The Cheese Factory

I’ve visited The Cheese Factory twice, once a few years ago and once today. Both times I have been extremely satisfied with their cheese! The beer cheese is to die for, seriously!
When I was there a few years ago though, they also had their own restaurant with tons of different poutine options and sit-​down restaurant service. I’m not sure when, but it seems that another restaurant has bought them out and changed that. The retail area is now a small room in the back and you have to order at a takeout-​style counter and then seat yourself in the restaurant area. I was a little disappointed by that, but what I’m really there for is the cheese, which is still delicious! I just wish that the retail area was laid out like it used to be as it seems quite cramped in there now and almost like they have less product than they used to. That being said, I will still return to The Cheese Factory for a special treat!

I went there over a yr ago for the first time and it was good. Had poutine and a burger or sandwich.
I went there about 6 months ago again and they only had poutine but nothing else and not even coffee available to drink so i didn’t stay to eat.
Not sure what was going on.
The cheese deli area was still intact so i bought some curds.

At the moment, this is the best poutine in town by far.

Horrible they used to be so good portions are to laughed at quality is garbage cheese is not fresh what the new owner has done to the place bothers me a lot maybe to much because they still have the restaurant side with the store portion which is owned by the previous owner who has been running it for 14 years who is willing to help out with what to do but they clearly don’t listen maybe they are being cheap who knows but that’s how I feel the prices are the same which is a slap in the face I recommend to by everything you need from previous owner go home and make it yourself only way I’m going to be doing it from now on !

The restaurant portion has changed owners. The retail section is good. But the restaurant now only sells poutine and hamburges. No burek or cevapi or anything serbian.

Lunch for 2 on a Wednesday afternoon. Server seated us promptly and was attentive. We both had poutine… One Montréal smoked meat and one pork tenderloin.
Presentation was diner-​like, portion was big. Importantly, this was the best poutine either of us had ever had. We will definitely return

You know a place has fully entered into your life when you use a product they make to describe a day of the week. For The Cheese Factory, that means «Cheese Curd Friday!». That is the day their bags of fresh, squeaky curds are put on the shelves, ready to be half-​demolished before even making it home to be used in poutine.
I’ve only ever purchased three products there (cheese curds, of course, St. Hubert’s gravy, and beer cheese), and never eaten in their restaurant (although it’s been on my list for a while), but I’ve been here enough times that it safely ranks as one of my top-​visited Edmonton businesses in the last year.
This is one of the local, family owned places that makes the east of Gateway section of Whyte Ave so great. They also have a stall at the Old Strathcona Market on Saturdays, so you can still ensure you are fully stocked with delicious curds even if you can’t manage to make it to their store on Fridays.

We went in for a coffee and dessert after a nice walk in the mill creek ravine.
I was expecting something more like the cheesecake café and I was happy to be mistaken.
Simple décor and rich smells of food met us as we walked in, along with a view of the cheese counter which boasted dozens of rich cheeses. The sounds of Mediterranean music were softly playing in the background but not so loud it would interfere with conversation.
We enjoyed our coffees and looked over the desert menu. I had a cheesecake and my wife had a tiramisu type dish with poached apples. Both were delicious.
As we were leaving we decided to get a nice piece of cheese to bring home and settled on applewood smoked cheddar. As we chatted with the man working the cash register he declared «In my country your fist time you get a gift» and offered us a free package of beer cheese which he said is their most popular type. It was great and really made our night after already having such a wonderful experience.
I would give these guys 6 stars if I could

When you have a love for poutine and want your cheese curds fresh and squeaky, this is the best place we have found to buy them in EDM. Fresh every Friday. Is it wrong that between two of us, we polished off two packages in under two days?
We also tried their Beer Cheese, which luckily does not actually contain any beer, it is just salty for goes well as a snack if your having a few beers. I’m not a beer drinker, but I am a stringy cheese lover! The smoked flavoring is a bit strong. I’m going to give the regular a try next round.
We may give the restaurant a try some day. They are also often at the Old Strathcona Market on Saturdays.

Best poutine in town, and trust me — I’ve tried them all. I’ve tried almost everything on the menu, and so far I am seriously in love with every single item. Cevapi, Burek, Poutine, Soups, Paninis, Shnitzels, I could go on and on! As I understand it, they make every single thing on their menu in-​house, which is just fantastic in this pre-​packaged age.
Amazing homey atmosphere and fun Serbian culture all about.
Favorite restaurant, hands down.

Update 8÷24÷15: Bad news and good news — bad news: the restaurant has changed ownership and the menu has changed — they no longer serve the delicious burek. They do still have cevapi though I’ve never tried it. Good news: they now have regular steamies (steamed hot dogs in steamed buns, a Quebecer favourite — trust me it’s fantastic) as well as à la Michigan (with a tomato-​based meat sauce). I think I also saw grilled cheese on the menu — more casse-​croûte style. They still have the ever friendly Québécois waitresses :)
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Update 12÷15÷14: Just went by again on the weekend and happy to report that their poutines are still loaded with cheese curds and are still my favourite in town :) We tried the «vegetarian» poutine this time, which had onions, green peppers, and mushrooms (though the gravy is probably still chicken-​based). Kind of reminded me of vegetables with gravy. Delicious though diced onions and peppers would probably have worked better than the large slices.
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I could have sworn that I’d already left a review for this place but I can’t find it… so here goes (again).
First of all: they are not open on Sundays. This is important for those of you who wake up and need a poutine to cure the hangover. So try to be hungover on Saturday mornings instead :)
The restaurant is attached to a little cheese counter, where you pay for your meal. There is a large assortment of cheeses, with the most important freshly made cheese curds in 3 different-​sized bags. You can also buy a powder mix of their poutine gravy but I could only see a massive bag — not sure if there were smaller ones. There is also an assortment of cured meats in the cooler, and imported dry/​canned goods like soup mixes from what looks to be Eastern Europe (I was eyeing a satchet of authentic-​looking chicken noodle soup mix…). For those of you from Quebec — they have St-​Hubert sauces and gravies here, both dried and canned! Most excellent.
The restaurant is very spacious — the tables aren’t crammed together at all. When we’d eaten lunch here in the past, they had rotisserie chicken on the menu, but they don’t have that anymore. Instead, there are several types of poutines (3 sizes), some heavier fare like pork medallions with creamy sauce, and some Eastern European items — they make a pretty good burek, a pastry filled with either meat (yum), made-​in-​house cheese (slighty tangy, kind of like ricotta– also yum!), and spinach and cheese (no comment because I didn’t try it). Short wine and beer list, but they do have some Serbian beers which is fun!
The last time I did dine-​in (I’ve done take-​out as well — poutines are created very, very quickly), I had the daily special, a Montréal smoked meat sandwich with a side of poutine (I added hot dogs), and my husband had the chicken poutine. I really, really like their poutine — good thin (but not shoestring thin) crispy fries, light flavourful gravy (my preference over the dark gravy), and a good amount of large, squeaky fresh cheese curds. You can pay extra to add more toppings, but I found I didn’t need to even though I looooove cheese curds. The slices of hot dog were just a steamed or boiled one, but I like that. The sandwich was ok — loaded with meat but it was more pastrami-​style than Montréal smoked meat. My husband’s poutine had thick slices of rotisserie chicken breast — so tasty — why, oh why do they not offer the chicken as a standalone menu item?
The waitress was friendly and the food came quickly. It’s is reasonably priced — the poutines here are a better deal than La Poutine, in my opinion — more food, better tasting. They also accept Visa as a form of payment — always good. It is a little far from where I live but of course that’s all relative. To me — if I want a good poutine — it’s worth the drive!

Came here for the first time after hearing great things from friends and relatives. I had the ground beef poutine, while my friend went with the traditional. I haven’t had poutine this good since I’ve been to Quebec. Great cheese curd, just the right amount of gravy, and good fries. I wouldn’t get the ground beef again personally, not because it was bad, it just didn’t add much more to an already great poutine. Got cheesecake for dessert, but was disappointed as the cheesecake was still frozen and hard. This is the only thing keeping the Cheese Factory from getting 5 stars. I’d only take half a star off if I could, since it is just that close to perfect. Service was fast (five minutes between ordering and having food on our plates), and the servers were very friendly.

This review is for the beer cheese in the shop! Its an amazing salty string cheese. I would have given 5 stars if it was a little less expensive (6.50 for about 8 small pieces)

I suppose this is the «best poutine in Edmonton», if your definition of the best just means that they use real cheese curds.
Craving poutine, I went in on a Friday night with Dave around 5:30pm. The restaurant was near empty. We were both famished. The waitress indicated a large would be good for two people to share. We ordered the poutine with chicken and peas ($ 12). It came out fast — almost alarmingly fast — less than 5 minutes. Maybe it’s because I’ve driven by countless times and always wanted to try the poutine here, and on top of that hearing that it’s the best in the city, but I wasn’t bowled over. It was good for sure, but not special. The fries were good, the gravy was good if a bit salty, the cheese curds were squeaky and plenty. However, there were not very many pieces of chicken at all and the ones I did come across tasted gross — one of the things that disgusts me the most when eating out is chicken that tastes old/​potentially frozen/​like it’s been reheated several times. Add to that how quickly it came to us, and you can see it was definitely not fresh. I like the peas for a topping and would have liked a few more on there. We finished the plate and were both still hungry afterwards.
Our waitress was nice and service was on the ball, but it wasn’t busy. We were in and out within half an hour.
The poutine was decent and I would go again to have regular poutine, but I would definitely not get chicken on it again. Best in Edmonton? I’m not too sure about that.

To be quite honest I don’t eat here but am a regular at their retail shop attached to the restaurant. It has some of the best cheese around. I love their fresh cheese curds and like to buy them still warm on Saturday afternoons. They have all kinds of hard cheeses including smoked and maple flavoured. Love it.

We have been eating Poutine here for years and absolutely LOVE it. The owners are so awesome and friendly as are the staff. I’ve had Poutine in Quebec and this place still takes the cake.

I have been to the resto/​shop once, but really I visit the Cheese Factory at the Old Strathcona Farmers market. These folks make some awesome cheese, whenever I am in town I HAVE to stop in and pick up some beer cheese. At $ 6.50 a pack, this salty (and I mean SALTY) stick snack is where it’s at. And if you need a cheese fix mid week, you can pick up these salty dogs in the shop.

We came in famished and left famished. We ordered the cheese platter as an appetizer and the barbecue platter for our main. The cheese was pretty average, but the barbecue was horrendous. It was a huge portion for two people. A whole pork loin, two chicken kebabs, two sausages, and a large patty of meat, all served on top of fries and rice, with a salad and a bread basket on the side. The chicken and the salad were really the only palatable items. The pork was tough, and the rest of the meat was greasy, discolored, and left an off-​putting fishy taste in my mouth. The rice seemed like it was Uncle Ben’s, and the fries were clearly frozen. The bread was also incredibly greasy, and cold. Service was good, but it did not make up for the terrible food.

The Cheese Factory is a restaurant located on 82 ave just west of the Bonnie Doon Shopping centre.
This restaurant offers a peculiar mix of Québécois and Balkan cooking.
I came here originally because I read that they have some top notch poutine, and just had to see for myself.
Well…if a restaurant in Edmonton ever deserved the Billy Ray Cyrus award (one hit wonder) it would be the Cheese Factory. I’ve been here twice so far.
The first time I ordered a large poutine with extra cheese curds. Shortly there after I received a huge plate of poutine. It was loaded with homemade fries, tasty gravy and had piles of that squeaky Feta cheese all over it. I know I’ve written that La Poutine near the Garneau Theatre has the best poutine in town, but I think I was premature when I wrote that review. The Cheese Factory has THE best poutine in Edmonton, bar none.
I was so impressed with the poutine that I thought I’d come here again and try their other wares — what a mistake.
On my next visit I started out with an order of Meze, which is a plate of cheese and meats directly from the deli. The meats were stale and tough and a real effort to eat. The cheeses were a little bit better, except for the beer cheese they are so famous for. The beer cheese has the texture of a yellow nylon rope and has a disgusting saltly taste. You couldn’t pay me to eat that shyt again. I couldn’t finish my plate of «appetizers» and ordered something else.
The next thing was a special Balkan salad called a Sportska. It was $ 7 and the description on the menu was tantalizing. My jaw must have hit the table when the server brought it over. Imagine a small plate the size of an ashtray with a handful of chopped vegtables and a few strands of mozza on top. This wouldn’t even qualify as a snack for a pre-​schooler and yet they have the gaul to call this a «salad».
Finally I ordered a pastry that started off with a «t», I forget the name. Another disappointment. It looked like a flatted out cruller taken from the dumpster at Timmies with lemon juice sprinkled on top. More garbage, all for 6 bucks.
To sum up, the only reason the Cheese Factory gets even a mediocre rating of 3 stars is because of their poutine. Everything else this place offers is either a 1 or 2 star piece of crap.
So unless you have your Acheky Breaky Heart set on having some real good poutine, don’t even bother stepping foot into the Cheese Factory as this place has nothing else going for it.

After hearing alot of good things about their beer cheese I decided to try it for myself.
I’m not a cheese expert. My experience with cheese has primarily been with cheddar, marble and mozzarella (the normal… not fancy). So going in I didn’t have any special expectations.
I was pleasantly surprised with the beer cheese. It’s in the shape of a cheese string and can get it in either mozzarella or a mix of mozza and cheddar. I opted for the mixed. The cheese is very salty but in a good way. The texture is kind of sinewey (is that even a way to describe it?). Anyway I really liked it.
I like the idea that they make all their cheeses. The price that is on the package is the price you pay (no added taxes. it’s already in the price). They also have a small selection of European foods (candy, pop, sauces) and next door they have a restaurant (which I havn’t yet tried… I hope to on my next trip since they boast to have the best poutine)
on a side note: If you go to the Strathcona Farmers market (which is on saturdays) they have a stall there.
I definitely have plans on going back and trying their other cheeses!