After a dental cleaning appointment and an oil change on Monday, I decided to treat myself to lunch in the neighbourhood and opted to try Woody’s Burgers, located on Lakeshore and 40th, at the west end of Long Branch (in the South West corner of the amalgamated Toronto). This location used to host a place called Wood Fire Grill for a while, but I guess they couldn’t make a go of it. I’m not sure exactly when Woody’s opened, but I’ve been meaning to try it for some time. They have some competition in the immediate area. Just down the block is Burrito Boyz and just behind them is the Empanada Company. When I went in for a Monday lunch, I was happy to see they had a few customers.
Woody’s website touts them as having the Best Toronto Burgers. I don’t know if that is true, but I can say that I enjoyed a very tasty burger with a side of excellent fries. I enjoyed the smell of the wood grill, and I appreciated being able to get a cold Keiths to enjoy with my meal.
They use a pager system at this place and I have to say that I’m not a fan of these devices. You give your order at the cash and the cashier gives you a pager, and when your meal is ready, the pager makes an annoying racket and you go up to pick your condiments. The guy paging me was 15 feet away. I’d rather give my name and have him say, hey Mister Anchovy, your burger is ready, bud. But really, I’d prefer table service. A burger, fries and a beer at Woody’s is about the same price as you would pay at a pub, but in a pub you get much better service.
The other criticism I had was too many choices. Some people like that, but if I’m going in for a burger, I’m going in for a burger. I don’t need to choose from many different specialty burgers. Not only were there a lot of burger choices (plus they also serve pulled pork sandwiches) but also a lot of condiment choices. When I asked for hot sauce on my burger, the guy pointed to a row of a dozen different hot sauces and told me to choose one and put my own on. I don’t need to choose my hot sauce. I would much much much rather the restaurant choose one that would be their signature hot sauce and when you ask for it, you get it.
Overall, I enjoyed my meal and I think it’s a pretty good neighbourhood burger joint with fair prices for good quality well prepared food. I do think the place could be improved by working on service and by simply reducing the choices, but these are not deal-breakers. I’m sure I’ll be back and next time I’d like to try the pulled pork.
27th Street 
What do you do when you can’t agree which part of meat
to get for lunch? When you are at Royal Meats Barbeque in Etobicoke, try one of
each. Royal Meats is different, a fast-food restaurant which looks like an expensive butcher.
A well-lit case has trays of raw pork, beef and chicken.
Customers order their meat, which is then grilled in the open kitchen.
“People want transparency. Here, you view it all in
front of you. It’s not like the meat is cooked the day before and served
today,” says owner Mario Ostojic, whose Yugoslavian butcher father founded Royal Meat Products in
Mississauga.
We love The Satellite on Lakeshore Road in Clarkson (just before Southdown. No pagers there and your pour your own coffee. Not too many choices but we love the women who run it and when your order is ready; they yell from behind the counter.
A dozen hot sauces? Totally unnecessary!
ah, Mr. A! Like you, I long for a time of fewer choices. Three car brands (GM, Ford, Chrysler) were more than enough, thank you. Hot Sauce? Tabasco or Frank’s. Burger? Big Boy or White Castle. All the choices a man ever needed!
Guess I’m showing my age, huh?