What do YOU Relish?

There is a restaurant in downtown Fredericton that I recently went to for the first time the other day.  Well, restaurant isn’t really the correct word – it’s closer to a diner than anything else.

I had noticed the sign on the building a few times before while going past it on the bus.  I never really knew what it was until I saw an ad posted on kijiji that said they were hiring.  So I hopped over to their website and found out that this is a place I could really sink my teeth into.I’m speaking of a little place called Relish.  They specialize in gourmet burgers.  Now you may be asking, “what is a gourmet burger?” Well, imagine a regular hamburger.  Kind of dull isn’t it?  Sure, it may be delicious with its ketchup, mustard, pickle and maybe onions, but it doesn’t really stand out.  How about, instead of those regular toppings, you use brie cheese, back bacon, caramelized onions, and Dijon mustard.  You would then have a burger called “Le Nordique.”  Or how about the “Cabo Diablo” with its tomato jalapeno salsa, guacamole, sour cream, and hot sauce?  Those, my friends, are two of Relish’s gourmet burger fixings.

When I entered through the front door, I was greeted with “Welcome to Relish” by everyone behind the counter.  It was scary and inviting at the same time.  I approached the counter and was asked “What do you relish?”  (cute)  So I ordered my Cabo Diablo on a beef patty (you can also get turkey or veggie in case you love everything about cows except eating them) with a side of NB Fries and a bottle of water.  They took my name (wasn’t sure why at the time) and my money (a hefty 13.17) and I took a seat in one of the comfy chairs in the corner.

I then discovered why they took my name.  When your order is up, someone calls out “We relish, <yourname>”  and then a few others behind the counter repeat your name as if to say “HURRAH!!!” again, a bit disturbing, yet very quaint and unique.  You don’t get this kind of service at Burger King.

The atmosphere while seated was near perfect.  The interior is a little small, but I pretty much blame the building itself for that.  There was music playing and it wasn’t junk like you hear walking by Garage in Regent Mall.  No, this sounded more like a playlist at a high school reunion mixed with mine.  I couldn’t help but start singing along.

Well, I got my food (quite quickly, I might add) and sat down to eat.  The burger looked great and was a wonderful size.  It was like a homemade burger on the barbeque.  With the toppings, it smelled great.  The fried, on the other hand, though golden and appearing hand cut, were fairly stingy.  Especially when, on the receipt, it broke it down as the following:

Burger: $6.90, combo discount: - $0.25, Fries: $3.00, Bottle of Water: $2.00.  For $3 as the price of the fries, I was really expecting more. 

As for the taste – The burger was mouth watering.  Spicy enough to be a great flavour, but not too spicy that it burns the mouth.  Although, I was expecting it to be spicy (with a name like Cabo Diablo, you’d think you’d need the full bottle of water) but it was closer to a mild taco.  Not what I was expecting, but still pretty damn good.

In summation, Atmosphere and service were superb.  Food tasted great, but side portion was small.  Price – a bit high for the portion size, but quality of the burger almost makes up for it.  8/10

Visit Relish’s website at: http://www.relishme.ca/home or follow them on Twitter: http://twitter.com/RelishUs