Ottawa Foodies

My friends and I dined at the Works Glebe location (Bank St) yesterday. It was a bit disappointing I have to say.

My burger was yummy (Tony Deluxe) as was the milkshake but the sides were far from good. I typically frequent the location in New Edinborough and while I was never a huge fan of the Works' sides, they can be decent. The Glebe location was a different story. The french fries were way too fried! My friend's onion rings looked were the colour of chocolate (almost) rather than that nice caramel. They too were overly fried. Luckily we were full enough with the shake and burger but it's not pleasant when the sides (you pay for) are barely edible.

I do give a thumbs up to the curry mayo though - yum!

Tried the orleans location. My burger was far too dry (I went through 2 refills of my drink eating it) and the poutine was underwhelming.

I took a bite of my wifes burger, and it was not near as dry.

I live just around the corner so I may try it again out of convenience, but I'll sign the waiver and just and have them take it off the grill a few minutes earlier next time.

Last night I had dinner at The Works for the first time choosing to attend the Bank Street location. My dining companion had a class in the neighbourhood so I met her after for a burger and a beer. My friend had already been to The Works on two occasions and she had been raving about the burgers. Despite reading the reviews here I decided to go with an open mind.

When we arrived we were quite surprised to see all the tables full at 7:30 on a Monday night. We were greeted by a pleasant hostess who offered us a seat at the bar stools near the door while they cleared some tables that were about to be vacated. We didn’t have to wait too long when our waiter came to collect us. We were seated at a cozy table near the back of the restaurant. The interior has a rustic feel to it.

The waiter brought us a rather extensive menu which included two pages of burgers. I finally decided on the Field of Dreams burger which consisted of a beef patty topped with grilled mushrooms and gouda. I chose to have my burger on a white bun dusted with cornmeal and served with sweet potato fries. The bun was very fresh and the mushrooms and gouda gave the burger a nice earthy flavour however the patty was waaay overcooked. They mention on the menu the burgers are cooked for 20 minutes so perhaps they are cooking them for too long. The sweet potato fries were underwhelmingly bland with a slightly carroty aftertaste. My friend ordered the Greek Goddess burger which consisted of a beef patty topped with tomatoes, garlic, feta, and oregano. She also chose to have her burger with a white bun and sweet potato fries. She said she really enjoyed her burger and the fries were the best. I guess we are just looking for different things in a burger…. I also found the meal way overpriced for what I got. We both agreed that the Steam Whistle ale we ordered was the best beer we had in awhile. Either that or we were really thirsty!

Orleans location - went beyond the call of duty. We drove there (don't ask why we didn't go to the bank street glebe location which is located much closer) we called ahead for lunch orders and had 8 when we left to go pick it up. by the time we got there we had another order. they packed up our orders and paid, it was only when we were back at the office (on Tremblay Road beside the Trainstation) that one order (the late one) was missing. We called and the manager DROVE the order to us! He also brought us a tower of rings and some free shake coupons. This is EXCELLENT customer service. We were all very impressed, both with the food and the service.
For the food - there were 3 people here who had never tried the Works before and they were all impressed. I still like the turkey burger better than the beef. I love that the avacadoes are so fresh and green! CHEERS to the ORLEANS location - if they go to such lenghts for customer service take out - i can imagine it would be equal or better in house.

We went to the Bank Street location this evening. It was loud and friendly. Service was very good, courtesy of "Jungle Jane." Overall a fun experience, although once again I didn't enjoy the burger much and I still find those measuring cups for soft drinks to be annoying. One good thing about them -- they make it easy to pour some of your beverage into your companion's cup. ;-)

I've been to the Works many times in the past few years and tend to go to the Westboro location, which is closest to my home. I always feel a bit torn about the place.

It's generally an annoying experience when you arrive - always very busy with a long wait, in my experience. I start to calm down once I'm finally seated and order my milkshake, but it's a bit of aggravation to get to that point. It's also quite loud inside, which can be irritating.

However, the burgers are quite tasty and the variety is amazing. You can get a turkey, veggie or beef patty on whatever sandwich you choose and you can opt for a whole wheat bun, which is a nice option. However, I can never finish one of these massive burgers and I always leave the place feeling a bit sick.

The real reason I keep going back is the milkshakes - they are to-die-for! You can get just about any flavour combination and in a massive quantity. I always get the banana chocolate chip and it is so thick and delicious that I salivate just thinking about it.

The onion rings are also terrific.

Good place to go if you're feeling energetic and want to indulge in a big, greasy treat.

I've been to the Works three times over the past three years, and the novelty has worn off. The first two times were at their original location. The first experience wasn't too bad, but with filling the bellies of three teenagers plus my wife and myself can get very pricey. As well, when teens want to eat, they want to eat now, and not have to wait 20-30 minutes for a simple burger to show up at the table.

The second time was just with my wife, but unfortunately something must have gone wrong with the vent system in the kitchen as the place started to fill with smoke. They did get it fixed, but by that time, our meal was over.

I swore I wouldn't go back, but was talked into another meal with my buddies at the Westboro location. There must be something different between the two locations, as the burger was very dry, and the sweet potato fries were greasy, something not experienced before.

So I'm done with the Works. Dick's has burgers that are just as good, their service is faster, and overall, not as expensive.

...although I will miss the sweet potato fries.

Well I will definitely have to try another location before I give up on them entirely. FF I always found Dick's burgers pretty moist. *shrugs*

Melody, I think if you look through the reviews of the Westboro location, you'll see that quite a few of us on here have had bad experiences there.

I've never been disappointed at the Glebe location.

I really enjoyed my Works burgers from the original Beechwood location but not from the Westboro one. They claim it takes 20 minutes to cook them so maybe that's why they're sometimes dry. If something has to be cooked all the way through (like a burger) it must either be super thin (like a schnitzel) or cooked slowly at relatively low temperatures (like a roast turkey).

I didn't like the Dick's burger my wife tried either, though -- too dry. Lick's had good burgers but they're gone now. Flavourful and moist burgers are hard to find!

These were good but I find the rings at Dick's to be superior in flavour and texture.

I tried the Beverly Hills Lawsuit (fried egg, leaf spinach, havarti cheese & double smoke bacon) this visit and was once again underwhelmed by the dryness of the meat. Even though it's cooked medium-well (quite pink) it is somehow very dry. Maybe the patties are just too thick or maybe the burger needs some kind of sauce. Either way, I found myself having to dip the burger into ketchup to get it down. The only real flavour in the meat is the nice grill-smoke flavour. Patties that are very thick like these should be seasoned! The egg added nothing to the experience and I couldn't taste the cheese. There was a generous amount of spinach (although too stringy for me) and the bacon was tasty.

Wifey enjoyed her Spartacat Special (gouda cheese, crispy bacon & fresh avocado). The avocado was a bit unripe and she didn't mind the dry meat as much as I did.

Here's my story from May 2005: After having had several great meals at the Beechwood location, I visited the Westboro restaurant with a friend who had never tried a Works burger. Service was friendly although uninformed (the waiter told us all of their buns have sesame seeds when in fact none of them do). On a whim, I tried a turkey burger. Bad idea!! I was sick for the following week with salmonella food poisoning -- not a fun time! Both of us remarked that our burgers were tasteless, dry, and quite overpriced. Nothing like the experience I remember from the Beechwood location. I will not be back. (Yes, I should have returned a *pink* turkey burger, but I dismissed it as normal because I'm not a ground meat expert and I know that ground pork is sometimes pink when cooked. The fact is, a burger restaurant should know how to safely cook burgers!)

The 2-cup Oreo Cookie milkshake was the high point of my meal. Very nice indeed.

Wifey's kid size (1-cup) Creamsicle shake was awesome too. Note that this was the "flavour of the day" and when I asked our server why someone should choose the flavour of the day she replied, "Because it's delicious and you get some vitamin C." Quick thinking on her part. :-)

They have tons of flavours! My favourite is the chocolate peanut butter milkshake. The burger and side itself is already a large enough meal so go for the kids size shake!

These have a flavour reminiscent of carrot tempura. They are decent but I prefer tempura. :-)

The poutine at the work's is good enough to be a meal in itself. With all that ooey gooey cheese. And that gravy! Delicious! And its vegetarian gravy. Which is great for me.