Making Wonders for Burger Week

The Pitch

Tonight was the closing night for Burger Week Montreal, the city's first, and hopefully annual, week-long burger contest, where Montrealers vote for their favorite burger at participating restaurants.  We thought "burgers, fair prices, social media ... How can we miss this?".  We chose M:BRGR since we really like it and knew we would find a couple empty stools at the bar to fit us at the last minute.

The Mood

M:BRGR is as trendy and happening as a burger joint can be.  We've been coming here regularly since it opened, and it's pretty much always packed.  We took our spot at the great bar and ordered a couple cocktails immediately before we examined the special Burger Week menu.

tagged:  SIT AT THE BAR

The Food

For Burger Week, there were three choices of burgers: one at each price point of $5, $10 and $15.  Sounds fair, but if you're not familiar with this joint, be aware that your bill will very quickly add up since you need to order your fries and even your dipping sauces separately.  Not to mention their excessive alcohol markup ($14 for a Bombay martini!).

Main

Main

$10

$10

Kobe BWK

"Kobe beef, pecorino cheese, arugula, cherry tomatoes, grilled all-beef salami, chili ketchup".  Wow, it's like an Italian salad in a burger.  The ingredients worked perfectly together; the cheese, arugula and salami added a nice salty-bitter taste to the delicious patty.  The latter may as well have been regular beef though, as I couldn't really say that the Kobe meat added any value to this burger.

Main

Main

$15

$15

Poutine BRGR

"Pulled pork poutine on top of a AAA beef burger".  Is it a pulled pork sandwich, a poutine, or a burger?  It's the POUTINE BRGR.  It's like a BBQ burger on steroids.  A "patty" of succulent pork in a sweet sticky BBQ sauce mixed with poutine sat on top of a juicy beef burger.  You'll need extra napkins for this one, as you'd expect from a good BBQ sandwich.  The combination may be too much for some or get old quickly, but if you see it again at M:BRGR, give it a shot; you won't regret it.

Side

Side

$4

$4

Fries

Thick cut fries with a slightly crispy exterior and a soft fluffy interior.  Not the best fries on the planet, but excellent ones nonetheless, especially with a burger.

Side

Side

$5.50

$5.50

French Fried Onions

These were shoestring fried onions.  I guess we're just not fans of this style of onions.  They are just so hard to eat; too thin to dip into anything or spear a fork into them.  You have to kinda spoon them with your fork.  They did have a good oniony flavour and were crispy, but we'll keep those as a (rather expensive) topping rather than a side dish.

Side

Side

$5

$5

Take a Dip, Choice of 3

We went with chipotle mayo, horseradish mayo and hot wing sauce.  The first two are straightforward mayo-based sauces with chipotle seasoning and horseradish added, respectively; the flavors were there and they worked.  The hot wing sauce tasted like a mixture of ketchup and Frank's Red Hot sauce: sweet and spicy.

tagged:  ALCOHOL RIPOFF

The Service

The service tonight was decent in general; the wait staff seemed to be a little overwhelmed, possibly due to the success of Burger Week.  We were just annoyed at how, on two different occasions, a bartender spilled some ice cubes right on our eating area while making pitchers, without cleaning them up promptly.  We get it, shit happens, but at least clean it up!  A rare miss at M:BRGR, where the service is usually top notch, but we had to mention it.

The Verdict

M:BRGR is an excellent spot for many reasons: top notch food, great decor, buzzing ambience, awesome drinks and good service staff.  If you're looking for a great burger and a little fun before you party it up, this is the place!  M:BRGR is one of our favourite burger joints in town (or for a couple of martinis).  However, it did not live up to that level tonight, mainly due to the mishaps at the bar.  We'll keep the favorite rating though because we've been here enough times to know they usually don't disappoint.

tagged:  FAVORITE

Price per person:  $19.75