Vinny's burgers & fries

During one of our burger quests we saw Vinny's while driving down Princess Street.  Of course, if you're trying to taste test burgers in Kingston, it made sense to try an establishment that calls itself, "Vinny's Burgers & Fries".  Located at 292 Princess, we heard that originally they opened as "Vinny's Fine Italian Sandwiches", however reopened several months ago with a focus on take-out burgers and fries.  Boasting a $2 burger, we just had to try it.

Now it's unfair to assume that all of the establishments we review are compared on a level playing field.  Different restaurants tend to choose their own particular niche market or target clientele.  In some cases, high end gourmet offerings at one end of the spectrum, and at the other end of the spectrum, low cost fast food.  In our opinion, Vinny's is going after the low cost fast food audience - one step up from the chains.  Head on so to speak as "McDonalds" is right across the street and can be seen looking straight out of Vinny's front window.

Vinny's in our opinion is not a restaurant - but rather is set up as a take out (although there are stools against a counter so that you can choose to eat in if you so desire).  The decor is red, white and black and on the wall there are a couple of nice "Godfather" movie posters-on-board.
I like the posters but I didn't really see the connection with the theme of the restaurant.  The menu was very straight forward and visible on the walls.  No nonsense offerings at VERY reasonable prices.  The burgers are flame broiled and all food is made to order (meaning it's not cooked until you order).  The server then adds the toppings chosen by you (somewhat like Harvey's).

Jo's Review - I ordered the single banquet burger #3.  A banquet burger is cheese & bacon and in my case, on a single burger with fries and a drink.  We were the only people ordering so I have to say that the service and attention was excellent.  We received our orders quite quickly.  For my review, I'll start with the positive....  everything was fresh, including the bun, the lettuce and tomato.  The fries were cooked to a nice crisp and were golden brown.  The drink was a can of pop rather than soda fountain pop and the bacon was plentiful and cooked to perfection.  The portion sizes were quite generous and you won't go away hungry.  On the "not so positive....." the fries were frozen fries with very little taste, the hamburger patty was a frozen patty (& it didn't taste like a high end frozen patty) and although fresh, the bun was like a supermarket bun - not much flavour.  Having said that, for a complete meal @ roughly $5.25, it was a deal and one could get the #3 for less than $5!  In my opinion, if Vinny's is targeting a young, less discriminating customer who want a fast burger for a low price, then Vinny's has hit the mark.  My suggestion for improvement though is to explore suppliers who could offer better tasting fries and patties within the same price point.

Stephen's Review - As Jo noted, we saw the sign for Vinny's on a trip down Princess Street one day. After asking around, we had understood this spot to be exactly what Jo said; a quick take-out burger joint for a really good price. It certainly was that!
First, I must offer an apology for the pic's... we were so hungry when we dropped in for lunch, we just forgot to snap the photo's before we had chowed down on almost half of our burgers! Oops...

Again, as Jo noted, this basic burger and fries are just that... basic. The offerings are fresh from the perspective of being prepared once you place your order but they are a basic frozen product (both the burger patty and the fries). I would agree that the patty is certainly no high-end frozen patty but just your everyday frozen product found in any frozen food section of your local grocery store. I suggest the same applies for the fries.

I ordered the Cheese Burger at $3.25 and added fries and a diet Coke. What brings this fair a cut-above your average burger chain is that the condiments; lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, etc... are fresh cut.  I found the bun although basic, again was very fresh.  The cheese was a decent quality and the nicest surprise for the bacon and cheese burger was that the bacon was prepared fresh when ordered! Another big positive for us was that the diet Coke was a can of diet Coke! Kudo's for all of this.

Now when you consider that the total price for both orders, that's the two burgers, two fries and two diet Coke's was only $10.51 total... wow!  Thats right... just over $10 bucks for all of it!  Double Kudo's for the price! Overall, it's a very basic burger and fries... just as the sign says and for the money... a pretty good value if you're in a hurry and you're hungry.