BQM Burger Shoppe

Being from out of town (and country) my friend and I decided just to stroll down a near-​by street to look for a place to grab dinner and a beer. Stumbled upon BQM and stayed for quite a few hours. I ordered the Banquet burger and we shared the fried pickles. Overall, solid quality food.
We had some great service and conversation with the girl working there. Unfortunately, I never caught her name, but she made us feel right at home.

Stopped by here to check out their burgers, grabbed a take out, daily special, ended up being the riverside burger, took it out with the fries and a side of gravy. While waiting the staff was friendly, and kept my water glass refilled. That was pleasant.
The place was busy, which is always a plus. Lots of customers usually means repeat business, which in turn means good food.
The wait was not too long, I took my burger combo and bid adieu, looking forward to having it trade places with the wrapper for my belly.
When I got to my destination to eat, I was more than satisfied with the appearance of the burger, I took out my fries, shoestring, could have been cooked a bit more, not undercooked but still relatively grease soaked, and there was my gravy on the side, as requested. But now here is where the difference between 4 and 3 stars came in. No fork, no napkins. Oh the horror. Lol. Luckily where I was mowing down my meal, I could get a napking, but no fork was available. Now what if I chose to eat my burger in a park? Would I need to wipe my hands on the leaves or grass?
Anyhow, I was treated to a delicious well cooked juicy burger on a fresh bun, which did tantalize my taste buds, the gravy was alright, although I didn’t have a fork, I managed to dip all my fries, as many as I wanted to eat that was, I didn’t finish them as they could have been better, but definitely not the worst.
I will have to revisit this fine establishment one day. And hopefully if I take out again, I’ll get some napkins and utensils without having to request them.

I live under 100 paces from BQM’s front door, and I’ve had a lot of the regular stuff on their menu… always to go. Cheeseburger, poutine, kale salad and chicken wings.
Burgers are their specialty, but for me I when I come here I’m all about their ‘tine and wings. Both strong late night junk food choices. Their kale salad can’t be good for you, it tastes like hamburger grease, but it’s delicious. If you want to pretend you’re being healthy and indulge in some secret meat, this is the perfect salad for you.

a solid three stars
decent, inexpensive beers
swift, friendly service
sriracha for fries
(and sweet potato ones, too!)
burger was alright
nothing special here
just a good place to drop in
and yay, brioche buns!

Had awful service here. Super confusing. So confusing in fact that they cut us off from drinking because they thought we were drunk. We weren’t drunk we just were so confused why they were asking us the same questions more than once. So we can’t order a beer because he assumes we are wasted. Food was mediocre and the service was trash.

I guess I’m partly guilty of reviewing only paces where I had a good experiences as I like to share places I’d eat at with friends, but this one warrants special mention. I had just secured the lease on my new apartment in the area but was already very familiar with the neighborhood’s food emporiums. I had not however, tried the Ossington version of BQM (for those curious, it stands for ‘Butcher Quality Meat’).
Firstly, the girl at the counter greeted me with a big smile and a warm hello, which for anyone familiar with out great city and it’s declining service levels, knows is not a given. I asked what beers they had on tap and was given a quick and efficient run down. When my friends arrived to join me, we moved to an inside table, then decided that since it was such a nice day outside we’d move outside. Upon being seated at our patio table, we discovered that we were down wind from a smoking table and given my friends are non smokers, and this was the only table available, asked if it would be too much to be moved back indoors. I will again reference servers protocol and say that at this point many servers would have grown tired of us and become exasperated, but not this girl (the same as who greeted me). She graciously accommodated our request, moved us back inside, helped us with the menu and specials, and our food was in front of us quickly. Overall very positive experience, and I’d go back any day. Worth the trip!

This has become my drinks place while I wait for a table at Pizza Librretto. This is a small place not a lot of tables can seat may be 30 people max. What I loved about this place was the single shot ceasers which are only $ 4!!! Four dolla caesers, unheard of to me! They were a good size and mixed well too. From now on I will come here after putting my name of the waiting list for the pizza!

Nice burgers, nice spot, average experience.
These guys have a good menu but I was a little underwhelmed by the actual food. I got the Hawaiian burger with bacon and pineapple, and it was good but nothing to write home about. The bacon was the tastiest part, the pineapple didn’t really shine for me, and the burger patty itself was pretty standard. I also shared an order of mac and cheese balls with my lunchmate, and those were pretty fun and tasty. Probably the most memorable part of the meal. Pretty decent meal for the price and our server was great. I’d come back, but nothing left a lasting impression.

We decided to give this place a shot because my friend had heard positive things about this place.
I ordered the Hawaiian burger with onion rings and shared a poutine with my boyfriend. My burger was nothing special. I didn’t even really taste the pineapple on my burger and even forgot I was eating a themed burger. My burger kept falling apart making it tricky to eat. My bowl of onions came with 5 – 6 rings… for $ 5 that was not acceptable. The poutine was good. However, they need to work on their fries to cheese ratio and again for $ 6, they could have added a few more fries.
We paid $ 40 for our meal (the 2 burgers, 2 sides, and a pop) which could have been spent on a proper meal, instead of just burger and fries. The food was good, but this is a place I will not be returning to.

Why such a low Unilocal score?
The cheeseburger here was WELL above average. I ordered it ‘chuck’ style which is less fatty than the ‘brisket’ style… and still found it extremely flavourful. But messy for sure!
Fries were meh.
Interior was not what I expected for a burger joint… it’s actually very cute!

Add this to my list of decent burger joints in the city. I think it’s safe to say that I might have a problem/​addiction and that addiction is burgers. I love them ALL, and I have a tough time saying no to any of them, and the other night at BQM on Ossington was no different.
A pretty good burger «The Riverside» made with Brisket — more marbled and a touch more moist (you have your choice in beef here on any of their burgers which I like), panko crusted onion ring, BBQ sauce, bacon and Mozzarella, Cooked to a medium rare. However given it’s small size, it loses marks on price: value ratio ($ 12) ⁴⁄₅
This spot was a very drafty location, they’ve put a curtain up in front of the door, but I had my back to the door and was pretty much frozen my entire stay here. Service WAS friendly and attentive, our server was very sweet. ³⁄₅
My dining companion ordered the Mac & Cheese. Really nothing special, needed more salt, more cheese, less milk… basically a revamp. I’ve made better out of a box at home. Might have even done better had it been baked. Mac’n Cheese should be creamy… the sauce bland and kinda watery. ²⁄₅
I’d return here in a snap for a burger and a beer, but am going to leave this place alone for the winter months, unless I can guarantee myself a seat under a heater.
Eat Crest Out!

My last stop at BQM came on the heels of a long stay in the US. When you pay $ 14 for a burger in the US, you’re either getting ripped off or you’re eating a pretty exceptional gourmet burger on a plate brimming with sides. At BQM $ 14 buys you a burger. No sides, not cooked the way you want it, and not quite gourmet. Does it qualify as a rip-​off? Considering prices in Canada are far from par with our neighbours to the South and BQM’s beef is family-​farmed on Ontario ranches without added antibiotics or growth hormones… then no, it’s not a complete rip-​off. It’s tasty beef, yes, and the new brioche buns are a big improvement over their old ones, but BQM is a place I eat at when I’m hungover and don’t feel like going far to get my burger fix. Is it a place I’d ever recommend to fellow burger aficionados? Heck no.

(Actual rating: 2.5÷5)
I made a quick stop here upon recommendation from a friend. It’s situated in an old garage right by Dundas and Ossington.
They have about 10 burger options, but what’s unique about BQM is that you can choose which cut of beef you want for your burger — chuck (least expensive), brisket, and sirloin (most expensive).
I was trying to save money, so I opted for the chuck. If you plan on getting a more expensive option, feel free to disregard the rest of this review.
The presentation was nice (I wish I had a picture), but the burger itself was a little tough. There was nothing particularly special about it that would bring me back. The rest of the condiments were good, but when the burger itself is lacking, it’s a difficult shortcoming to make up.

This is one of many joints in town that is almost entirely burger focused. Too bad that their burgers are not that great and their buns are atrocious. On top of that, you’re paying 10 bucks or more for a mediocre burger that you could definitely have made better yourself at home.
I had the burger with blue cheese, red onion and bacon. The server indicated that they would not cook it less than medium. That’s too bad.
My burger arrived on a bun colder than Chuck Heston’s hands. There is no excuse for serving a burger on a cold, dull bun.

D’excellents petits hamburgers avec votre choix de viande: boeuf de qualité, boeuf angus ou bison. Mais là où ils excellent, c’est dans le choix des sauces et des accompagnements. Un peu cher pour la quantité, mais pourquoi pas …

Best burgers I’ve had in Toronto. We’ve had good burgers other places but BQM (specifically Osssington) is consistently good and theres something about their salty mayo aioli flavors that taste amazing with their fries, sweet potato fries and burgers. Whenever we think burgers we rather just pass on most and wait til we’re able to get to BQM.
We’ve had the Hawaiian Burger, the Ossington, Riverside and more all sirloin. We are huge bleu cheese fans so I’m not sure why we haven’t gotten around to trying that one. Their burger is probably the reason we stopped being veg and healthy in general, before this the only burger we really ate was the BBQ Burger from Fresh which is still AWESOME and huge (and not particularly healthy, inexpensive or anything so at this point I’d choose bqm over it)

Kinda funny that I’m always here after a movie.
This location, very much like the one on Queen, does not much have seating but we arrived pretty late and that wasn’t an issue. And just like the other location, service was quick and pleasant.
This time I had the pulled pork burger with a side of salad. First time with pulled pork in a bun and I’m glad I tried it. Tasted pretty awesome. Their salad was fresh but I guess that is expected.
Only complaint is that if you are sitting against the wall, you really have to sit up straight just because the bench is very narrow so you won’t be able to slouch even a little…
It was a little pricey for just burgers and salad but at least I enjoyed it. =\
Cheers.

On a busy Ossington Street strip, it was very difficult to find a restaurant that was even willing to let us wait for a table around 8:30pm… luckily, we walked into BQM at the right time and were fortunate enough to be seated after 5 — 10 minautes. The narrow restaurant had a mini communal table, that seated about 8, and a few more 2 and 4 tops all squished together. The décor looked like a wooden cabin inside, with dim lighting and lots of ladies working hard to make everyone’s meal a good one.
There is a good selection of beers and as much as I wanted my usual blanche de chambly, but decided to go for the Kawartha Raspberry wheat ale. The beer was great, with a great fruity flavour.
What’s great about the menu is the option to select your cut of meat — chuck, brisket, or sirloin… but you have to pay the price for it. Not a super big burger eater, my dear friend agreed to split with me — the Ossington which contained the usual fixings with a portebello mushroom, with cheese and a full portebello sandwiched in between. For the leanest cut of meat, it cost $ 13… yes, it was my choice to go for the lean cut, and yes the meat is done in house, but one burger for that price… I thought was a little bit too high. No fries either, it made me feel a little ripped off. Aside from the custom option, I didn’t think anything stood out. It tasted… regular?
We opted to get the chorizo and carmelized onion poutine to share, but they were all out of chorizo!!! The classic was our second option, and I have to say that a very generous portion of gravy was given, making me happy.
Can’t say I’d come back again when I’ve been looking for ONE good burger, and I can”t say this was it.

Did you ever watch The Price is Right? Do you remember those horns they used to play when someone lost a game?
That’s what they should play when you take a bite into the burger I had at BQM. I had the Stem (fried egg and bacon) with sirloin. I asked for it medium rare… it came medium. Which, at this place, apparently means burnt on the outside. Even the bacon was burnt. Blech. It sucks to pay $ 13 for a burnt burger. The fries were pretty good, but on the other hand, the soda was flat. At least the people that worked there were nice, and that patio looks like an awfully nice place to be in the summer. Maybe I just went on an off day, so I’ll try it again, but based on this visit I’m in no big hurry.

I ordered the Riverside burger (bacon, mozzarella, BQM BBQ sauce, onion ring and garlic aioli) and a Diet Coke.
At $ 9 a burger (fries and/​or salad are extra), it’s not cheap … but it was delicious!
The most well-​done you can get it is medium but it was barely pink. It was very juicy and tasty. The BBQ sauce was a bit tangy and blended well with the garlicy aioli.
I’ll definitely be back for another burger!

BQM thinks they’re a lot better than they are.
I had the «Shoppe» burger — Carmelized onions, horseradish, tom., grns., & aioli for $ 10
I had a beer, too.
So I got one burger and one beer and the bill was like $ 20. And no fries.
Was this the best burger I’ve had? No way. The worst? Nope. It was OK. Like 7 dollars OK. All I could do was stare out the window to Libretto across the street and think about the waaaaaaaaaaaaaay better pizza I could have got for less.
Also, the inside of this place is dark and dingy.