Duke's Refresher + Bar - A Blast From the Past

Date visited: December 6, 2013

Time: 12:00 pm

Party Size: 4

Website: http://dukesrefresher.ca/

Food consumed:
- Sweet Potato Thing: sweet potato fries, French fries and onions, cooked to an addictive crunch with a coconut chili dipping sauce - $9.25 (shared)
- The Best of the Wurst: beer-braised Oktoberfest sausage, bacon-infused sauerkraut, fries and hot mustard - $14.45

Pictures of food consumed: (Click on images to enlarge)

Second Documented Trip

Date visited: February 8, 2014

Time: 12:00 pm

Party Size: 5

Food consumed:
- Infamous Garlic Fries: garlic, fresh parmesans, parsley and semi-dried tomato pesto - $8.25 (shared)
Honey, Who Shrunk My Woody: sliders with really special sauce and bacon focaccia - $8.65 (shared)
- Breakfast Poutine, crispy fries, sausage, bacon, pulled pork gravy, cheese curds, 2 eggs and TJ sauce - $9.25

Pictures of food consumed: (Click on images to enlarge)

Review of Restaurant:

• Why did I come to this restaurant?

This restaurant opened just the day before. Being easy to miss as it is tucked away along Gerrard, although it has a Yonge address. We ended up walking in the connecting condominium's indoor retail store trying to locate the restaurant.

This restaurants is under the Jack Astor's, Alice Fazoolis umbrella corporation, SIR Corp. It boast a selection of over 40 beers on tap.

The blast from the past comes from playing old school Godzilla movies on their many giant flat panel televisions. One of the Japanese ones, in HD. The second visit, it was playing He-Man with Dolph Lundgren. The fact that they play old school Blu-ray movies makes this an awesome place.

• What did I think of the food and service?

We started our meal with the Sweet Potato Thing, which is a huge log with fries and onions. It was so deep-fried that I couldn't taste anything. We had 4 people sharing this and we couldn't even finish this. I would definitely recommend this if you are hungry and want the best value for your buck. Taste-wise, dipping the fries in the coconut chili dipping makes all the difference. It masks the burnt flavour of the fries. As an onion hater, I couldn't taste the onions.

I focused my attention on the sausage when it came and saved the Sweet Potato thing for later. I don't know my sausages enough to rate this but I loved it. I felt really sick from stuffy myself and just napped on my desk. My boss also took a nap from overeating. Such is life.

Being a service oriented company, they do a good job. The waiter kept checking on us to make sure that we were satisfied. The restaurant was also half full, so he had more time on his hand to patrol around like a hall monitor.

On my second visit, I also overstuffed myself. I came here for the La Poutine Week.

"0-30 restaurants per city make a special poutine just for La Poutine Week at $10 or less."

I was disappointed because the poutine was on their everyday menu, thinking that it was a beautifully crafted poutine for the occasion. However, the presentation of the poutine was a pleasant surprised. Seeing a smiley face slowly being devoured is a sad occassion.

The sliders was very delicious. That special sauce made all the difference. Bacon was just an added bonus.

Don't both with the garlic fries unless you are craving for something super salty. You'll shrivel up like a Sun-Maid raisin.

• How did my sensitive stomach feel?
  

On both occassions, I overstuffed myself and couldn't work afterwards. No food poisoning experience, meaning that I plan on revisiting here again. Just remember to quench your thirst from all the salty food.

City of Toronto Inspection Report

(Click on image to enlarge)

Source: http://www.toronto.ca/health/dinesafe/index.htm?show=detail&id=113767

VERDICT: Jer's stomach Seal of Approval. I'll request for some classic movies on my third visit.