A few weeks ago, I took a trip to Vera’s Burger Shack in Gastown with Mandu. Other restaurants in that area had line ups, so we decided to go to Vera’s since it seems it would be a fast alternative. Burgers don’t usually take too long to put together. We would soon realize how wrong we really were.
Looking at the menu, they had a really good deal on Fridays for their weekly specials. On Friday, you can choose any of the special without being limited on what day it is. I got the Big Chick and Mandu got The Stinger.
We were given our sides first. Mandu got the regular fries and I upgraded for Onion Rings. We decided to share since there were so many onion rings and fries. The fries were pretty average, I spent a lot of time searching for the crunchy ones. The onion rings were pretty good, but still not as good as A&W.
We spent a while eating these 2 baskets of sides and wondered where were our burgers.
We looked around and saw a group of others that were here before us and they were still missing a few burgers from their table. There were 2 more people on the other side of the restaurant waiting as well. Some of them kept going back to the counter to inquire about the status of their burger.
Mandu and I kept looking at our phones too since we are only permitted 1 hour for lunch.
40 long minutes later Mandu’s Stinger Burger arrives … then another 5 minutes till I got my burger. Seeing that we ate all the onion rings and fries, we really had no stomach to eat anymore. (Those sides are super filling!). You really can’t blame us since the burgers did take that long.
We were quite full but we decided to take the burgers to go. Another customer did the same thing. Since we both had dinner plans, we both never finished the burger. It really didn’t fit into our eating schedule. We didn’t want to spoil our dinner appetite. I gave my burger away and I think Mandu still has hers sitting in her fridge. Mandu told me to complain to the Manager about the slow service. I wanted to but I needed to go back to the office since lunch time was up.
I do what I usually do and complain via Twitter.
The person in charge of their Twitter account messaged me immediately after hearing the strings of complaints between other twitterers and I about the failed lunch. Later in the day, I also got an email from the owner about the situation, I replied back telling my experience and he told us to return for a complementary meal.
I have to say their social media presence and timing were pretty good! I wasn’t too upset about the experience but rather disappointed. I felt bad for Mandu because I just kept raving about how amazing the burgers were…I think it left a worse impression on her. I feel really bad when I take others to restaurants that are sub par since they assume I will take them to something amazing.
A week later we returned and the meal was compensated. It was a good thing since neither of us ate the previous burgers. I had a craving for something spicy, so we both got The Stinger Burger with Onion Rings.
As usual, the onion rings came with a lot in the basket! Same quality as before. I don’t know how Mandu did it, but she devoured her onion rings. I think she really has an obsession for them.
The Singer Burger has a beef patty, fried jalapenos, lettuce, sauce and cheddar. This turned out to be quite large! At times it would be hard enough to get my mouth around it. The burger was quite messy to eat, but it had the extra spicy kick from the jalapenos. Mandu didn’t like the burger and felt a bit disgusted by it.
I thought the burger was just ok and I prefer the Commercial location a bit better. I don’t like how the sides and burger come at different times. At the Commercial location, it comes at the same time.
Words of Wisdom:
- Huge sides, save room in your belly and don’t eat all of it
- Large portions
- Closest Skytrain: Stadium or Waterfront
We Rate Vera’s Burger: 
Address:
213 Carrall St
Vancouver, BC
Website:
www.verasburgershack.com
Twitter: @verasburgers
1 Comment
I found Vera’s burgers to be highly overrated, after all the hype, they were really quite ordinary, at least when I ate at their Broadway-Granville location. Burger Heaven in New West or Romer’s Burger Bar, Riverside have much better burgers, as does the Flying Beaver Bar and Grill in Richmond.