Chris "Burrito Whisperer™" P.'s Profile

I don't know what happened here just before I arrived but this store was a disaster zone at about 2:00 on a Friday. Every table, display, and rack was out of sorts. The staff seemed to be scrambling a bit, mostly trying to clear out the backlog of discarded clothing from the fitting rooms.

Once I dug through the denim wall and found a couple sizes to try on I ventured over to the fitting rooms. There was no one there to help me but I found an open door so I got down to business. When I was done there was an obviously flustered employee to take the items I didn't want. At the till there was only one cashier. Not a completely terrible thing as there was only two people ahead of me, but it did take a while to get through those people.

If this store was crazy early on a Friday afternoon, I would hate to see what it looks like on the weekend.

Of the froyo chains in Toronto, Yogurty's is the best. They're not as good as a few of the independent places, but they're solid for a chain which explains why they're popping up all over the city right now.

I wanted to give Yogurty's 4-stars but I just can't justify it at this point. The first issue was that the lone girl working was snarky. It was early on a Saturday and I was one of only two people in the place and the girl behind the counter seemed out of sorts and not happy to be there. My other issue was the lack of fruit in the toppings bar. They had strawberries doubled-up as well as a couple other things. There are basic things like kiwi and mandarin oranges missing from the selection.

What they do well here is offer a large selection of choice. There's 16 different flavours of frozen yogurt to choose from. The sample cups are easily accessible compared to many places where they keep them hidden behind the counter. The topping bar is endless. There seems to be an infinite selection of confectionery goods here all crumbled up waiting to be scooped into your cup.

The front of the store opens right up to the street so it's almost like you're on a patio sitting at the tables. There's lots of signage throughout the store so if you've never had the self-serve froyo experience you can quickly figure out what's going on.

There are certain hot sauces that must always be in my kitchen and this is the place to get them. Two bottles for less than $5? Sold. Mexican Coke made with sugar instead of HFCS? Gimme now. The store isn't pretty, it's very, well, Mexican. Selection is good but not as vast as I would like, you can get all your basics and maybe an extra or two.

Basically what you should walk away with knowing is that this place is cheap and you can get all of your Mexican favourites here.

I gave this place a second try and now that it's been a couple of years I hoped things would have been better. The burrito was good. Better than the last time. I'd give it a solid three stars. Unfortunately the customer service still isn't super great.

If I happen to be in the area I'll come back for another try because the burrito was decent, but I'm not going out of my way for this place.

I made the unfortunate mistake of coming here at around noon. There's a couple of schools nearby so the line was to the door and the place was loud and full of swearing teenagers. Though the kids were ignorant of any sort of manners toward the staff I was amazed at the level of professionalism the staff maintained towards the customers.

I went with a chicken fingers order. Due to the large volume of people the cashier told me it would be a slight wait. No problem, there was lots going on to keep me entertained while I sipped on my Coke. Before I knew it they were calling my number and I was on my way.

This is probably the nicest subway station in Toronto. At least it will be for a couple years until they add the York U extension.

The ceilings are high, the decor is modern, and there is tons of space. Even when the station is packed you still feel like you have room to breathe. The convenience store here is an actual store that you can walk into, unlike the counter style stores at most stations.

I was across the street at another bank getting a cheque certified when the teller there told me I had to pay the certification fee in cash. I ran across to this branch to get the money. I came in the side door and didn't see an ATM handy so I walked up to the teller as there was no line. When she pulled up my account information she was nice enough to inform me that it was going to cost me $1.50 to do the transaction the way my account was set up so I should go use the ATM instead. She explained where it was and I was on my way.

Upon my return a few minutes later with the certified cheque I dealt with another teller. She was also great. Though this is not my usual branch I had great customer service from both tellers I dealt with. They were fast and friendly.

This whole station doesn't amount to much. Above ground, there's two glass domes on opposite corners which cover the escalators and stairways. They're easy enough to spot as they're painted bright yellow.

Below ground there is a Gateway store, but I've never seen it open. Though I usually hit this station on weekends so maybe it's just open during the week.

At the platform level, as with most stations, the walls are unique and made up tiny little tiles. A difference here too is that the benches are concrete and attached to the walls. They're not your usual red slab style benches that you see at the other stations. Also, they look super dirty because they're covered in the same tiling pattern as the walls.

These burgers are chucking good!

I'll admit that I was rubbed the wrong way a little at first exposure to these guys. When they first opened there was a ton of biased (now filtered) reviews popping up and my first attempt to actually visit them a few months ago was a bomb as they're closed on Sundays and there are no hours posted on the door. I've now posted the hours on Yelp so hopefully no one else will make the same mistake, you're welcome.

I had been to Retro Burger once before which was in this location and it was alright. I'm not sure if it's still the same owners but all that's been done since Retro's brief existence is a splash of new paint and a new menu.

So here's what you should expect coming here: A big juicy, slightly greasy burger at a premium price. Don't come here looking for a veggie burger. Don't come here looking for a cheap meal. DO HOWEVER come here for a great burger. They grind their meat in-house and you can tell.

Being my first visit I went with their signature, The Holy Chuck ($9.99). It's a very simple sandwich consisting of two patties, cheese, bacon, and caramelized onions. Even on the menu they ask you not to add any condiments to it, and why would you? It's perfect just the way it is.

My only issue with the burger, and what stopped this from being a 5-star review, is that one of the patties was not cooked. It was medium-rare. While normally I would have taken the burger back I didn't fret since they grind their own chuck. A week later I'm still a healthy young man. I should also note that I actually do enjoy a burger cooked to medium-rare or medium when I have the option to do so.

I want to come back and try the "Go Chuck Yourself Challenge". It's a burger of 6 patties, cheese, bacon, and caramelized onions, stacked between 3 grilled cheese sandwiches. You have 6 minutes to eat the burger and drink a shake. Recently I completed Super Monster challenge at Freebirds so I think I'm up for this one. Though the 6 minute time limit does scare me a little.

This location's first and only review was almost three years ago and it was two stars. I would have hoped things have changed by now. They have not. I've made two visits to this location in the past two weeks. The first was a weekday around 1:30pm and the next was a Saturday at 7:30ish.

I wanted to chalk up my first visit as just a one-off; maybe the staff were just having a bad day. Even after what would be considered the the standard lunch rush time the place was still packed. It took me over 20 minutes to get my order. This was unacceptable. The staff were completely disorganized and many customers were visibly unhappy. The cashiers kept piling on the orders and the runners just couldn't keep up and got lost and confused.

My second visit was slightly better but it still took an oddly long time to get my food. There was only one order ahead of me. My issue upon my return visit was that the dining room was a mess. I couldn't find a clean table and there isn't a ton of seating to begin with for a location that's on a busy downtown corner.

The food quality is no better or worse than any other BK I've been to. Though BK changed their fries a few months ago I'm still hesitant to try them after the garbage they used to sell and call french fries.

If you're looking for a quick bite in this area you're probably better off going across the street and getting a hot dog from 7-Eleven.