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| - We hit up Eaton Centre today for a few bits and pieces, not realising that the new food court- sorry, Urban Eatery, was open for business. Everything down there looks swanky, but a closer look reveals the usual suspects that you'll recognise from the old hell hole this mall called a food court. You've got your Sbarro and Thai Express, along with Subway, McDonalds and New York Fries. That said, there are a couple of shiny, new places and a Big Smoke Burger kiosk is one of them. Hurray!!
We did a walk-by earlier in the afternoon and noticed that Big Smoke had a line (probably about 10 people). This seemed consistent as it was still there when we returned at around 4pm. The menu and pricing are the same as the other locations as far as I can tell, but the staff are the what make this a three star place instead of a four-star (like the Yorkville location). When I ate at the Yorkville location, the staff all seemed to be of a certain ... genre? Sort of hip, cool, older 20-somethings working at a gourmet burger joint. Over at Eaton Centre, you've got your usual food court worker types. They move the line along efficiently (there does seem to be a lot of people squeezed behind there!) but they're a lot younger and it seems like many of them aren't used to working the job. The kid that took my order was unsure of himself and whether or not it was his fault, the person making my burger in turn screwed up my burger. Again, I don't know was this because he managed to not put my order in right (we did go over it twice!) or because the person assembling it was distracted/busy/whatever. Either way, It wasn't a huge deal. I just went back to the counter and asked them to throw on the forgotten stuff, which they did with no questions asked (nice, considering they don't give receipts and I would have no way of proving I paid for the extras!).
My boyfriend's burger was a little over-done, but he likes it that way, apparently. He said it wasn't quite as good as the Yorkville location, but for a food court, it was pretty amazing. I decided to do something wild and not have meat. I got the veggie burger with roasted red peppers, cheddar, caramelized onions, and a few of the more generic burger toppings. I thought the lack of meat would help me avoid getting pregnant with yet another meat baby courtesy of Toronto's many gourmet burger shacks. Sadly no. Congratulations, it's a faux-meat baby! Handily enough (TMI-a-phobes, feel free to skip this next bit), the whole-wheat bun did it's job. The onion rings were as good as any other Big Smoke. Lightly breaded, not too oily, and therefore not too heavy. Didn't get a chance to try the fries (or, saints forbid, the poutine!).
All in all, a solid burger place, ace for a food court, but not quite up to the usual Big Smoke standard as far as staff/service is concerned. I'm going to chalk this up to the place only being open a week and a half (I know, I'm so understanding and generous). I'll go back in a few weeks and see how they're doing. If they grease up the cogs, I see no reason they couldn't be a four-star place. Whatever happens, they'll always be busy because they share a space with Subway and McDonalds type places.
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