Burger of the Year: how The Burger’s Priest makes its delicious, gut-busting Vatican City
Where: The Burger’s Priest, an all-American burger joint that’s evangelical about meat. 1636 Queen St. E., 647-346-0617.
How much: $10.
The meat: Two four-ounce patties made from a custom blend of premium beef, freshly ground in-house every hour and cooked to medium.
The cheese: Each juicy patty is topped with a slice of wonderfully trashy processed cheese.
The bun: Two artery-clogging grilled cheese sandwiches, each made with more processed cheese and a no-fuss white bun.
The fixings: Forget about newfangled toppings. The options are puritanically standard—ketchup, mustard, mayo, lettuce, tomato, pickle and onion. Fried onions are $1 extra.
(Image: Christopher Stevenson)
i freaking love the burger priest and drive across the city to eat it.
boom. the burger priest is the shit.
but i dont eat the menu item pictured because i dont want to end up looking like a two-ton-tammy aka: fat american from ohio
The Priest is the real deal, well worth the 35 minute trek via the TTC for me.
I don’t get it, had it once will never have it again. Yes the meat is good, but I could make a burger at home just as good, And I can add Lettuce – a luxury not available on your over priced burger
A greasy fatty burger with a soggy wonder bread bun is the best? How many free burgers did the owner give Toronto Life to buy him off? At $10 a pop you’d expect the burger to fill you up. Even with a handful of limp fries we all went across the street to Harvey’s to fill up afterwards.
Head to Five Guys for a similar burger at half the price.
you cannot make a burger at home that good, sorry. well worth the trip. a real toronto hot spot worth the hype. pete/dan are MENTAL. why would you think you cant add lettuce, when there is lettuce in the picture? and Dan you must for 400lbs because if a 2 pattie burger and fries doesnt fill you up at priest and you have to hit harveys after you have problems. out of breath after typing that? hit the gym dude
lol five guys? have fun with your pre-smashed, pre-seasoned SYSCO meat and disgusting chunks of potato they call fries. Priest is the shizzz and the girl at the cash register is a cutie.
I never had it, is this a sin?
I can’t understand what the deal is with this place. I tried their burger a couple of times, and both times the patties were severly underseaoned. Otherwise…meh. And to Milkyway…why would you NOT think people can make this burger at home (in fact, mine would be better because it would at least be seasoned)? The way these guys prepare the patty is pretty basic stuff to anyone with an ounce of cooking skill (just need to buy good quality meat). It’s not like these guys throw in magic dust in the meat or anything.
Burger Priest is good, one of the better burgers in the city. However they fail to make their ‘american style’ burgers as good as the style can be made. Shake Shack is 100x better and tastier than Burger’s Priest. And it is sad that Burger’s Priest pays homage to their ‘inspiration’ on the wall, but fail to put up a photo of who they are clearly trying to rip off right down to the ‘option’ and the usage of green leaf lettuce.
Burgers Priest is the shite… I barely eat burgers but something about the meat keeps me coming back – i’ll drive across town for it over any other one in the city, the only one that touches is is the one at queen and beaver…
i always ask for mine at BP with smoke, and i prefer the double double, no need to be a total fatty, and yeah that other starving dude should prolly hit the gym lol
I live in the neighbourhood and think the burgers are fine and enjoyable once in a while (and filling), but if I wasn’t already here not trek-across-the-city-on-a-regular-basis amazing! They benefit from having LCBO next door and an empty parking lot on the other side at KFC. I see a lot of people grab some beers, grab some burgers and drive home. The owner/cook seems a bit up himself though. Definitely worth a try for those above who haven’t to date, there’s a cinema across the road so you can make an evening of it.
you are haters are crazy. thats that. and foghorn – its not convenience. its quality. when they expand and succeed and blow up.. you’ll see. best american rip off canadian potential burger chain EVER.
nothng special
Best burger in the city hands down. I also trek across the city all the time to get some. Double cheeseburger served rare for me. Pete, keep going to 5 Guys, means I won’t have to wait so long in line at The Priest.
This place is decent, but not great. Owner is somewhat moody, but the staff are always friendly and efficient.
As a slight aside, I can’t help thinking it’s a bit odd that Toronto Life decided to cover this restaurant without mentioning that it’s a point-for-point rip-off of ‘in and out burger’, right down to offering things ‘animal style’. If you’re going to praise the student, you need to credit the teacher.
I tried a “Priest” a few months back and really enjoyed it. The burger was very tasty and cooked to perfection. That being said, I don’t know if I would drive across town for it. But to be honest, there is very little that I would drive across town for.
But if I find myself back down near the beaches and have a burger hankering, I’d definitely go back. Too bad the lineups are always so long, but that’s probably more a symptom of their popularity (and the extremely small location).
“…you cannot make a burger at home that good, sorry…
October 26, 2011 at 4:40 am | by the milky way”
Obviously said by somebody who doesn’t cook. Take a blade roast, grind it fresh, put some seasoning in there, and cook it medium rare, and put real cheese on top of it.
I cannot fathom how a burger with processed cheese all over it can be deemed to be great. Gross.
I think people are just so amazed that a burger can be made better than McDonalds.
When you’re really hungry, half cut, late at night. any ol’ krap will do.
If you can’t make a better burger at home, learn to cook.
Clearly the city is getting stuck up when people argue about a burger joint… It’s a hamburger, plain and simple, so get over it people and realize that everyone has a different palate. If we’ve got nothing else to discuss in the city then perhaps we can start talking about the best meatloaf in the city… and, oh yeah, toronto life is becoming about as buzz worthy as the kardashians. it’s fluffed up articles with link bait titles for what appears to be product placements.
The city is full of post-secondary non-thinkers, entitled and pretentious ignoramuses who know as much about burgers as they know about opera. Toronto Life obviously feeds into this herd mentality.
Another place for people who have nothing to do.
For some, its a chance to feed their insecurities; their stomach’s are secondary. Publish it on facebook, and for a second, feel like they are more important than they are. Narcissist meets the glutton. Yay. Yawn.
I really can’t understand the obsession with this place. Their burgers are good (but nothing to write home about) and their fries are pathetic. There’s a number of places I’d rather hit up for a burger than The Priest. Why the obsession with this place? I blame hipsters.
I agree with RT. This place is good. Better than some. Not better than some.
Hipsters are annoying. Especially the food snobs, who’ve read one book about food and declare themselves experts.
I’d be surprised if they’re still around in 10 years. It’s a novelty burger shoppe. They’re not bad but they’re certainly not great. If I want novelty I’ll go to Dangerous Dan’s. Go to a decent diner or burger joint if you want a burger just as good without the Toronto Life worship.
Don’t get all the hype given to burger priest. It is a decent burger, definitely better than 5 guys, but in my opinion not deserving of all the praise. In my opinion the best place to buy a burger is at the Great Burger Kitchen.
If THIS is the best burger in town…by all indications, TO has fallen off the culinary map. It also points to that locals here yield to bogus reviews and lame hipsters. You’d be sending a sheep to slaughter if you tried to pander this amongst other seriously legitimate burger places around the world. Much like the raptors competing in the NBA. It ain’t no LA. Period.
please, please, for the love of god, stay away from this joint (because then i don’t have to wait when i want my fill of one of the top five hamburgers IN THE WORLD [yeah i said it and yeah i’ve had burgers coast to coast and inbetween])
Holychuck Burger. Yonge and St Clair. The truth, the light and the way. Sorry priest.
While it is nice to see a burger joint in Toronto come close to mimicking greatness of In-N-Out Burger, I could do without the Christian proselytizing that you get on their website. I’ll get my burgers from somewhere else; there are other equally good burger joints in the city where I don’t have to get “Jesus is the only way” shoved down my throat. I just want a burger, thanks.
burganada… unfortunately toronto has never really been on the culinary map and quite honestly the priest is a step in the right direction considering most burgers in toronto are grilled to an inedible crisp instead of being griddled and cooked in their own fat like they should be…also i’ve never seen a priest employee take his/her spatula and squeeze down on my burger….any place that doesn’t do that is fine by me….also dangerous dan’s is disgusting and anyone complaining about the lack of authenticity regarding cali style burgrs are the real snobs and ignoramuses….not everyone has had the oppurtunity to travel across the continent
They use people in their burgers. That’s what makes it so good. Mmmm … people