WVRST — Restaurant in Toronto

Hmm. Had higher expectations for this place. Came here sans-reservation Thursday night with four girlfriends. There was a tiny lineup at the door and they told us twenty minutes, but it ended up being around three or so. Sweet. Walk in to see beautiful string lights imitating the night sky and rows of long picnic benches. Busy, busy - this place is packed. Lack of seating for 5.

Communal seating is not my favourite style. I will try to avoid busy hours or go with a small group if that's the case. I go to eat to speak with my friends, not strangers. Certainly an efficient structure for business and I'd imagine it appeals to hipsters who think it's trendy. But not so fun. A staff member was able to usher some groups around so there was space and we squeezed in. Lot of uncomfortable bumping. Lack of room to hang coats and bags (this would work better on a summer day) and the scarce existing coat hangers were overflowing. Despite this, the place still looked neat. Organized chaos is how I'd describe it. Works, though. Atmosphere was pretty top notch, excluding the squish and inconvenience.

What else I don't like: self service. Good that they bring the food to you. But lining up cafeteria style to give your order? Not my thing. Also the entire process feels a lot longer. The line up was long too, close to ten minutes if not more.

Ah, now the food. I split the $24 Barese wvrst for two (pork, herbs, garlic, cheese?) with a friend. It was average. Meat was slightly a bit too fatty for us, a little greasy. I enjoyed it, but it was getting a bit too fragrant and strong at the end and we couldn't finish it. It's a decent size for two small eaters or one big eater. Food took fifteen minutes to come out. I wish I had picked game on a bun.

We were able to choose one side with it, which I was under the mistaken idea that we could order fries. They meant one side for the meat: pickled vegetables etc - so we got the sauerkraut. Nothing special. The country bread had super hard almost inedible crust and soft middles, but was pretty plain in taste. Tried the dirty fries with the tamarind sauce - it was decent, pretty special taste but tamarind wasn't my thing. Overall, food was generally disappointing. Value was okay, but not for the dish I ordered.

Trendy and pretty insides, but don't think...

Went here on a whim because we were famished.

The ambience is not an introverts paradise for sure, the communal tables and dim lighting make for a frat boys night out and not a couples private dinner out.

There is no direction when you walk in. There are two areas to order from. One that has the food and wine and non alcoholic beverages and the other which is a wall of beer.

Me and my boyfriend are not beer drinkers and are trying to cut down on pricey alcohol so it really alienated us from half the restaurant.

The menu is simple. Pick a sausage, bun, and toppings. There are a dozen options for sausages, yet no sampler platters or ways to test the menu and all the options without buying each individual sausage.

The bread options are limited. Either a bun or curry/bread option. Nothing for people who don't eat bread (like my boyfriend). A lettuce wrap option would be nice.

The toppings are mediocre, not much to choose from and an overkill of extra money for the two special options; pickled veggies and raclette.

We ordered the duck fat fries with raclette, a kangaroo sausage with jalapeños and onions, and a elk sausage with pickled veggies and jalapeños with no bun.

The kangaroo sausage was a bit dry, the jalapeños had barely any flavour and the onions were lukewarm.

The elk sausage was nice and juicy, much to our surprise for the extra $2+ there was no larger portion given of the pickled veggies, just a tiny little cup of it. Same with the jalapeños.

The yogurt based jalapeño and cilantro dip was delectable however, light and fragrant, bringing life to the dull aspects of our meal.

The duck fat fries were nothing special, very dark but the flavour is the same as regular fries, maybe a bit less salty. The raclette was lovely but for a $5 add on you'd think it would entirely cover the fries ordered, not just half of them.

The service was okay, nothing stood out, the flavours were mediocre, nothing too special, the options are limited to those on a budget.

In my final opinion it was a lovely waste of money, but a nice experience. $40 is way too much for two mediocre sausages and...

This place is okay, but it’s really a shadow of its former self… what was once a true unique gem of king west seems to have turned into any generic trendy Toronto restaurant. I used to frequent wvrst pre-covid - the counter service and seat yourself style of dining at long communal tables made it have such a wonderful social atmosphere- many impromptu connects made among groups. In contrast, the new table service setup just takes the charm out of the atmosphere- much more formal and less social.

Additionally, the vegetarian sausages were once the best in Toronto in my opinion, but have since been replaced with imitation meat. There is no draw for vegetarians to dine here, as the vegetarian options can be found in any grocery store for much less $$. I understand a pub using imitation meat, but this is a specialty sausage place where everyone should be able to find something unique and delicious, as it once was…

I can’t bring myself to rate this establishment below 3 stars, because there are genuinely good things about it. The meat options are plentiful, and were enjoyed by the omnivore members of our group. The service is a little slow, but friendly, and the establishment is well maintained. I would not recommend this place to vegetarians, or small groups looking to socialize with others, but I could see how it would be a good experience for a large group looking to eat some good sausages and socialize within themselves.

Just sad it’s not what...