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| - Hungry? Just wait until Christmas, because that's probably when you'll finally get what you ordered for (and by then, you won't want it.)
Bare Burger has all of the makings of a potentially great restaurant: industrial-chic deco, a bustling location, trendy menu items, and more game-y fare for the adventurous. On the surface, it appeals to almost any diet and anyone. As my boyfriend lives right around the corner in the condominium next door to the establishment, I really, really wanted to like this place. We counted down the days until it opened, were one of the first customers to dine at the store and grab a menu to-go, and were extremely excited to make it our new go-to place.
And here's where Bare Burger disappoints. It lacks the sense of community, the high quality (or at least competent) customer service, and the effort that would make a good restaurant, and which it appears to offer on the outside. The first time I went, I went with the customizable burger option. The server didn't even know what the prices were when I asked him, and fumbled around having to ask different people several times when I asked for some of the toppings and options available on the customizable menu (oddly enough, none of the servers he spoke to knew the prices or were familiar with it either.) Although my order was a simple one,
he seemed to be making up prices as we went along. My burger came to a whopping $20+. This didn't include sides or anything, but I didn't mind, expecting something that would at least live up to its price. It didn't. My complaint that time around wasn't the burger, though; it was the staff's lack of transparency with their pricing and lack of familiarity with it. By the time I realized my burger would be more than I'd expected, I felt so bad for making the server go through all of the trouble that I decided to just go ahead with the order.
I tried to give Bare Burger another chance today and even went with some friends. We all wanted to like it, but one of my friends was severely unimpressed with her order (the Blue Elk burger,) and so was I. I ordered a salad with lemon poppyseed dressing and panko fried chicken. Skip the salads if you go here: they're pricy, underdressed, and just overall underwhelming. The panko was more of a pankNO: it had no flavour and was extremely hard to chew and even cut into.
However, the icing on the cake was the service. We all wanted to try their fries (I had a decent memory of them the last time I had gone,) and placed an order to share. By the time our mains were all out, the side of fries and onion rings were no where to be seen. After flagging down our server, who never
came by to check on us (despite it not being too busy,) she didn't hesitate to assure us that our side would come. Cue over half an hour later, and it still hadn't arrived. We actually had to ask her politely two more times, and both times she said they were on their way. In the meantime, we watched as groups that had ordered long after us receive their side dishes and meals. The fries and onion rings never arrived- we all finished our meal with a long wait that cumulated in me finally speaking to our server, who told me unapologetically, "So do you still want the fries, or what?" Sorry, but we didn't wait almost an hour, maybe more, and finish off our meals to wait an extra length of time for a simple order of fries and onion rings. We ended up asking her to cancel the order, as we were done with waiting and just so unimpressed and disappointed with the service. She did nothing and said nothing to amend the situation, just shrugged indifferently and walked away. I felt embarrassed to have suggested the place to my friends in the first place, which rarely happens and is never a good sign.
Long story short: Bare Burgers has decent burgers. But maybe place an order of fries a year in advance if you'd like to dine at Bare Burger? Or, better yet, just don't bother. If an establishment can't handle training its servers or serving a table of just five rather undemanding customers, it should really rethink its approach. For fail-proof, delicious burgers that ARE worth the trek and time, try The Works or Burger's Priest or Johnny Burgers instead.
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