Licks is the restaurant of my youth. Homeburger combos with extra Guk (the garlicky mayo) that Licks has made famous are firmly entrenched in my earliest moments of consciousness, and it pains me to the core to give it two stars. This rating is not reflective of the Licks of yesteryear, it is however indicative of what it has become.
With Hero Burger and South St. Burger Co. vying to take respective bites out of Toronto's upscale burger market Licks cannot rest on it's laurels, however strong they may be. Founder Denise Meehan describes Licks as having a "A nice gay uplifted atmosphere," and attributes this as setting it apart from competitors I'm not even joking.
I think that Ms. Meehan and Co. should focus less on atmosphere and more on what brought people through the doors in the first place, their burgers. It is safe to say that Licks jumped the proverbial shark when they registered the Homeburger and inked a deal to sell a slew of Licks products to A&P, Dominion, Food Basics, Ultramart, The Barn Markets and Loeb stores. I get they wanted to strengthen their retail niche, but they have undeniably done so by focusing less on their product at the store level.
I find Licks to be a truly mediocre experience at best. Gone are the days when the "coolest" guys in school manned the grill organically belting out tunes while slinging high quality Homeburgers with reckless abandon. These days of yore have been replaced by gimmicky contrived performances and a sub par product that simply tries to pawn itself off as the original Homeburger. Licks has been a victim of it's own inherent success and for this I am truly sorry.