chest toupees, camaros and early spandex crimes.

[KevinB]

On the other hand, Bemelman's was a great spot - good food, reasonably priced, great atmosphere. After we finished our shifts at the Keg Mansion, this was a place we went to often.

[embee]

Was that the Pack Rat? I believe the antique shop was Toby's personal base for his sometimes infamous operations :-)

[Snarf]

I'm impressed! Were you a local? I remember going there to buy antique marbles back when that was the rage in the schoolyard. Used to be in the little shack beside what is now My Favourite Ice Cream?

[embee]

I'm not from the neighbourhood, but Toby's exploits were the stuff of legend among people I knew who were.

I don't know how many of the stories were true, at least in their details, but there were supposedly many half-Toby's spotted in the area. There were stories about upper storey windows and fire escapes....

Hard to believe that, under current Ontario legislation, Toby would be classified as a dangerous "pit bull".

[Snarf]

The only dangerous thing about him was the gleam in his eye. Very docile, good argument for nurture versus nature.

[jdavis2ca]

I tried bamburger last night and it was delicious. It is a sit down restaurant similar style to Burger Shoppe Meats on ossington. Was there with a friend and we both order the bamburger with cheese (i had the cheddar cheese sauce) and an additional topping. Bill came to $38 including 2 premium pints. The sauce was great (could have been a little warmer though) but it oozed out of the burger. I was able to sloop up the mess with my fries!

The burger was juicy and cooked medium to MW. Little pink in the centre. The bun was good as were the fries but nothing to special.

My only complaint is with the toppings on the table. They only had Heinz mustard, ketchup and relish. Would like to of had a spicy mustard of some kind. However, I never asked so not sure if it.

The staff was extremely friendly and the service was fast (restaurant was 1/2 filled). A person at the table next to me ordered a salad and it was huge.

I will be going back and look forward to becoming a regular customer.

[garlicandwingnut]

Very pleasant room, restfully decorated in earth tones and carpeted (!) which keeps the noise down.

Competent (or better) burgers - particularly good pork burger.
Half the toppings should be no extra charge - a lame attempt to punch the check average which may turn out to be a blunder.

Fries are the breaded variety and sweet potato fries and rings probably arrive frozen in boxes, certainly nothing special - there does not appear to be a "burger only" option, another mistake.

So a burger with mayo and pickle and a bottled water will set you back $17.50 with tax and tip. People will remember this as being not a terribly good deal.

Restos that force up the check average rarely build customer loyalty and rarely succeed IMO., however, earn customer loyalty and the check average will take care of itself.

BTW, what's with the name? Is Emeril a shareholder? May become known as Bumburger or Spambuger.

Recco to resto: Burger only option $5.95, cheap toppings free, make fresh fries, do something original (for a burger joint) like $5 corkage.

[KevinB]

Wonder what they'd do if you came in with your own little packs of mayo or tiny jar of chutney?

Totally agree with you - nickel and diming customers does not build loyalty; it makes you think you're being taken advantage of. Big mistake on their part, IMHO.

[Davwud]

"You want spicy mustard?? Two dollars extra!!"
<said with an accent ala Yev Kasem>

DT

[Negaduck]

I think they just opened last week. I haven't tried it yet but menu is up on their site http://www.bamburger.ca/

Prices looked reasonable until you realize they really gouge you on the toppings. $1.25 for pickles? $1.35 for mayo? $7 for a side poutine?

[Snarf]

Thanks for finding that link. I just read about it this afternoon in the North Toronto Post.

$7.95 isn't a bad starting point for a 1/3 of a pound, when you compare it to Yellow Griffin or some of the other places. The Toby burger was the gold standard back in the day.

[abigllama]

Ohhh looks like the cheddar cheese sauce is back as a burger topping!

[Davwud]

$1.25 for pickles?? Pass.

DT

[thatlankyfoody]

Saw a Village Post article on Bamburger and was also a little excited to see the Toby's pedigree. Though I must agree with Davwud that it's pretty weak that they charge for pickles/banana peppers (are their pickles/hot peppers way better than harveys/subway et al who dole em out for free?)

Nice to see the world's tiniest Ice-Cream Sundae back on the menu though, so I think I'll still check this place out.