Mrs. Mike's: 3.7/5

Fatboy (King) Burger $6.25 - Score: 3.7



Cheese Burger $4.69 - Score: 3.9



Chili Burger $5.58 - Score: not evaluated

BurgerClub’s been waiting for a nice day in this oh-so-wet spring and today it was cooking out with a humidex of 32 under the sun. Mrs. Mike’s is a burger shack so dining is at picnic tables outside. When the burgerers started arriving they were greeted with a securely shuttered shack followed by the first stages of panic from growling stomachs. However, at the crack of 11:30 the shutters went up. The irony is that the hours are posted inside, so you know when it’s open once it’s open. Mrs. Mike’s was well staffed and took our orders quickly. Just like V.J.’s though - there’s no bacon! The shock wasn’t as strong this time as we’d already been desensitized at V.J.’s, but what’s with no bacon at burger shacks?

The procedure at Mrs. Mikes is you order in the front, and pick up and pay at a side window. It gets a little confusing because they don’t use numbers or names, they just shout out the order - and it’s hard to hear - so diners were surprised to find out their burger was ready. If you’re stylish, the side-window-lady might remember what you were wearing and call out “Girl in the brown dress”. For a take-out window burger, Mrs. Mike’s was pretty expensive. It’s a small shack and I guess the grill only has room for one burger so the orders came out sequentially with a good five minutes between each burger. Other diners we’ve been to - like Great Burger and Fry - asked if we were together and made an effort to have all our orders ready at the same time.

I had the King Burger. It’s a double burger with lettuce, tomato and well lubricated with mayonnaise- between the patties. It was a huge, messy burger. The first thing that happened was I just about dropped it in my lap. The normally adequate foil wrap was undersized for the job and I had to catch my burger as it squirted out when I one-handed it. As big as the burger was though, it wasn’t adequate to use as a counter weight on the picnic table to keep it from flipping over when someone stood up. The always eloquent Scott had this to say about the King:

“I was handed a hot mess of meatlettucemayobunpicklemustard. I appreciated the faith the clerk showed in my eating ability by only handing me the allotted ONE NAPKIN. I asked for more napkins and was given a SECOND NAPKIN.  That's OK. I like a challenge.

As I unwrapped the burger, I was immediately concerned for all of the people in the world who would not have any mayonnaise because my burger had ALL OF IT.  It was oozing out of all sides and dragging the shredded iceberg lettuce with it. I reluctantly picked it up and chose what I thought was the head of this creature, and with some trepidation, bit down.  The chain reaction that this caused, was immediate and really, really messy. Nearly half of the shredded lettuce, lubricated by the copious mayo, oozed out the back of my Single King and hung there; draped from my burger down to the wrapper on the table.  I recoiled to wipe my mouth with as little of NAPKIN ONE as possible.

My hand was filled with what appeared to be an albino Rastafarian with an affinity for cream rinse.  In respect for the lady that was now seated at our table, I reduced the lettuce in my burger by pulling it out onto the foil wrapper.  This was helpful in removing most of the mayo as well. This made for an easier time as I progressed.  I used every bit of NAPKIN ONE and SECOND NAPKIN.

Once I had removed the lettuce and mayo mess, I was able to concentrate on the flavour of the burger.  The bun was appropriately sized.  It didn't let me down.  The burger patty was a decent size and there seemed to be a lot of filler lending it to have an odd color and texture.

Aside from the mayo, the other condiments were amount appropriate and complimented the burger well. I like a thinly sliced tomato on my burger, but in this case, I felt they were too thin. Nitpicking a little there. But the tomato didn't even have the seed and gel part. Just the cellular walls.  It was odd.”

April ordered the "high maintenance" burger and commented: “Was tasty even without the cheese I ordered. Wait there it is! I do have cheese.”

Brett, BurgerClub’s resident shake expert said “Milkshake was perfect consistency (sucking didn't blow out a sinus)”. Kari tried the fries and observed: “Fries came out of a bag. Lacked any flavour - not even vinegar and salt helped.”

Girls are clever - they have purse hangers for picnic table situations! Brett didn't bring along his international man bag so he had no need for a purse hanger. Scott had only recently emerged from a yurt and “displayed dominance by arriving with 4 days of beard and wearing my finest grimy sandals. There was some posturing at first, but they eventually accepted me as their new alpha.” The people sitting behind Jo-Ann wanted to play with her zipper and Dani had to leave early to pick up her kinky package.