ALLEN'S RESTAURANT ON THE DANFORTH

I am in the process of moving to Toronto. A couple of my friends who live there were telling me about a restaurant called `Allen`s` on the Danforth. They said it has the best brunch and the best burgers. So, on the Saturday morning, hot on the heels of a really fun night involving many beers - we went.
Like many great restaurants, this one is very unassuming. I would pass by it and never know it`s exceptional. We headed directly for the patio, walking passed the narrow-ish wooden, cozy upscale pub type restaurant. The patio is one of the nicest I`ve seen. Big trees, simple wooden tables, plenty of shade for a whitey like me.
First thing first... Bloody ceasar! I have to say, even though the food was delicious at Allen`s the service was really bad. What is it with bad service when you the customer are really nice. I get it if I as the customer was a real jerk but I am nice and I used to be a waitress so I am overly polite and tip well. I tip well if the service is good. And I am not talking I want a cheesy over the top kissing ass kind of service. I find that annoying actually. But don`t be a bitch. So, it took a LONG time to order drinks which feels even longer when you are thirsty and require that hair of the dog real bad. I got my Ceasar and it was very tasty but lacked lustre. Here`s a pic -




Literally no garnish. At all. No lemon. NO CELERY SALT! What. No celery salt. Seriously. But, it was tasty.

The food... I was really torn between lunch and breakfast but finally in a pinch decided on lunch because my friend Matt said that their burger with bacon and blue cheese was the best he`s ever had. So, I did it. I got the burger with bacon and blue cheese. The other clincher for me was that the menu described that they use local beef that are GRASS FED so I had to have one. How many restaurants do you go to that have grass fed burgers. Incidentally, I went to their website and they have no mention of this exceptional aspect of their restaurant on it. I think it`s outdated. In fact, I questioned if it was the same restaurant when I looked at the website because it does not represent well at all.



So, I got the burger and it was everything Matt said and more! So good! Fresh, bacon cooked perfectly, just the right amount of good blue cheese. The bun was mediocre. The bun is important in the burger and it was just ok. The fries were great. YUM! I highly recommend this place for their food because they go out of their way to ensure they have ethically sound products. I just wish they put as much effort into hiring their servers and garnishing their ceasars.