Big Wheel Burger GATEWAY — Restaurant in Saanich

So close to 5 stars, but definitely room for improvement! I’ve ordered Big Wheel’s Beyond Meat burger twice. The components of the burger are delicious, but there’s such a thing as “too much of a good thing.” The first time I ordered from Big Wheel (2 weeks ago) - the burger was delicious, BUT drenched in sauce and oil that made the bun soggy and look as if it was carelessly slapped together. Tonight marked the second time I ordered the same burger, but with dressing on the side this time. When I got home—even with the dressing on the side—the coleslaw topping on the burger was DRENCHED in sauce that not only soaked the bun, but had soaked through the burger wrapper and the paper bag I brought it home in! I scraped the soppy coleslaw off and added my own crispy lettuce at home. The bun had been fried in WAY TOO MUCH oil - I’m talking “Husky-Station-Truck-Stop-Diner-from-the-80s” amount of oil on the bun. The side of sauce was amazeballs and much better when I got to add the desired amount myself without turning the burger into a soup… The parts of the burger are great, but here’s what to fix: 1) Lay-off frying the buns in so much oil! Lightly toast them so that they have a nice crisp to them instead of being a soggy, greasy, sponge that tastes like eating a free continental breakfast at the Motel 6. 2) Seriously reduce the amount of soupy sauce you put in your coleslaw, or omit the sauce all together. 3) Reduce the amount of sauce you drench your burgers in. 4) Keep rocking your already great customer service! Your people are excellent, it’s just time to establish some guidelines in the kitchen so no one is being overly-generous with the...

It's a burger place so let's start there. The burgers are good. They are a smash burger style. The beef options seem to be limited to just burger or cheese burger. They do have a decent amount of toppings to build your own, but that's not something I look for from a restaurant.

Besides your standard beef, there is a really good selection of non beef and non meat options. I think this is the best thing about their menu. You rarely see a burger place put this much care into these items. I have no intention of ever ordering a chicken or non meat burger, but it's awesome that they have them on the menu... It makes it even more shocking they don't do more with flavored burger options.

The rest of the menu is what you expect. Milkshakes (apparently good, though iv never ordered one), hot dogs and fries.

On the fries, they have several variations. Plain, Cajun, garlic parmesan and poutine. I'd skip the Cajun and garlic parm. The Cajun is ok, but tastes a little too much like raw spice mix. The Garlic Parm is just WAY too oily and not that flavorful, it is also way too expensive for what you are getting. The poutine is good, but again way too expensive. If I recall correctly, it's over double the price of the plain fries. Which sadly we also need to talk about. The fries are ok. You do get a good amount of fries, but I would not say it's $6 worth and they aren't good enough to make up the price difference.

It may seem like my rating is too high for the review, but this is a burger place. And the burgers are solid. Everything else is sides in my book, and I continue to eat from here.... Possibly more...

My partner, roommate, and I decided to give Big Wheel Burger another chance after my previous visit where they burnt my burger bun to a crisp and the patty was cold. We used to be frequent flyers because of the gluten free crispy chicken burger but they removed that from the menu sadly.

Before ordering, my partner specifically asked a staff member (let’s call him Worker A) if the cheese on the cheeseburger was real cheese and not processed American cheese. He assured her it was real cheese. She even double-checked, explaining that on her last visit, it had been American cheese or at least tasted like some version of american cheese, and she wanted to be certain as the emulsifiers in processed cheese makes her ill.

When our food arrived, sure enough, it was American cheese ! My partner politely went back to Worker A and pointed it out, saying, “I just wanted to let you know this is American cheese, not real cheese.” Another staff member (Worker B) actually agreed with her, confirming it was processed cheese, and said to worker A "shes right, its american processed cheese," but Worker A doubled down, insisting it was “real cheese.” My partner told worker A, “You shouldn’t tell people it is if it’s not.”

I will say, Kudos to the companies sustainability program. I can appreciate that initiative.

Too bad our last few visits have been poor as we love supporting local businesses but not in places that gas light...