Oh Boy Burger Market

Oh Boy Burger is oh no closing down. I’ve been to this burger joint a few times and not going to lie, it’s a solid choice. They started off strong amongst the slowly crowding burger scene in Toronto and kinda died off. I’m not sure if it’s simply the sheer number of new places always popping up or if quality has gone down since the doors first opened.
From the few times I’ve been, they have been pretty consistent. I mean their burgers have never been the best as they would have liked to proclaim or the early reviewers would have suggested. On this occasion I dropped by Oh Boy with Angela for lunch. I ended up ordering the cheese burger combo for just 9.95. I upgraded and got the sweet potato fries and onion rings with an iced tea. I topped it with the traditional toppings with ketchup and mayo. Angela got a Hawaiian burger with an iced tea. She also opted for the traditional toppings with ketchup.
Now the burger is a solid burger. It’s meaty and has a decent flavour to it. I like how it’s not overly done so the moisture is still there. The amount of fries and onion rings were huge. I mean I love the portion sizes at oh boy. I come here knowing I’ll be hitting a food coma when I’m done. The sides weren’t as strong as it has been in the past. The crispiness wasn’t there for the sweet potato fries and the onion rings were a little worse than their usual. So definitely a little disappointing and I can see why there’s a drop from their initial launch. Angela liked her burger and like me, felt it was a solid all around burger. I guess for the both of us it was disappointing to see oh boy go. The place was pretty much a pub which specialized in serving burgers. They had the bar at the back with flat screens but I guess it just didn’t work out in the end.
Overall, I liked oh boy. It’s nothing out of the extraordinary, but sometimes all you want is a familiar taste at pretty reasonable prices. I’m a huge believer of leaving a restaurant full. Love that satisfying feeling and knowing that I got a good bang for my buck. With it closing, I can only hope for another burger joint to take its place. A place that will also provide a similar feel and bang for my buck. Thank you oh boy, I have always left needing to past out sooner than I think.

I spend most of my days in this neighbourhood and have never seen this restaurant — in fact I think it puts on an invisible blanket when I pass by everyday to and fro work — cuz like I said, I’ve NEVER seen or heard of it.
It was a cold night though (my new venturing always seems to happen on cold days) and though I was weary about the fact that there was only a big man sitting in the booth looking outwards and nobody else in the restaurant — I went in for some good ol’ pub food.
I had a milkshake and Chorico Burger with poutine as a side (can you believe that?!!), which came to about $ 15.
When the milkshake came, I thought, well that’s about what it’s worth — it turns out there was not enough of the shake, I found myself rationing it so it will last longer. It was GREAT… it wasn’t orgasmic, but it was pretty close.
Then our waitress brought us our sides — in a bowl by itself — and I thought OMG if this is the size of «sides» I scared about size for meals — the portions were ENORMOUS for a side — it was more of a meal.
The food came, and it filled the whole table — I barely managed to finish my delicious burger (which I sort of forced to eat by the end, cuz I wasn’t leaving none behind) and took my untouched poutine to go.
I believe this is the only time I felt like I was paying too little for the food I was getting — the proportions were like Chinese restaurant proportions — you get $ 2 worth of food for $ 1.
I highly recommend it, particularly on those days when you and your crew are donkey broke, you can certainly visit this place and have enough delicious food for all of you for less.

Eh. It was ok. My burger was a bit salty. I enjoyed the sweet potato fries. It wasn’t very excited. Eating there, I was just thinking about having a burger at Craft. I thought the concept there was cool.

Got there just as the kitchen was closing, but the waitress let us order anyway. My wife had the ¼ lb burger and I had the classic 8 oz w/​3 cheeses. Seriously, I couldn’t tell the difference between the 4 oz and 8 oz. Either my burger lost half its weight in cooking or they gave me the wrong sized patty. It seemed a little bigger than a 4 oz, but not twice the size. There was a couple bits of gruel, it was a little dry and didn’t have much flavor, even w/​the cheese. But the sodas had free refills which was nice since it was still warm and humid out. Seriously, how hard is it to make a good hamburger in this town?

I came back here hoping to see improvements and let’s just say I wasn’t surprised walking into this establishment to see there were no customers. I guess the bottom line is that their burgers are no good… they’re not horrible, but they’re not good either.
I ordered a Spicy Boy Combo and despite the burger being clearly cooked to a nice medium inside, it was very dry and black on the outside. Second, the meat lacked any distinctive beefy flavour and was very bland — it was almost like eating frozen patty. I think it’s simply due to an inefficient kitchen that doesn’t know proper food handling. They also need a better ordering system where burgers and fries are served within 10−15mins. Why should take 30 – 45 mins to be served? The owners need to make changes otherwise they’ll be expecting to close down very soon.

went with a friend a few days ago, definitely a lot more impressive than the first time around when I got takeout (obviously just worked out the kinks).
the back room is hella impressive (check the photo of the bar) and they have a jukebox machine that plays music videos throughout the bar (as a musicvideo junkie this is more than impressive). my roomate told me the owner got him and a bunch of friends drunk one night, I guess this happens a lot because we did free shots with our hot waitress (Monday at 7pm).
lotta beers on tap, this is definitely the kind of place to meet up weekend late night with some hungry friends and chow down/​get hammered ($ 11 pitchers). apparently they’re starting to do live music too.
I got the hogtown (two kindsa bacon), friend got the spicy one (jalapeños n bbq sauce). he liked his better than craft burger (my go to comparison), I didn’t (but not by much). like some of yours, mine was a bit dry, and the craft bun is better. oh boy has more toppings/​options and the fries/​rings are better.
def going to do craft for takeout and this place for sit down eats, it’s dangerous living between these places.

everything that leads up to you embarking upon your eating experience seemed compelling. oh boy — catchy enough name. queen west — hip enough area. even a few honest-​ed style lights alerting me to it being «open» for business lure me inside with the hope of a juicy wheel of beef to call my own. of course, the promise of a special on mill st. beer with my burger for a mere 16 bucks (right, mere…) clinched it for me.
well for a hefty price like that, it fell very short. firstly, there was no mill street left. no one has to go business school or ever work in a restaurant to know that if you dont have it available, DONT ADVERTISE IT. i had to mention it to them to remove the sign, which they did.
the waitresses serving me were very nice, patient and understanding. i settled for a sleemans, which was offered to me at a mere three bucks (here the «mere» is meant for real). I sat and watched silent snippets of a women’s hockey game in the olympics on one of the tvs that besieged you as you ate. (are we really that boring to each other?). now i was in a rush and probably shouldnt have come there in the first place because i had a play to catch. but i asked them to check on my burger — AAA 8 oz burger with havarti, cheddar, swiss, guacamole, tomato, lettuce — and they did and it came out a minute later — DRY AS A BONE.
i imagine that they are required to cook a burger to a certain doneness for legal reasons or some such, but when you have to load it up with mayo and heinz dijon (low quality for sure) just so you can stomach it, there is a problem.
i really cant express how tragic it is for me when i pay through the nose for food and it sucks. they offered me a 15 percent discount card for the next time… i left it there.
im willing to acknowledge that a restaurant, a waitress, a cook can have a bad day, of course, but it is hard to return to a place which f-​bombs it up the first time around on something you really could have done brilliantly much better at home, especially when they have the gumption to charge as much as they do — and if you tell me that the AAA prime ground chuck, etc., is the reason the price is up that high, then i say to you if i am supposed to afford that meat the respect it deserves (that already sounds weird, but okay), then you, as the cook better idolize it and make me faint with nirvana the moment after it hits my palate.

If you are willing to drop some $$$ for an amazing burger, this is the place for you.
Oh Boy has definitely raised the bar in the burger market for Toronto. The selection is great and the ambience is pretty cool. You can’t go wrong with free refills on soft drinks either!
Awesome Juicy burgers and great crispy fries. I must admit that I recently tried the poutine and have to say that I was not all that impressed but aside from that, I am a huge fan of this place.

An enjoyable experience!
I just wanted a burger. And a beer. And McDonalds doesn’t serve both ;)
I immediately liked the décor and ambiance at Oh Burger, and as a party of two we seated ourselves at a little table to the left of the bar. The restaurant was not incredibly busy but busy enough that most tables and a few bar stools were accounted for.
The waitress was very friendly, our order was taken and the drinks arrived quickly. Our food was delivered by a very personable man whom we assumed was the manager.
I had the 8oz bison burger with mushrooms, a side of fries and Sapporo (a damn good Japanese beer!). I have to admit it wasn’t the greatest burger that I’ve ever had, but what I really appreciated was that it was not dripping with grease and the toppings were fresh and delicious. The. Fries. Were. Awesome.
For a quick bite, I’d go back any time.

I reside in Toronto, the splendid burger capital of Canada!
Oh Boy burger, my burger…
You get 3 stars… and a half if there was that option.
Things I like:
— Nice looking venue, open until 4 am for drunken bur-​gorging
— Good sized burger, tasty, juicy
— Guac and lots of it! Freshly made.
— Free refills of soft drinks, cool glass coke mugs (I want one…)
— Breakfast burger? They said it’s coming in 2010…
— Stout and ice cream: D
Meh:
— poutine — not enough curds. gravy not bad.
— skinny fries (groan)
— slow service
I’ll try the spicy burger and the onion rings next time.

The burgers were decent, not amazing. What really turned me off was the horrible service.
My boyfriend and I were seated in a booth across from the bar on a Sunday night. The restaurant was fairly slow. The waitress said she would be right back to take our orders.
Well, she walked by 6 or 7 times over the next 15 minutes making eye contact but otherwise completely ignoring us. The bartender was chatting with another employee and didn’t notice we had not been served.
Finally my boyfriend went up and placed our order at the take-​out counter. The employee there apologized and said she would bring us our orders. The orders came but we had to flag her down again to ask for cutlery and napkins.
The food was nothing special, and being ignored (especially in a young restaurant that only opened 2 – 3 months ago) was not impressive. If they don’t focus more on service for their eat in customers they might soon find they don’t have any.
I don’t recommend this place and will not be returning.

I finally had the good fortune to walk past Oh Boy yesterday and so I decided to grab some lunch. It had such a clean, welcoming atmosphere and everyone who worked there was superb.
I got the hot dog and fries… The fries are real potatoes (rare!) and even the hot dog tasted delish. The prices were reasonable and I was so excited to find out that they are open really late for those post bar cravings. I can’t wait to go back and try the poutine! (I need to pace myself though post Christmas)
Definitely if you are in the area or craving something deliciously cheap, you should saunter on over to Oh boy Burger Market!

The best way to test a place like this is to go during the weekday lunch hour. Which is what I did. There was about 12ppl waiting to order and 7ppl waiting for their food. The grill guy seemed flustered and the guy adding toppings and condiments was loudly calling out people’s names. Overall it took almost 20min to get my food.
I ordered the classic w/​cheese combo w/​fries. I found the burger to be a bit dry and chewy. Definitely not juicy. The fries were soggy — they were definitely not fresh from the fryer. The onion rings were just the way I like — battered not breaded and super crispy.
Overall it was just so-​so. Better than Craft Burger but not much better. And its pricey too! Would I go back? Probably not.

Boy Oh Boy how you leave me wanting. I had high hopes for finally hitting the mother lode for burgers. (sigh) The previous reviews just went all over the place and I wasn’t so sure what to expect but when my brother burger reviewer Chris P. sang the praises of the beef on a bun at Oh Boy I thought that they would be all that and a bag of chips.
I had appointments on Camden Street this morning so on my way out I thought I’d grab a burger from Oh Boy and take it for a dance. Trouble was that this burger couldn’t even two step and basically had two left feet. I arrived at Oh Boy literally on the nose of noon hoping to beat the lunch rush and ordered up an Oh Little Boy Combo with sweet potato fries. Most of the major complaints I’ve read about OB’s is that they seem to overcook the burgers so I figured if I ordered up the baby burgers and being smaller, they’d spend less time on the grill. Makes sense, right? Ummmmm… apparently not. It took almost 25 minutes before my order finally surfaced.
So out the door I dash with my lunch bag in hand only to discover ten minutes later that they eff’ed up my order. Wrong kind of cheese on those little sliders. No sweet potato fries but rather regular french fries which were soggy and cold by the time I got to them. As for those little 2 ounce burgers… well they were pretty much small pieces of carbon on a bun. Did I order blackened burgers? They were dry and crusty and no amount of toppings was going to save these little charred nuggets.
Someone needs to smack those grill boys with a hot spatula because when you eff up Momma’s burger she is gonna be pissed big time. For this shitty bag of baby burgers I forked out $ 13 bucks. I felt like I’d been hosed.
The restaurant itself is really cool. It’s large and unlike Craft that can seat only about 8 people, the Oh Boy seats about 100 people. I love the bar area and I’m hopeful that eating in the restaurant would yield a much more favorable result. I’ve still got my discount coupons from the very first time I wandered in and the grill was out of commission. If anyone is interested in using them, let me know, I’m not so sure I’m ready to go back to Oh Boy just yet.
Afterwards I thought to myself that I should have walked a little further east and gone in to the Leslieville Cheese Store and gotten a grilled cheese for lunch. I would have been a whole lot happier.

I read a wicked review on this place, and decided to give it a try. I enjoyed it a lot!
I love the décor choices made with this place. Its a nice urban feel, with the kitchen front and centre, with nice booths and some corner tables for groups.
The burgers didn’t disappoint. I had the «Hog Town» combo, which included the classic patty along with 2 types of bacon, onion rings, and a drink. I bought a pint of their local ale, which was a perfect compliment. All of it was amazing. I wouldn’t change a thing.
My wife had the Oh Boy classic with 3 cheese combo, and she enjoyed it as well. I had a bite, and can attest to the quality. Everything was wonderful with hers too.
I thought for what we got, the price was very fair. The portions were generous. Both of our stomachs were satisfied.
What needs a bit of improvement is the service. Our server was pleasant but a little clueless. What was hilarious was how proud she was that she had remembered to write down the beers on tap, so she could read it back to us. I think she was new to the place, so I’m willing to give her a second chance.
Would recommend!

With such a disparity in the reviews here, I had to check things out.
Meh. It was okay.
The atmosphere was great, and they had a good selection of beers available. The food though was only so-​so.
Burgers: We had the mini burgers, which were fresh and tasty with real cheddar cheese. The side of garlic mayo was very delicious.
The Poutine: Fries… not as hot as I would have liked, but the gravy was okay. I doubt the curds were really curds, but more likely mozzarella chunks. Which is okay too I guess.
Poutine, 2 mini burgs, 2 Mill Streets = 24 bucks.
I dunno… its a good place to go with friends to sit down and drink and eat, but Craft Burger just has more flavour, and would still be my first choice.

So, after a serious craving for RED MEAT, my boyfriend & i decided to try this new joint. Living on King St W has his benefits, and usually a burger craving would send us to Craft Burger, good ‘ol faithful — but tonight, we strayed. With great regret …
It’s 7pm.
Thursday evening. Even though we’d checked this site for reviews (which were scattered at best) we thought we’d give it a go. Mid week, later in the evening. Give it the benefit of the doubt.
The place was still busy.
But really, just full of a few people sitting-​in to eat. We drove there, to check the place out, and place our take-​out order in person — less chance of error … riiiiiiiiight?!?
The 2 guys behind the counter were talking a lot of sh*it … which we noticed right off when we walked in. They weren’t young, but they were extremely ‘young’ acting, and immature.
We kinda knew what we were in for, but decided to continue in .
The ‘girl behind the cash’ was a mid-​aged-​overly-​made-​up blonde girl, who looked lovely, but didn’t have much rattling around in her head.
We placed our orderr: a little oh boy combo (there version of 2 sliders & 1 side (fries) & drink) and a Hog Town Combo (w/​fries) and a single order of Onion Rings.
So, as we’re waiting, we watch these 2 guys (I’ll call them Griller #1 & Griller #2) huddled behind a very very small work space & exposed grill, that’s publically displayed, so we can watch the exciting grilling action — kinda cool, right?
No, not really.
Because of the heat, it was just a fogged up mess.
But after witnessing what little we did, I highly doubt they’ll want to advertise what goes on behind there!
My boyfriend then notices the box of burgers, on the floor. Just sittin’ there.
We then watch, a guy come to pick up his order, and confirm his request of ‘NO MAYONNAISE’. Griller #1 behind the counter, then looks at the burger in his hand, that he had just squired a load of mayo on. Noticing his mistake (and the guy who had requested it), he throws the burger to one side, and accepts a ‘fresh’ burger from Griller #2. And he re-​makes his burger. This time with no mayo.
Griller #2 must see potential for resale (!), so he starts scraping the mayo off. and throws it back on the grill!!!
AHHHHH!
Griller # 1 & Griller #2 were definite loud mouths — they were swearing, and making fun of how bad their service was — they were joking about drug use *including being under the influence*. just the weirdest crap I’d ever heard spewing out … and completely unprofessional.
We also witnessed them re-​frying food.
fries specifically.
Our food was ‘ready’ -
So. We never got the single order of onion rings. We didn’t notice this until we got home, and inspected our dinner.
That, after we had watched the one Griller get in ‘trouble’ from the other Griller, for serving ‘too many onion rings’ in an order.
Makes one wonder …
So, for $ 32.21 — failed & incomplete order
.75 cents — 20 minutes of parking,
Oh Boy! Did we get ripped off.
This all happened while we were there.
I’m actually not even done my meal, but wanted to write this review while it was so fresh in my mind.
AND/​/​
They Had NO DIET POP.
burger was dry.dry.dry.
ugh.

So after sending my original review to Oh Boy!, Joey the proprietor of Oh Boy! emailed me and asked me to come by and he would buy me a burger and a beer. Of course I brought Kat F. with me so she could ge the low-​down on this place too.
Joey’s a great guy and we learned some interesting things about him and Oh Boy!
1. Before starting the Oh Boy! project Joey had hair (picture 80’s hair band), but has a head now more resembling Mr. Clean
2. Joey claims that he’s «old, like really old», but doesn’t look a day over 30.
3. The Oh Boy! name stems from a diner in Toronto that no longer exists and is going to be a brand that says they’re serious about what they do but still have fun doing it.
4. It took a year to get Oh Boy! up and running due to the building almost falling over and new structural elements needing to be implemented.
5. Joey picked the Queen Street location to be close to the entertainment district without needing to be in the middle of all the hype of the ED.
6. Oh Boy! was started to give people a better experience to enjoy a burger. Joey describes the experience as coming to the restaurant and enjoying premium quality ingredients while hanging out with friends, and grabbing a beer while the game plays in the background.
Upon this return to Oh Boy! I was even more impressed just due to the fact that they have Okanagan Springs on tap. It was also great to see that they’re working through the growing pains and things are coming together for them.
It was nice to see that our server Vharay was genuine in her involment to make sure we had a good experience and had everything we needed.

Juicy Beefy Goodness
I can’t lay claim to Chris «burger baron» P.‘s bona fide burger-​bonanza breadth, but I’ve had a few burgers in my time. This was the best one I can remember.
I was treated well from the minute I walked in the door, which itself took some effort — use the middle door instead of trying and retrying the side ones in front of a crowd (like I did). Had a good laugh and a warm welcome from two staff waiting on the inside before catching up with waiting friends Kat «the app for that» F. and the aforementioned burger baron.
I was greeted by the lovely and charming Vharay who advised on burger selection and beer offerings before provisioning a promptly pulled pint and a business card (as I had suggested that she didn’t really have one). I ordered the Oh Boy Classic with 3 Cheese combo, with a half-​and-​half fries and onion rings (it’s not on the menu, although I think it should be, so don’t count on this). They have Mill Street Tankhouse on tap, and I indulged.
The burger came OEM with lettuce, tomato, guacamole, and a good slice each of cheddar, swiss and havarti. Aftermarket options exist, but the stock version sounded good enough already.
And it was.
8 ounces of AAA ground chuck, grilled to perfection and juicier than a Georgia peach in full season. The guacamole had a creamy texture and flavour that added a high note to the gooey cheesy goodness, yet somehow through all that rich flavour the patty still managed to shine through and remind me why I was there in the first place. I was in heaven for the three minutes that burger lasted in my hands.
The onion rings were fantastic — just a really well-​made, classic ring. Fries were thin-​cut, which Is great for flavour, but they get cold fast (eat them first). They were also perfectly salted.
Interesting fact: The walls in the bathroom are painted with blackboard paint.

My opinion of Oh Boy comes from the vegetarian perspective and so, I can’t actually say that the huge beef burgers I saw on the grill are better or worse than any other non-​chain burger joint. I got the Portobello burger, which is hopefully the healthiest ‘burger’ on the menu. The topping options are all very similar to Hero Burger. But, the sauces at Oh Boy are all free, including Guacamole! I thought I had loaded it up with a variety of sauces and toppings, but when it came out it looked kind of puny due to Shrinkage of the ‘bello. The Chipotle BBQ sauce is not very spicy, but is very tasty. The Lettuce is no cheap ice-​berg from a bag, it’s good quality boston lettuce.
They have a few kinks to work out, but now is the time to go, because this place is going to get packed. On this First Sunday afternoon, there was hardly any room to sit. The front area is full of booths as is the back. In the middle there are a row of stools to sit on.
The back bar area is surrounded by TV’s showing football and I can see this being a huge thing– bar, bar stools, booths and burgers.
I also tasted the poutine. The fries are on the small side, which is nice. But the gravy is very beefy and reminds me of the City Hall truck’s gravy. This could be a good thing, but it’s pretty low on my list of faves in the city. The food is decent, the atmosphere is wicked and late night line ups are certain. Head there now, just don’t get upset that they maybe ran out of half of the stuff on the menu…