Hero Certified Burgers – Bloor & Bathurst

Hero Burger poses as this great burger that would be a Hero because it stomps all the bad, institutional fast food burgers out there. However, this burger simply tastes like something McDonald’s would call deluxe for more money.
You can get a medium sized McDonald’s-esque burger in a basic combo for around $ 10. However, if you start wanting luxury items such as cheese, bacon, or onion rings, the price rises to around what you would expect to pay at Burger’s Priest for the same items and not near as good of a burger.
Another minor quibble was the lady working the register was also using a rather dirty cleaning rag to wipe down the counter tops between orders, and also bring out food with the same unwashed hands.
When you decide to eat a fatty greasy meal, you want to feel like it was worth it on taste and price. This is not it.

I went to Hero Certified Burgers on August 26, 2014. Had a bad experience. I ordered a combo burger, fries, drink and hot dog, fries and drink. total came to $ 20.60(around that) My friend said the burger was good. I was very disappointed the hot dog tasted like it was sitting there all day. The french fries as well tasted like they were sitting there all day. On the hot dog I asked for mustard, mayo, onions. I never got the onions on my hot dog. I guess i should of checked. As well didn’t find the staff friendly at all. I will never go to that Hero Certified Burger again.
J. Kertcher
Toronto, ON

Quite likely one of the worst burgers I have ever had. I liken it to 2 girls 1 burger.

I’ve typically liked Hero and am a particular fan of their lower calorie burger combo which takes some of the sting out of falling off the healthy eating wagon. Today I impulsively stopped in for poutine, which I’ve never had there before.
First problem was service. The man at the cash was very pleasant but the dish he told me would be ready in 4 minutes took almost ½ an hour. He says the problem was newbies in the kitchen, but how many newbies does it take to drop some fries and add curds and gravy? There were no other customers!
But maybe there were too many newbies because I had to take it to go and, when I finally could eat, I found fries and curds drowned in a brown gelatinous flood reminiscent of the goo that was served at my high school cafeteria. The curds were decent and hero does a good fry, but you could barely discern this, even after I scraped off layers of the ‘gravy’.
Shame on me for not crossing the street to check out the poutinerie at the opposite corner. Next time. Hero gets three stars for not failing so spectacularly in the past.

Toujours bon, toujours bien, l’endroit parfait pour assumer ses petites faiblesses.

In a world dominated by the McDonalds and KFCs, Hero appeared on the scene bringing a breath of freshness. The burger chain claims to use good quality meat, sans hormones and antibiotics. They also serve vegetarian burgers made from soyabean — and these burgers are actually delicious! Chicken burgers are tasty too, you get a slice of chicken breast as opposed to the pureed-​fried McDonalds crap. Hero has also made gluten-​free quite mainstream, their flatbreads are amazing!
I like their build-​your-​own concept and for sure burgers taste better with their signature hot sauce, hot peppers, lettuce, tomato and some pickles on the side. Enjoy with some fries and a slew of unlimited carbonated beverages from a funky machine.
Great location to go to after a round of drinks in Koreatown or shopping at Honest Ed’s.

A decent burger thats pretty custamizable (kinda pricey for the topings though), an awesome crazy Cola machine that gives me Cherry and Vanilla Coke and very blah kinda fries.

It’s a chain, it serves chain type burger things. You’ve eaten a burger so I’m not going to tell you about what it tastes like. The staff at this location is rude. I sent in a complaint about them and just got a message essentially saying they would follow up on it and then that’s it. The other Hero Burger chains have good, personable and friendly people at the cash. Avoid the green haired girl, she’s got an ugly attitude.

I went to Hero Burger today with my boyfriend and his parents, after walking by on multiple occasions.
Let me clarify by stating that I’m a vegequarian (no red meat or chicken, etc. but I do eat fish) and my boyfriend rarely eats red meat — for health, not taste reasons.
My boyfriend had the hero burger, his parents both had the chicken burger, and I ordered the only thing I could have on the menu, the atlantic salmon burger.
I am not qualified to judge the actual burger (as I didn’t try it), but I can say my boyfriend LOVED it, and devoured every last bite, with his parents whole heartedly enjoying their chicken.
Sadly, my salmon wasn’t excellent. I found that the fish itself was pretty over-​done and had that catfood texture. However, I appreciate the difficulty of cooking fish, for burgers, from frozen, to order.
All in all, the selection of burger toppings, condiments, and the great location make this some place I’d recommend for meat lovers– just don’t bother if you’re looking for a great salmon burger, I’ve yet to find one of those in the city.

There are some atrocious burgers in the area but Hero puts on a cab and flies through the Annex to the border of Koreatown to rescue us from dried out, overcooked blandness.
Not one to heap praise on a chain as a knee jerk reaction I was reluctant in writing this review but to be honest with myself, it’s a damn good burger that I got addicted to for several weeks even treating myself to a gluten-​free bun occasionally even though it’s not strictly Paleo, my diet of choice.
The meat juiciness is just unparalleled at this convenience and price level. Adding guacamole and chipotle is a far better choice albeit one with additional fees than the standard hero sauce. It comes in a burger wrapper that is quite interesting, sort of a chef hat shaped device.
The fries are quite excellent though in typical Canadian fashion undercooked slightly. Give me a touch of crispiness!

VIBE
Well, it’s a chain so not much to say about it here though I really do like their menu boards. It’s very organized and I like the big picture of the burger. That is good marketing. But what is not so great is that the service is slow. If there are two people waiting for food, it shouldn’t take longer than 6 minutes. When the servers are literally twiddling their thumbs, that is not a good sign.
I ATE
The poutine. I’d never had it. I was on my way to an event and I needed a quick fix (this seems like my life lately). It was about $ 6 – 7 which is a bit expensive but it was hearty and it hit the spot. Good gravy! I’d get it again.
OBLIGATORY CATCHY REMARK
Oh, what song to quote?! But they do need a hero to come in and swoop in some efficiency here. Otherwise, A-​OK. I’ll save the burger for another post. :)

Oh Hero. I’ve never had a bad experience at your restaurants, but my visit here for a late dinner on Valentine’s Day was less than impressive. I don’t mind waiting a little longer for my order as the food is always good. This night was no different. The burger was excellent overall, the patty was nice and juicy, and the toppings were assembled expertly.
Unfortunately the service was lacking a little. The guy behind the till seemed to be flustered for what seemed to be a steady, but not busy, stream of customers. He was forgetting to give the customers their receipts and their order numbers. So when an order was up no one knew what number they were. More confusion ensued.

Worst «premium’ burger in the city. A joke.

GOOD BURGERS, OK SERVICE
This is the best burger joint in the area for a tasty carnivore hamburger. This Hero Burger outlet is better in my limited experience than 3 other locations I have tried.
My wife used to like their veggie burgers, but recently they changed the recipe and now she doesn’t like them as much.
Poutine is excellent as well.

3−½ stars.
This was my first time at Hero, and ordering was a bit of an ordeal as there is a lot to choose from (kind of meat, size of meat, kind of bun, condiments, cheeses, etc.).
Food this messy has to be good, and this was a good burger. Not an excellent burger, but good. The meat patty was fairly dense and perfectly formed, but was juicy. The texture and density was unusual and not expectant, it seems more like a sausage patty that was steamed.
I love the most was the great selection of cheeses, many you don’t see in other burger places. The fries were pretty good too.
With the all of new burger places popping up everywhere, this is falls in the middle of the pack. I consider it a slightly upscale fast food burger.

On a conceptional level, Hero Burger works.
Construct the burger as you want it. They offer a wider selection of toppings, many of which you would find on a gourmet burger. You pay a premium on some of the better cheeses … but ultimately you’re customizing the burger as you want it. The smell of patties is intoxicating.
The only draw backs i have for this place is sometimes ingredients taste cold. I guess when you have so many ingredients you have to have them in a fridge so that they don’t spoil but it takes away from experience of what a burger should be… comfort food (since when is anything about a burger cold?) Ultimately your burger cook will often forget to put the toppings on the grill to heat up to the temperature it should be.
I figure burgers are also put on the frozen because of the amount of time it takes to prepare the burgers.
The other draw back is the price… but that is because you’re buying essentially purchasing a gourmet burger.
I’d recommend trying Hero Burger as a treat, make sure you tell your cashier to relay that you want your ingredients hot and it will help with your experience.