Restaurant Review: Burger Shoppe

This is a review of Burger Shoppe near Queen St. and Broadview Ave. in Toronto. 

After carefully filtering restaurants on Urbanspoon, I decided to pay BQM Burger Shoppe a visit thinking that it would be an inexpensive lunch that would satisfy my craving for a burger. Unfortunately, I was proven wrong. At my first attempt to find the restaurant, I walked right past it because I was expecting to see BQM in the restaurant's name. On my walk back from further down the block, I saw a burger joint with a menu item that said BQM. Assuming I was at the right place, I entered the restaurant.

Only weighing 4 ounce each, the burgers were quite expensive. I was expecting to spend about 10 dollars for lunch, but I ended up exceeding my budget and spending $12.43 for a mediocre burger with small fries and a soft drink.

I found that the menu itself was not descriptive enough. Given the name of the restaurant, I thought BQM burger would be the best choice. Its description was unavailable on the menu that was shown on the screens on the counter, which I think is the same menu as the one available on the website.

When I received my burger and fries, I was first disappointed by the portion size, then again with the taste. After doing some research online, I learned that Burger Shoppe may no longer be associated with BQM, which might explain the removal of BQM burger from the online menu. BQM, on the other hand, has a different website with a menu that does not resemble the one of Burger Shoppe at all. Further investigation showed that the two other BQM locations separated from Burger Shoppe, taking the BQM name with them.

I don't know the story behind what happened between Burger Shoppe and BQM Burger. In my opinion, having same menu items between restaurants that are no longer associated with each other is misleading to say the least. From what I have experienced, the overwhelmingly positive review on Urbanspoon might be partly due to people reviewing the wrong restaurant. The outdated reviews on Yelp are a little more consistent with my experience. I have submitted a request to change the restaurant information on Urbanspoon including the name, which unfortunately is not changeable on Yelp.

Having inconsistent menus online and in restaurant is simply unacceptable to me, and I would not be going out of my way to visit here any time soon.

I am giving Burger Shoppe 2 out of 5 stars. (★★☆☆☆)