Restaurant Review: Soda Jerks

SODA JERKS BURGERS & BOTTLES

7231 Winterburn Road ~ sodajerks.net Instagram: @sodajerksnet ~ Twitter: @sodajerksnet Co-Diner: Tim Golem

Soda Jerks is known as a place for truly wild and wacky burgers. If you're looking for something ultra classic... I mean, I guess they could make that for you. But you'd kinda be missing the point. With over 50 toppings to choose from, over 40 bottled sodas, and over 100 milkshake combinations, this is a place to experiment, get a little crazy, and have some fun. Featured on the third season of You Gotta Eat Here!, you'll find them off in Granville (which might be a bit of a hike for most). I rolled in on a Saturday evening and the place was decently busy. The first thing that caught my eye was the floor-to-ceiling wall of bottles in the front entrance. From there you'll find yourself within their red, black and white colour scheme, complete with red vinyl-wrapped booths. The decor seems a bit like a half-hearted attempt at creating a 1950s diner except that the vibe falls a bit short. Our server was friendly enough but also appeared to be juggling a bit too much given the chaotic nature of the restaurant. A "soda jerk" is a person who operates the soda fountain in a drugstore, preparing and serving flavoured soda water or an ice cream soda. At this restaurant, they've taken this concept and have attempted to run with it. The beverage menu is massive. An entire side of the menu is devoted to their seemingly endless drink options, which range from premium glass bottled sodas, milkshakes, and floats. (All of these things can be made with alcohol as well.) Some of the bottled sodas include; bacon soda, Mexican Coca-Cola (yes!), butterscotch beer, pickle juice soda, birch beer, and "swamp juice." The hot names in glass bottles like Dad's, Fentiman's, Jone's Soda, and The Pop Shoppe are all here. I opted for the milkshake route, of which there are 15 different flavours to choose from and you can mix as many flavours together as you like. You can also upgrade your shake with six different mix-ins. I went with a Peanut Butter Strawberry Milkshake ($7.00) in hopes of creating a PB&J in a cup. (Looking back, I should've added bacon!)

The milkshake was great! I loved that it was served in the metal cup that it gets made in and the shake was nice and thick. Both of the flavours of peanut butter and strawberry were there, going strong. It was a PB&J total success! The shake was awesome and maybe even my favourite thing that I had overall. The main event at Soda Jerks are the burgers. Their menu has tons of burgers to choose from but why order one of those when you can make your own? Or "name your craving," as they say. Each customer is provided with a Uniquely Creative Burger Worksheet and a pencil. Your job is to dream up something insane. It's more fun if you let things go off the rails a little bit. Let's break down what I did here: 1. Choose a base: Signature Hand Pressed Fresh Ground Chuck, Single ($14.75) 2. Select a bun: Brioche Bun (other bun options included Eggo waffles or a glazed donut. Believe me, I was tempted.) 3. Sauce it up: Mayo, Root Beer BBQ, Soda Jerks Signature Burger Sauce (ketchup, relish, mustard, with a kick), guacamole, peanut butter. 4. Eat your veggies: Iceberg lettuce, tomato, pickles. 5. Make it cheesy: Cheddar. 6. Make it fun: Potato chips. (Other choices in this section include; Kraft Dinner, Captain Crunch, Froot Loops, gummy worms, Doritos, and mini donuts.) 7. Make it unique: Chocolate Dipped Bacon ($3.00) I had to!!! (In this section you can also add mac n' cheese bites or ice cream. Just straight up ice cream.) 8. Choose your side: Kraft Dinner ($3.50). (My favourite side option, however, is that you can just get a bowl of cereal (with milk) on the side. What a boss move.) You're supposed to name your burger and I called mine the "Erika Eats Everything!," of course.

The food didn't take too long to arrive and I was pleasantly surprised that my burger somehow managed not to appear too large or insane. And actually, everything tasted pretty good together! You'd think that all of those crazy ingredients might be super weird but honestly it kinda worked. My criticisms lie more in the quality of the ingredients, not the overall genius (ha!) behind the burger itself. Soda Jerks boasts that they use 100% pure ground chuck. No fillers. Hand pressed daily. Cooked to a proper 160° F. (Disclaimer: Meat may show some signs of pink.) This was exciting to me because a high-quality burger should be prepared this way! The meat should be pink (or medium-rare) on the inside if they are using a good product. This was GREAT news! However, this is not what I got. My beef patty was completely over-cooked and dry. Needless to say, there was certainly no pink to be seen, only dark brown. This was disappointing. The brioche bun wasn't all that great either. Normally brioche is ultra buttery and soft. This bun was the most manufactured, sad excuse for brioche that I've ever seen. I really liked the root beer BBQ sauce and I could really taste the root beer, which was fun. They forgot to include my guacamole entirely. The veggies were all nice and fresh. And I actually really loved the chocolate dipped bacon! It was the highlight of my entire burger! The rich and slightly bitter dark chocolate fully enrobed the salty bacon, and yes, it sounds weird but it was very enjoyable. The best parts of my whole burger were the fun flavour and texture combos of peanut butter, potato chips and chocolate dipped bacon. My side of Kraft Dinner was the worst. I thought that it would be a funny side to order, but the KD was ice cold. Who wants to eat cold Kraft Dinner? My experience at Soda Jerks was unfortunate. On one hand, I absolutely love the idea of getting to create a really weird and creative burger - the concept is great. I thought that all of the crazy ingredients were awesome and I just wished that the quality and execution was better. Everything felt just a little bit out of control at Soda Jerks and if they could tighten their operation it might be a really fun restaurant.