Three Ring Binder at The Works

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Restaurant Info

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Burger Breakdown

The Visit

After a day of exploring Niagara Falls Canada, I thought we could give The Works a try for dinner. I was hankering for a burger and this place has an extensive burger menu.

The Works has a cool industrial vibe complete with artifacts paying homage to the nearby Niagara Power Station. Chain-link fencing separates the booths and walkways.

We visited at the end of February, so the crowd was light. Four tables at the most.

At this burger house, there is table service. It took a few minutes to be seated. There was only one server at the time and she was doing double-duty as hostess and server.

I imagine that this place is packed during tourist season. If they offer reservations, I would definitely suggest them.

The server was pleasant. She took our order and gave us a few suggestions for dinner.

Our meals took a long time to come out of the kitchen. Considering the size of the crowd, it was an extremely long time. There were only 4 tables in use. Don’t think the kitchen was backed up.

So...tell me about your burgers.

The Works in Niagara Falls specializes in burgers. They have 33 custom-designed burgers on the menu. It is extremely difficult to make a choice. I wanted to order 4 or 5 different burgers just to try them.

I settled on The Three Ring Binder for dinner. This cheeseburger comes with a steakhouse-style beef patty, Monterey Jack cheese, chipotle sauce, sauteed mushrooms, three onion rings all on a brioche roll.

On the side, it comes with bottomless fries, chips, side salad, or broccoli. You can upgrade to onion rings, sweet potato fries, poutine, Ceasar salad, or add gravy.

The Three Ring Binder comes in at $25 CAD which is about $18 USD.

Let's See What We Have Here

This is definitely a “dine in” cheeseburger. Wouldn’t translate well for takeout.

The Three Ring Binder came to the table looking good! Thick patty, melted cheese, stacked tall with onion rings. However, looks can be deceiving.

Have you tried the bread?

The brioche roll was not fresh. It didn’t taste stale, but it was dry on the exterior like it was sitting on the kitchen counter for a while.

The roll should have been toasted. That would have freshened it up and made it taste better.

Let's look under the hood of this baby.

The towering cheeseburger came to the table fully assembled and ready to eat. Time to dive in.

The onion rings were crispy. They tasted fresh although a bit oily. Nice and soft onion contrasting with the crunchy exterior.

The sauteed mushrooms were off. They had very little flavor and felt like the were holding in a pan somewhere. Throwing them on the griddle for 30 or so seconds would have made a big difference.

The Monterey Jack cheese was melted.

The chipotle mayo looked like chipotle mayo but didn’t taste like chipotle mayo. Bland and lifeless. The menu showed a little 🔥 next to the description indicating it was supposed to be spicy. Not even close. No flavor. No heat.

The part, nice and thick, lacked any flavor. No beefy flavor and definitely could have used some salt.

The burger patty was cooked to well-done. Not juicy at all. I wasn’t asked how I wanted it cooked. I am guessing everything is cooked to 165F.

Unfortunately, my meal was cold…room temp cold.

So, who are your your friends here?

I upgraded to the poutine fries. First time in Canada and thought I would give them a try. Plus, the waitress said they were the best and that people from all around come back for the poutine.

Perhaps my hopes were a little high. I found the poutine unexciting. The fries were mushy. The gravy was dull. Cheese curds lacked flavor. It probably didn’t help that the dish was cold…same as the burger. I would have preferred a pile of buttery mashed potatoes with gravy and cheese. I could have avoided the greasy french fries altogether and saved a few calories by going with the broccoli. Needless to say, I left a lot of the poutine fries on the plate.

It's a Wrap

I left The Works disappointed. You would think that a restaurant that serves 33 different burgers knows what they are doing. In this case, it seems they don’t.

The ingredients and flavor combinations all sounded good. The menu, although having an intimidating number of cheeseburger options, looked good and the photos make your mouth water. The cheeseburger came to the table looking spectacular.

Then the wheels came off.

Perhaps my expectations were a bit to high.

Hard Pass.