Location: 2876 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: http://www.indiealehouse.com/

Indie Alehouse is the type of place that could probably skate by with mediocre food and still do okay.  I mean, it’s right there in the name; their specialty is clearly their selection of interesting house-made beers.

But, if the burger is any indication at least, they’re clearly putting a bit more effort into their food than you might think.  That’s always nice.

(An aside: I don’t know what the hell is going on with their name.  They can’t seem to decide if alehouse is one or two words. On their sign, it’s “Indie Ale House;” on their menu, it’s “Indie Alehouse;” and on their website they alternate between both, though the one-word version seems to be a bit more frequent.  “Alehouse” is also slightly more common around the internet, so that’s what I’m going with.  Setting aside the confusion online, the fact that they themselves can’t seem to decide is just flat-out bizarre.)

Of the handful of burgers on the menu, I went with the Indie Burger: “2 fresh ground ‘Indie blend’ patties, bacon, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, toasted bun.”

It’s a solid burger.  I don’t think it’s anything that you’re going to lose your mind over, but it’s good.  I don’t have any major complaints.

The two well done patties are a bit on the dry side, but they’ve got a generous amount of crust from the griddle and a good texture overall.  They’re not the beefiest-tasting patties I’ve ever had, but they certainly don’t taste bad.

The toppings, too, are all quite good.  Let’s face it, it’s hard to go wrong with bacon and melty cheese.  Plus, the zesty sauce and the pickles add some zip, and the tomato and lettuce add freshness.  It’s a good balance.

But while the sweet, fresh bun is mostly pretty good, it’s way too big for the patties.  The beef-to-bun ratio is slightly off, but more pressingly, the bun is way too wide for the beef.  We’re talking serious bun overhang.  It’s a bad scene.  Prepare to either leave a bunch of bread on your plate, or have several meat-free mouthfuls.

As for the fries, they’re about on the same level as the burger: quite good, but nothing too mind-blowing.