King's Drive-In — Restaurant in Toronto

This place has so much potential. Great prices, homemade food and nice signage, but good lord are they shooting themselves in the foot with how they handle food. Tonight I ordered a foot long hot dog, a burger, and chicken fingers. I asked the cashier, who has the job of handling all the hot dogs if they were all beef. She said she did not know, but her supervisor replied that they were.

I ordered a foot long with cheese and the menu lists it as a nice slice of cheddar. She opens this steaming vat and puts on this orange cheese sauce. So I asked if it was real cheese or cheez whiz. She said she did not know. It tastes like kraft singles so I assume that is what it is.

The worst crime however is how they time food. From the time I ordered to the time my order was ready was 20 minutes. Now that would be fine, if everything came out hot, and together like it used to at Groucho's when I was a kid.

But first my dog was ready. And was placed on the prep table next to the cold burger toppings. Also this is spot is kind of cold given the large glass front of the spot.Then about 12 minutes go by, and my burger is ready. Then another 8 minutes go by and the fries and chicken are ready.

I had asked the staff if my hot dog would still be warm when everything was done, and was told yes. But sadly, my hot dog was cold by the time everything was ready, and the burger was lukewarm at best.

My cold food however was pretty tasty. This place needs a system where the thing that takes the longest to cook goes on first, then the fastest stuff is last. Not everything at once.

King's also seems confused as to what it is? A tribute to White Castle? Nope, they don't serve sliders. A neighborhood burger bar? Well the mixed nostalgia and neon decor kind of hit at that, but they only have Bud, Blue, Canadian, and Corona and while they are very well priced, they do have signs from craft breweries on the walls, and I think the locals would appreciate some craft beer options.

I would love to see this spot sort out their bugs, and since they opened in November, I thought maybe they would have by the middle...

You know it's terrible when you order 4 different things and all 4 items were a disappointment. That being said, I shall give them a second chance and go back again to see if they've improved their quality and then edit this review and rating accordingly.

So the items I ordered were the Banquet burger (3 of em'), the Halibut fish and chips, a chicken poutine and an onion ring/French fry combo.

First, disappointment no1- the Banquet burger. The burgers were quite sour, possibly from the mustard as cheap mustard sauce (like the ones that come in plastic bottles) is more sour than mustardy (don't even know if that's a word lol). That combined with a slice of pickle and pickled peppers is sure to get the tartness up high. Apart from that, the burger patty seemed too dry and chewy.

Disappointment no2 - The fish and chips, while the fries were just fine, the flesh of battered Halibut was also dry and chewy just like that burger patty. Not sure what they are doing wrong. Perhaps the temperature or cooking time might be screwing things up.

Disappointment no3 - Chicken poutine (pictured). Probably the worst served poutine I've ever had in my life. You don't just skimp out on the gravy by adding 2 tablespoons of it into a big box of fries and cheese curds and then slap a big slice of grilled chicken on the top.

The right way is to make sure there is a thick and even layer of gravy covering all the fries, cheese curds and chopped grilled chicken, yes I said chopped!! They need to chop up that grilled chicken because there's nothing more annoying than having to use a knife to chop up pieces of that chicken, only to then eat my poutine with a fork which I should have been doing in the first place without having to use a damn knife.

Disappointment no4 - French fries/onion ring combo. I just lost it after I opened that box. How the hell can anyone screw up a fries/onion ring combo? Just how?. There were just 2 onion rings in a box full of fries. 2 rings????.. That's it, I'm done, punch me...

For some reason I avoided trying this place but after last night, have to say they make a great banquet burger. Tasty patty but what I really appreciated is that the bun matched the patty. Many spots use smaller buns to create the illusion of a "big burger" but come your last few bites, the bun is gone and condiments fall out. This one held tight to the end and every bite was satisfying.

They use steak cut fries if you order their poutine. It's far better than shoe string fries but would prefer a medium cut. As for the gravy, it's nice and thick - the way I personally like it. Traditional poutine uses a thin gravy but I've always prererred thickness. When it comes to the cheese, they use curds...as it always should be. I loathe places that use shredded mozzarella.

The only reason I didn't give them 5 stars is that my steak poutine arrived with the steak on top rather than chopped. This has been noted in other reviews. It really should be chopped up and fully ready to consume. Not sure why they serve it this way. I had to take the steak out, cut it up then put it back in. Can't imagine what a pain this must be for take out customers expecting to eat on the go.

I rarely use delivery services but in this case I did. For that reason I can't comment on their in-house staff/service. Next time I'll do a...