Burger Factory: 3.9/5

If you touch this burger I keel you

Bacon Burger $4.15 - Score: 4.0

Fat Boy $3.35 - Score: 3.8

Cheese Burger $3.60 - Score: 3.5

George Argyriou welcomed our group to the last remaining Burger Factory like we were long lost family. He told us stories of when he "was the only photographer for four towns back home, but nobody pays. You take 100 pictures and they maybe buy two." George took two pictures of us today. He told us to say “cheese boorgers." George started the Burger Factory about 30 years ago. In 2009 a kitchen fire destroyed the restaurant, but 7 months later it reopened all shiny and new. It's still the same layout, with an open kitchen and a raised seating area surrounded by a rope.

The patties are from a factory and they're fairly plain, thin and fatty. Unlike most places we've been to, they're flame broiled though, not fried. A big point in favour of flavour! Aside from George, the next best thing about the burger is you get to choose the toppings you'd like from behind a glass shield - and the toppings are tasty! Kari reminisced “I like being able to choose toppings ala Grubies in the '70's.” The dill pickles are sliced lengthwise and you get practically a whole pickle laid out on your burger. You can get al dente baked, or raw onions and the topping choices include lettuce and tomato - something you pay extra for at most burger joints.

In fact, the Burger Factory was considerably cheaper than any place we've been to, and by far the best value burger. The low price, coupled with awesome George, resulted in diners giving the Burger Factory the highest “Restaurant Rating” so far. Burger Club’s Restaurant Rating is based on service, price and comfort and B-F got a 4.5/5.

The other notable thing about the burger is the size of the bun - it's huge, but not doughy and cold - it's warm and tasty. The buns enveloped the burger. I asked diners to "expose their burger" for the camera otherwise I'd just have a selection of pictures of nice buns. April commented “As Dani and I say "We like big buns and I cannot lie." However, these aint the buns we're talking about.” One interesting twist is the Twin Burger - it’s a double - but horizontal, not vertical - so has an elongated bun.

The burger itself is quite juicy, and the condiments applied with gusto, so it's a messy burger. Our long table made several trips to the wall mounted bulk napkin dispenser. Dani noted “My burger is definitely a 20 napkin burger, but every time I got a pile of napkins, someone would steal them so now I'm hoarding them under my tray.”

When I was at RRC (formerly RRCC) I looked forward to a banquet burger and rings at the Burger Factory on Logan and remember the giant onion rings. Another burgerer remembered them being as “big as halos.” None of us had rings today, but the ones we saw walking by were regular sized. Kari ordered the table fries and they were really good - crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Yay Kari! George was proud of the gravy and Brett observed “not “the best" gravy in town but very good. It was peppery gravy.” Mark marked “Gravy is fantastic!”

Sometimes criss-crossing conversations get chaotic and as April observed “With a table this big it takes three rounds to get a point across.” To finish off the meal we had a sitcom theme song sing-along. Apparently Brett will serenade you with old TV show theme songs upon request (one of his many talents). He knows all the words to 70's TV-shows. Kari asks “Why?”

This week the rating system debate came to a head culminating in Kari drawing a sad face on her rating slip. The “system” only accepts whole numbers from 1 to 5 and rejects if someone writes down a fraction - and Kari has a penchant towards 1/2’s. Each week I collect the little fluttery ketchup and gravy stained slips from the recently fed burgerers and take them back to feed into the surplus $5 bill reader I got from Princess Auto. You know the ones that make a little whining sound and continuously reject your bill no matter how much you flatten it and unfold the dog ears. I off shored the software development, so to make a change now would require rewriting the spec and months of going hungry until the revisions are complete. We’d better stick with whole numbers.



If you're at the BJ Super Toys next door you might get this mask marked down - it's used