Yesterday my sister and I had lunch at “Downie Street Burgers”:http://www.downiestreetburgers.ca in Stratford, Ontario. They are on the corner of Downie and George Streets across from the Avon Theatre, one of the Shakespeare Festival theatres in town. When we entered it was just noon and we were the only patrons. It is a small restaurant with a few tables outside as well. I was struck by the tin ceiling and chandeliers.
The menu is as you would expect – burgers. However you can get chicken or veggie soya burgers instead of beef if you prefer. In addition to a number of burger options on the menu, you can also build your own burger (starting at $12) from a selection of different toppings; the basics (like lettuce and tomatoes, etc.) are free and others (cheeses, sautéed unions, mushrooms, bacon etc.) are from $1 to $2.50 each.
My sister chose to build her own chicken burger and declined the bun. She added lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, mayonnaise and blue cheese. I chose to build my own prime rib beef burger with mushrooms and Swiss cheese. The bun is the perfect burger bun – soft potato bun. We both chose sweet potato fries ($4) on the side. For drinks my sister had the special beer on tap – Flying Monkey from a local craft brewery ($5) – which was decidedly pink in colour and fruity. It even had its own monogrammed glass. I had a non-alcoholic lemonade ($3).
The food was delicious. The only thing to mar the experience was two groups of teenagers who came in after we received our meals. They were quite noisy (there were 16 of them in a small place) and it was difficult for us to hear each other. They were from a high school which had travelled into town to see one of the plays at the Shakespeare Festival.
Our waitress was very helpful and brought us our bills before being rushed off their feet with payments for the two large groups.
There is on-street parking at meters but we parked a few blocks down Downie Street in a free parking lot.
