Bun Papa — Restaurant in Alexandria

Having had these burgers and a variety of other items a few times, I feel now I can provide an honest review of the place.

I will start with the pros: The hot dogs are pretty awesome. The bacon cheese dog is the bomb. Add some diced onions on there and you have a great dog. All of the workers I have had interactions with are very welcoming, and very nice.

Now the cons: The burgers, kind of the whole point of the place, are pretty disappointing. The brioche buns, while pretty tasty, have been cut in such a comical way every time I've gotten a burger. Cut in a way so that the bottom bun is nearly the thickness of a piece of paper, and the top is a loaf of bread. The patties are under seasoned and dry. Only one slice of cheese on all of burgers, which definitely doesn't help. If you're going to double patty, I think it should have 2 slices of cheese. The worst part? The secret sauce. It's just worse Big Mac sauce. It's very sweet. Like disturbingly sweet. Totally ruins the burger.

The seasoned waffle fries are a great idea, but I have only had them in a limp, sad condition. Horribly under cooked every time. Chick fil A waffle fries, while not even close to my favorite, absolutely wipe the floor compared to these. I've also had the poutine version, which overall was just sort of a mess. The ground beef was a pointless under seasoned filler, too few cheese curds, and too little gravy. Basically half of real poutine ingredients weren't properly represented. The crispy onions, while not traditional, are a very nice touch, I must admit.

I really, really wanted to like this place, because I very much prefer to support small or local business. This place just misses the mark (I have the same opinion of the diner it is located inside of). Like many of the other sort of random "fancy" burger popups, you pay just as much as Five Guys (or more in some cases), for an undoubtedly inferior product. Sigh I guess I have to stick with Five Guys when I want...

I visited Bun Papa recently and had a mixed experience. First of all, finding this place was VERY confusing because it is inside of Beeliners. The atmosphere felt a little cold and awkward, which made it seem a bit fake. I noticed that one of the owners was trying to cover up for one of the extremely rude managers, which didn't sit well with me.

To make matters worse, when I asked for a regular coke, I was given a Diet Coke instead. When I mentioned this to one of the managers, he gave me a really rude look, as if he didn't want to be bothered. It was quite off-putting. His energy was even really nasty to one of the workers who managed to take care of me, and who was EXTREMELY nice.

The food was okay, but I didn't enjoy the bread butter pickles on my burger. The flavor was different and not to my liking.

However, I must give credit where it's due. Danny (Daniel) was a standout employee who finally made me feel welcomed. He went above and beyond to provide excellent service, and I truly appreciate his efforts.

On a positive note, the diner itself is very pretty. The decor is appealing, especially the cool ceiling design. But overall, my experience at Bun Papa was...

Was really wanting to like this place, as I live really close. Ordered Door Dash for pick up. Pictures definitely show a grilled brioche bun on website, but mine was not. Ordered an extra patty on my burger, but it was missing. I only found out when I already arrived home. Pick up time was marked at 8:09pm. I still had to wait 7 minutes…even though I got there at 8:11pm. Staff seemed confused when I walked in saying I was here to pick up my order. Multiple staff could also be seen packing food, and stuffing their faces in the kitchen, which was in full view during my extra wait. Called to try to notify them of my shortage, but the phone number on file for the King street location was not answering at 8:30pm. Poutine was already cold by the time I got to my car to try a waffle fry before the trip home. I’d chalk all this up to terribly bad management. I don’t mind paying extra for quality prep, service, or ingredients…but this place is way over priced due to what they lack in general prep, operations, and...