Holy Chuck — Restaurant in Toronto

I'm writing this review with a very heavy heart, because I previously absolutely adored Holy Chuck. My hubby works around the corner from here, on occasion I'll visit him at work, and we'll get lunch here almost every time. Up until today, I had no major complaints. Maybe some inconsistencies in salt levels and the occasional dryness, but nothing to complain about.

Last time we ate here, I got a medium burger that was a bit on the dry side, which I found odd because that would be usual choice. This time around, I got medium rare to hopefully rectify that issue, and admittedly was precautioned it would be rare IN THE center. I was fine with this. Unfortunately, when I got my burger, the meat had almost no sear on the outside (very light, slight brown colour, but absolutely zero crust/carmelization), and was complete pink mush throughout. Completely rare. Hard to even dispute, as I've had medium rare burgers elsewhere that held much better integrity. I don't like to make a big deal, so I decided to try ONE bite anyway. For me, it was too rare.

We brought it to the attention of the employees working behind the counter, and one of them argued back with us that it seemed undercooked because I squished it trying to take a bite. However, before I even PICKED it up or took a bite, it was completely, visibly uncooked from the outside. They took the burger, looked it over a bit, declared boldly it was medium rare, with a few other rude opposing mutterings, and handed it back to us?? We were both fairly stunned, their attitude was uncalled for; alas, we aren't confrontational people, so we set it aside on our table and reordered the same burger cooked medium. This one was great, and we threw away the other one.

Thinking back on it now, I'm even more surprised that they didn't offer to recook it, or at least comp the burger when we reordered. I only had one bite of it, so it isn't as if it were half eaten. We also ordered another burger (with our initial order) and feta fries, so it isn't like we were trying to cheat the system for "bonus" food. Even if there were some discrepancies in burger doneness due to subjectivity, if a customer feels what they've received is inedible for their palate, SOMETHING should be done. Even if it's a simple, "Sorry, you misunderstood how OUR medium rare is done." -- sans comp. Very disappointed with the service and I'm not sure when, if ever, we'll be returning. I feel no need to be treated like an idiot (even if my idea of medium rare is apparently "wrong"), or a scam artist, merely because of a burger when I'm a paying, and polite customer. I'll likely take my patronage elsewhere.

NOTE: 5/5 stars for the food in general. All of my prior visits were predominantly lovely AND tasty.

I included a picture. There are caramelized onions on top that make it seem more cooked on top in the photo than it...

My first visit to Holy Chuck was earlier in the month, the 16th. That day I ordered the eponymous Holy Chuck, two in store ground patties, american cheese, bacon and caramelized onions on standard fluffy Weston's white buns. I also ordered onion rings and a fountain pop. So let's talk turkey, er, beef. I ordered my burger medium, yes you can do that here. It came out medium, deliciously seasoned just right, great combination of crunch and chew from the patties, cheese, bacon, onion balance was on point. The selection of the "dream machine" pop dispenser was a little limited, so what, no big deal and the onion rings were serviceable. That experience garnered a 3.5-4. Yesterday I thought I try something else on the menu. I decided on the Smokey Cow. Their description calls for two patties, heavily smoked 3 year old cheddar, smoked bacon, smoked sea salt. Final decision, underwhelmed. The bun was the same, the patties were the same size, again I asked for medium and I got well done, underseasoned patties. There could not have been any smoked salt as I had to season the meat myself because the flavour was so bland. The cheese was a little smokey and the bacon was de rigueur but slightly over cooked, making it super crumbly. There was also zero sugar free/diabetic options on the "dream" pop dispenser, annoying, especially when these machines are at 100% functionality, they offer us, those that do not drink pop on the regular to craft a wonderful variety for ourselves. Whatever, no big deal. To be fair it was a fairly busy Friday lunch, my original visit was on a Sunday afternoon. Since I have only been twice my score was based on the average of two visits. This visit would earn a 2-2.5 star rating. Overall I am content to give Holy Chuck 3 stars and hope that once the busy holiday season has concluded they sort out their minor quality issues and deliver something truly mind blowing, they have all the ingredients there, they just need to be...

This is actually for the location at Union Station at Front Street Market: as of Sept 20th my rating is 1 out of 5; actually if I could have rated it a 0, I would have. On numerous occasions prior to today I ordered their croissant hot dog, paid the full price obviously for this hotdog, but asked only for caramelized onions. There was no problem with this, they gladly took my money and of I went. Today I tried to order the same thing and was told that I couldn't because that is not on their menu and management won't allow them to sell the croissant hotdog in that fashion. I was a bit taken aback since they had no problem taking my money before and it's not like I am asking for a topping that they don't readily have available. Then the cook came over and also stated that absolutely could not make it this way and they even suggested that if I got it that way before then those people surely were fired. Well, that is a bold statement that somebody would be fired because they added onions to a hotdog. So I decided to write an email to the owner thinking that surely the employees are exaggerating when they state that management would absolutely not allow onions on a hotdog. To my surprise, the owner tried to convince me that I was somehow wrong in wanting the onions on the hotdog and that while the employees could have complied, I should understand why I was refused. Well I don't think this is good customer service at all. Their croissant hotdog is expensive especially considering that I was willing to pay the full price for a hotdog that was missing all...