Farrow Garneau — Restaurant in Greater Strathcona

Farrow's Grick Middle is the best sandwich of all time. ALL. TIME. PB&J - you're solid. I'll always come back to you. PB&H you're magical. Ants on a Log? You're amazing but you're no sandwich. But in the cage match of Northern Alberta sandwich superiority, the Grick Middle is Wolverine and you'd need adamantium coated taste buds not to agree. But, like Wolverine, an encounter with this culinary wonder will leave you marked. If you have a beard, you'd best carry some wetnaps or schedule five minutes for a shower because, try as you might, you will not be able to predict where the yolk from their perfectly fried eggs will emerge. Oh, somedays you'll be safe. But it's always lurking, waiting, hiding, ready to mark you so you can bear that proud badge of Edmonton honour, second only to the old inititiation of having been Purple Citied, of having been Gricked. This is the kind of sandwich it is. It's inspired its own verb and, so, joins the ranks of 'fed exed' and 'xeroxed' as names that have become actions. Have you had bacon and egger sandwiches before? Sure you have. But I implore you to know what you're entering into when you taste this because, once you do, there's no going back. It's like tasting Hendrix Gin and then trying to go back to Bombay. You just can't. No, this is the apex of sandwich artistry. This is the old man sitting on the mountain ready to dispense wisdom to your tastebuds. This is that piece of art you always return and that album you can't seem to play enough and keep making your friends listen to as you quote lyric after lyric. It's like an Andy Shauf album where every damn song is a winner. No wasted space. Every ingredient plays its role. No dead weight. This sandwich is a team and there's no 'i' in team but there is in Grick. 'I' as in "I can't believe how good this sandwich is." This sandwich is a reputation maker. When you introduce a friend to this sandwich they'll look at you with that look of respect you've always secretly been trying to get from them as if to say, "Huh... I didn't know you were this cool." The bacon? From Sangudo Meats run by the most charming madman you'll ever meet Jeff Senger. The eggs? Also local. The buns? From the Portuguese bakery. If you can find a finer sandwich is the world I'd be impressed but, like Wolverine, this sandwich is the best there is at what it does, and that's sandwiching. What's the history of this sandwich? From whence does it come? Friend, allow its past to be shrouded in history, don't concern yourself overly with the origin story of where those claws came from or why he says 'Bub' so much? Just enjoy the fastball special that is this sandwich as it vanishes too fast from your hands.

Also - they play...

Today, I poked my head in and saw two customers inside -- the sign outside said the capacity was 3 customers, so I attempted to go inside. I was told "Hi, we're at capacity" ... confused, I thought, are you...? The sign could be changed to say 2 customers, if that were the case ... I closed the door. After waiting for at least 7-8 minutes outside in the blowing snow, I left. This is also not the first occurrence.

Here are 2 stars because the sandwiches I've previously gotten have been good. However, each time I purchase a cookie sandwich, it's hard and inedible, and I've ended up discarding them - even on the same day of purchase.

It's also a bit ridiculous that you still don't have online ordering (and no, most people don't prefer to call in to place an order - but it seems that you don't allow that as an option, either).

I would even be fine with no ordering in advance if the service was quicker. During each visit, I'm standing outside for at least 5 minutes before being let in (this is sometimes true at the Ritchie location as well, but I have often gotten in and out quicker there). This is not counting the time spent standing in line, ordering, and waiting for the sandwich(es) to be made. Plus, my clothes are always somehow soaked with the smell of grease for days after a "short" visit. With the Grick arguably being your most popular/classic menu item, and being one of only 3-4 items on the menu -- I just don't understand how it consistently takes over 5+ minutes to put bacon, eggs, jam, arugula, and cheese on a...

3 stars (for the food) because I can always count on a Chef beef sandwich. I have come here every once in awhile for 4 years now as I live in the neighbourhood

However, I’m a bit concerned about cleanliness of this place and the service is always very apathetic or just unfriendly. Like the employees there just seem to not like their jobs at all or the customers that come to give business.

Ordered a sandwich and they were understandably busy with a large order, however, with 3 employees working behind the counter I was watching them take turns on till to take orders and then proceed to assemble sandwiches without gloves or proper hand washing. The girl who took our order didn’t wash her hands once, she touched the cashier till, touch her sharpie, touched the bare counter, touched multiple sandwiches to wrap them and then started putting together sandwiches herself. I saw her improperly put hand sanitizer on her palms, slap it together a couple times and then keep making sandwiches.

Out of all 3 employees and 10 minutes in there watching their work, none of them washed their hands once.

For some reason the girl who took our order also took the names of the other 2 customers but didn’t take mine and when she brought out our sandwiches looked at me and said “For no name”. Which I think was an attempt at a joke (hopefully?) but honestly probably better for staff just to work on having better customer service and...