Foods from Papy's Burgers and Frites
Comments
2011 May 22
It seams that with the success of restaurants like the ‘works’, gourmet burger shops are popping up everywhere. Papy’s Burgers and Frites in the portage complex food court is a new place that opened up about 2 months ago. I think they may be affiliated with the Aulde Dubliner in the market, as there is a framed photo of that restaurant hanging inside of Papy’s. This is just a guess though. The thing I love about gourmet burger places is that the chefs usually get very creative about toppings and the quality of the ingredients is usually very high. I was also excited to try Papy’s since it is one of two stalls in the food court which has its own velvet rope line up since it gets very busy. (the other being the Thai Express).
I stayed home from work on Friday and thus was able try Papy’s. (This is because the Portage Food court is only open during business hours during the week) I had the Bison Burger with ‘frites’. Totally disappointing!
Absolutely zero flavor to the mince, it was very very dry, and although I could taste the charcoal (which is nice), there was no flavor to be found. They topped it with not so fresh sautéed onion and mushrooms, and just your standard ‘Harvey’s’ style toppings. Nothing gourmet about it. What was really disappointing was the bun - literally a wonder bread quality bun. Not toasted, nothing. Bleh. It got soggy and mushy. The fries were also soggy and not very good - which is surprising because one can find some of the best fries anywhere on the Quebec side.
This came to about 12 dollars which included a can of pop. Meh, Meh, Meh, under whelming and not good value. This begs the question? Why the long line up? I do not know... 'Le Deli' makes the same or better burger for half the price.
They have a bunch of things to fix (imo). The fries, the mince, the bread, the toppings and the price. Service was meh aswell, but it’s a stall so that doesn’t really matter.
Not recommended.
I stayed home from work on Friday and thus was able try Papy’s. (This is because the Portage Food court is only open during business hours during the week) I had the Bison Burger with ‘frites’. Totally disappointing!
Absolutely zero flavor to the mince, it was very very dry, and although I could taste the charcoal (which is nice), there was no flavor to be found. They topped it with not so fresh sautéed onion and mushrooms, and just your standard ‘Harvey’s’ style toppings. Nothing gourmet about it. What was really disappointing was the bun - literally a wonder bread quality bun. Not toasted, nothing. Bleh. It got soggy and mushy. The fries were also soggy and not very good - which is surprising because one can find some of the best fries anywhere on the Quebec side.
This came to about 12 dollars which included a can of pop. Meh, Meh, Meh, under whelming and not good value. This begs the question? Why the long line up? I do not know... 'Le Deli' makes the same or better burger for half the price.
They have a bunch of things to fix (imo). The fries, the mince, the bread, the toppings and the price. Service was meh aswell, but it’s a stall so that doesn’t really matter.
Not recommended.
Niall
It's a personal thing, absolutely. No problem there. But flavour is somewhat absent.
To be fair, when I also tried the bison burger, it was not very greasy, so that was nice. But the meagre flavour, normalness of the meat texture and completely forgettable bun did not make me want to come back.
The owner seems to try, and the combinations offered are different, which is nice to see. But even the fries disappoint - and as a native Quebecker, that is definitely an insult. :) (When I want fries, I go straight to Gino's in the same food court. Especially if they're fresh out of the fryer. mmmmm.)
I tried, on opening day, to mention how the menu was somewhat difficult to read - thin sans-serif font in yellow on a variable-colour background which includes a lot of light green? Anyone without good enough eyes for low-contrast reading won't be able to read half of what's there. Bad design choice, which may not be the owner's fault (except in how he approved it).