Grillies (Yonge & Sheppard) — Restaurant in Toronto

I have walked past Grillies a bunch of times and seen it fairly busy. Review says its good, so I decided to check it out. Got there at just after 9PM on a Tuesday night.

When I arrived it looked like a customer was upset with the service and was not happy with the service and were complaining to the manager about an employee.

There were only two people ordering in front of me, but somehow it still took ten minutes to place an order. In fairness, they were both slow, but the ordering system did the staff no favours. My order was placed at 9:14PM and I got my food 30 minutes later. They have a viewable prep counter that makes sense in an old school burger joint where they make your burgers to order in front of you. However their system just has them enter everything at the start and then somebody preps the buns or tortillas while you wait for stuff to be cooked. No idea why it's set up this way, but it's really inefficient.

The total for the three items was a staggering $27.20. Which at first I was like this is going to be a lot of food. But that turned out to not be the case and it feels like a ripoff. I placed an order for a double cheeseburger(was incorrectly entered), a large poutine and a large onions rings. This was an order for two people to share but the portions ended up being laughable and there is no visual difference from a regular size based on what I saw.

As somebody who worked in the industry, including some high pressure fine dining as well as fast turnaround joints similar to this, the place is a joke in terms of speed and efficiency. None of the staff sticks to their station and often they all look like they are running around like headless chickens. It was hard to tell who was responsible for what outside of the guy working the grill and the manager in a red shirt.

There were multiple food handling violations and cross contaminations of food and surfaces. The sink was a mess and containers were just piled up in it. I suspect they don't have anyone dedicated to that and it's likely done by one of the food handlers. The staff had almost no communication between each other and there were three instances where somebody did something and then somebody else tried to do what they did or find what they moved. It felt like somebody opened a restaurant, hired their friends/family and none of them had any experience in the industry and hate being there.

They had no hot gravy and had to heat some up in the microwave. Which they didn't heat enough as I had a takeout order and it was cold by the time I got home(only a few minutes away). Additionally, they filled what looked like a standard regular fries cardboard box, then put those fries in a plastic "large" poutine container. 1/10

The onion rings were of the premade frozen variety which I don't mind, but they were overcooked. They were also placed in a "large" cardboard container. I looked around to see if I could see a regular or small sized container, maybe it was just a sleeve like you get with a McDonalds small fries because I didn't see anything. 4/10

The burger's bun was a cheap Dempsters bun(they had bags of them by the front cash where the toaster is) that was an absolute shame and soggy by the time I got home(a few minutes away). The patties were decent, smash like style and had a good maillard crust to them. However they barely used any mayo, mustard, onions or pickles, so it just tasted like lightly seasoned meat. Credit to the guy working the grill. 6/10

It also looked like there were employees who finished their shift still there. They were chatting up the staff for a little bit even though they were in the weeds and falling behind on orders. It was unprofessional, the manager didn't seem to care and slowed things down even further.

I should have gone to 5 Guys a block south and gotten a similar bill for more food, superior quality with fast service. Or even McDonalds two blocks south because even on their worst day it's a better option...

So this place is obviously very new and when I walked by, I saw they had some promotion going on so I decided to try their cheeseburger so I can really speak about their burger and service.

Selection: The restaurant was quite interesting. One of the first thing I noticed was that they have a really diverse menu. From burgers to salads to tacos and burritos to breakfast items. And under each item, they have a whole variety of items to choose from. I’m somewhat of a skeptic that everything will be 5 stars but will give them the benefit of the doubt.

Service: so it’s quite obvious that they are still figuring things out which is to be expected. They had machine issues and delivery problems while I was there. My one burger took 20 minutes to make. They had 4 staff and about 6 customers waiting at a time. But I’m sure with time, things will run smoother and faster.

Price: I got the $5 cheese burger deal which wasn’t bad considering I got to pick my toppings. Quite happy with the price I paid for what I got.

Quality and taste: the burger wasn’t bad. It was a smash burger with some nice char. I got their special sauce which was a bit sweet and sour with a base of mayo I think. The size of the burger was descent but I think the patty was too thin for the size. Like five guys, I see why they put two patties for a better meat to bun ratio.

Overall I’m glad I tried it. I believe it’s open 24 hours so I think that’s a bonus. I would like to try their fries and onion rings someday because that can also say a lot about the restaurant in...

Who doesn't like a good burger?! There are quite a few burger places around the Yonge and Sheppard area, but I really like going to Grillies. First off, they're open 24 hours, so they can take care of your hunger no matter what time of day. Beyond that, the food is pretty darned good, the variety is more than acceptable, and the prices seem to be a little more competitive than other burger joints in the neighbourhood. The place is small, but very clean - noticeably so. Orders are prepared quickly.

Beyond all of that, though, I prefer going there above the others because of the staff. The staff at this location are always very friendly and talkative with me, which I really appreciate. In this day and age, customer service is EVERYTHING. The last time I was there, the woman working whose name starts with A (yes, I remember your name, but I'm trying to keep it a bit private! ;) ) made some good food suggestions for me, was super-kind, and engaged in friendly conversation (plus, this lady is easy on the eyes, too, which doesn't hurt! ;) ).

That's the type of service that makes me want to return. I've noticed that in many places in the city these days, staff at take-out places and coffee shops aren't anywhere near as friendly as they used to be even just a few years ago. It's off-putting to me when I say, 'thank you' and/or 'have a good day/ night' etc etc, only to get no response at all. Grillies staff are not like that, which is the main reason I keep going there.

Thanks guys! Keep up the...