If you build it, they will come! The burger vendors certainly did, but where was the crowd?! This is the 2nd year of The Burger Fest in Vaughan. I was intrigued last year but the crowd seemed small and not much has changed. No lineups on Sunday meant that you've got to watch your own appetite! The band was blasting on stage, making the most of a quiet atmosphere. Since burgers are hit-and-miss, we relied on the recommendations of others. First up was Holy Chuck's Cheeky Cow Burger ($8): braised veal cheek on beef patty with cheese, bacon & caramelized onion. Built on a slider, it was small but mighty delicious. Next, we had Da Bridge Slider ($5) from the Vaughan City Grill with sausage, patty, arugula and balsamic vinegar. A twist on the burger that tasted like fresh salad. I'd heard good things about the Original OMG Steak & Hoagies. They were sold out of the B&J Burger so we had the Cheese Burger ($7) instead. It was a classic that was juicy and savoury though the ground beef patty was a little pink. Finally from the Burger's Priest, we had the Option Burger ($8) with cheese stuffing oozing out of the crispy portobello mushroom patty. Despite having to put on our own condiments, this vegetarian option was a good change after all of the meaty goodness. Weather was beautiful yet the benches were sparsely used at the end of day. Perhaps it was the Raptors championship that had everyone's priority. As others said, admission is steep at $15 on Friday/Saturday or $10 on Sunday. Once inside the "tickets" are purchased 10 ($10) at a time, and may have been a way to take another cut from the vendors. Good burgers but wish the event was more lively. read more

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Went last Friday and had some nice Wins but unfortunately also a big L. For the Ws, Fresh Burger was my burger of choice. Great value for $6 (6 tickets) - a full sized patty with cheese and any toppings and as always, it tasted great! Another pleasant surprise was "Da Bridge" burger from Vaughn City Grill. Loved the arugula, sausage and homemade patty. I'd visit them next time I'm in that area. Both burgers washed down great with some fresh lemonade that was also served there. On the downside, while I was ambivalent with Bob's Burger's goat cheese slider, I was really disappointed by their so called "four slices of cheddar cheese" slider. First of all, $4 for a slider was a bit much compared to the value I got from Fresh Burger but if you're going to charge me that much, at least give me a quality bite. Could you imagine my disappointment when I opened the cheddar burger to see a bunch of processed cheese jammed in there? I asked the lady and she's like "it's not Kraft or anything"... it's not cheddar either. The lineup for Burger Priest was also a bit of a let down but I think I might like Fresh better anyway so no big loss. Either way, I had a good time and would go back to try other things next time read more

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The first annual Burgerfest was a great success! It was organized, there was lots of space, more than enough parking, not just a lot of food and drink offerings but fantastic music and a carnival for the kids and hot air ballon lifts! Ooh and a burger eating contest!! Location: Highway 7 and 400 in the complex where ikea and the AMC is. It was in the grassy section along highway 7! Parking: Tonne the complex is basically 75% parking lot so no worries. Also it's near the end of the line of new subway expansion into Vaughan, Toronto folks, this was a subway ride away!! The Goods: Oh the smell! Nothing like 25 grills grilling hundreds of thick juicy burgers! Yum! You could have eaten from the best of the best from York Region - Hero Certified, Fidel Gastro's, The Burgers Priest, Holy Chuck, Shoeless Joes, AllStar Wings, Koo Koo's, The Holy Grill, Ground Burger Bar, Aw Shucks, Sociable Pub, Kitchen Empire etc... Entertainment- Retro 80's Friday: Platinum Blonde Wayback Saturday: Real McCoy DJ was fantastic I'm definitely going back next year!ot was a lot of fun!! read more

Loving the burger selections at this event, where does one start?? They really have all the main food trucks and restaurants that serve up burgers or a mean Poutine. With Ice cream trucks, alcohol pavilion, sound stage booming jams, rides and midway games, who needs to go downtown to the CNE! There's great energy and food to be tasted here, from $4-5 sliders to a full $10-12 burger, you're gonna need to pace yourself especially in this heat. There's a tented section to get shade, lawn chairs by the pop shoppe, and big wooden Jenga games or connect 4 to play. Lots of Porto potty's and wash stations set up. Downsides are the ground is still hardening from yesterday's rain, despite all the mulch the got dumped the ground has soft to muddy parts to walk on. The entrance is not well signed( west side from parking lot). Great energy that probably will be more busy by evening when The Real McCoy starts! read more

The Burger Fest - The Holly Grill slider - Burgers Near Me - Vaughan, Ontario

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If there's all sorts of specific themed food fests, such as mac and cheese, taco, ribs and others, it makes perfect sense to have a burger one. It's not the most scenic festival as it takes place in an empty parking lot off the 400 and 7, but at least it's a central location. Others mentioned it was pretty quiet in terms of crowds. We came on the Friday and I found that it was moderately busy, but you could still find a seat somewhere you needed and not have to wait long for most of the vendors. I can say when we were leaving around 8:30 (since we have kids), it was getting pretty busy and still had a number of people coming in. Now what wasn't quiet regardless of crowds was the music. The volume from the main stage - and bearing in mind the venue isn't terribly large - is comparable to a music festival. I don't think that's an issue, and it's even a bonus if that's what you're looking for, but be aware it's louder than other festivals in my experience. The only issue I had was the clash of sounds as Hero Burger had their own DJ in the corner and even an energy drink company had their vehicle blasting tunes by the entrance. They should just stick to one sound system going which was more than enough, especially since it's a relatively small venue. If you're coming with kids, this year they had a bouncy castle and jumbo-sized jenga. There was also a carnival-style basketball game, but was $5 for two shots. Not too much to do, but kids are free so no complaints. There were probably nearly a dozen burger vendors. I was happy to see Fresh Burger as I had such a good experience at their location nearby. Glad to say I had another good experience and the price was fair. I tried The Holy Grill and loved the Dorito's burger. About the only issue I had was that it was more of a slider which wasn't clear to me from the menu. The price was fair considering it came with fries - but that also wasn't clear when ordering. I'd love to see them do a full-sized burger. My wife tried the burger from Vaughan City Grill and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of every part of it. If they're back next year, they're worth a try too because they had a smaller line probably due to less name recognition. Aside from that, there's a few other vendors for drinks (licensed too), snacks and desserts. If you're into 90's music, burgers and manageable lines, you can't go wrong here at all. read more

Thank you Yelp Elite for the opportunity to come to Burger Fest this year. It was my first time attending and I had a great time! We arrived at 6pm, which was perfect, it was quiet and lines were short. We started with the The Holy Grill and ordered the Dorito Crunch Burger which also came with fries. The bun was extremely soft and the fries were crispy. Both excellent. Waiting for them to open up a restaurant. Than we went to Holy Chuck and got The Cowlorie (without bacon). It was small but the caramelized onions took it to another level. Loved every bite. The Burger Priest: ordered The Option. This place had the longest line and is the most popular. Didn't realize it was veggie until we were scarfing it down. After the first bite, half the cheese oozed out. It had a crispy portobello patty. Only thing I didnt like is that you have to top it yourself. I feel that only hotdogs should have the option to "top it yourself". There is a location in Mississauga which is now on my list. Lastly we went to OMG Steaks & Hoagies and got the B & J (without bacon). It had gotten much busier at this point and the burger took forever to come. But when it did arrive...man oh man was it worth it. Probably the biggest burger at the festival. It was very tasty with its simple ingredients and yummy OMG Special Sauce. read more

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Great place for a little night life in vaughan. It is tight by the hwy 400 and hwy 7 in the dave and buster plaza. The main entrance is on the noth side facing hwy 7. Parking is on the west side. The staff here is super friendly. I brought my dog who is around 40 lbs and they said it was ok. Alot of families and people with dates. Got alot of the local burger vendors and the big chains like holy chuck, burger priest... Kids can play some carny games and big Jenga. No weed smell anywhere so pretty kids friendly Prices are about $6-$8 for burgers. The burger sizes depend on the vendor. My favourite was definitely the holy chuck beef veal burger...sooo good. They have live music so is pretty busy at night. Some of them will have a 10 min line up. Check your order when you get it though. read more

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Come one, come all! If you love burgers you need to head to IKEA in Vaughan and check out burger fest. Over a dozen of the best burger masters grace the fields with burger goodness. Beverages including Hard Soda, big rock brewery, and Mojitos. Reasonably priced sliders and most stalls had combo packages. Nonstop music and a headliner tonight featuring The Real McCoy. My only complain, seating was scarce and could be an issue when the evening crowd arrives. ABOUT THE FOOD Today's winner - The Dorito Crunch Burger - cheese sauce, double cheese, grilled onion, jalapeños, cheese, house mayo, and house made brioche bun. SCORE: 5/5. Dorito crunch, was a super juicy, great balance of cheese and onions. Great job to the Holy Grail Food truck. Toronto's only accessible food truck. The runner up, LIL BIG PAPA from The Sociable GastroPub - House ground party with braised brisket, caramelized onions, demi glaze, tomato jam, Brie, pork belly, arugula. SCORE: 4/5. Followed closely by THE COWLORIE by Holy Chuck Burger - Aged beef, cheese, caramelized onions, between two grilled cheese. SCORE: 4/5 Be sure to come - entry was reasonably priced and was the food. A great kid friendly event with a small midway. read more

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I was surprised by the lack of attendance at this event. There was a lot of participants offering a large variety of burgers and relatable products. I tried a few but the one burger that stood out was the 'Holy Chuck's front Holy Chuck's burgers. Truely an awesome burger that is worth experiencing! read more

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**3.5/5*** I was a little underwhlemed today. The event wasnt busy at all, alot of these vendors looked super bored. I dont know if thats a good thing or bad. Mayb both since I didnt hve to wait in any lines for food. I arrived at about 4pm and the event started at noon. They had all the fixings; alcohol tents, burgers, poutines, sweet treats, games, etc. We got there did our rounds to see what everyone was offering before choosing. I ended up picking a chicken burger from Kitchen Empire. While my plus one (this was a yelp event btw) got a cheese burger from Burger Priest. Most places had sliders for about 4$ each or 3 or 12-15$. So the voucher we had was only good for a few menu items. Luckily at Burger priest they were nice enough to allow us to pay the difference to upsize to a double cheeseburger. Unluckily the burger was undercooked, super pink on the inside. We didnt pay out of pocket full since it was a Yelp Elite event so I was still super grateful. I did however feel like I should let them know so that other customers could be satified and not end up w food poisoning. So I walked over and discreetly told them n showed them the burger(see pic attached). The chicken burger from Kitchen Empire looked delicious when I got it. Was super thick and picture worthy. Downside is the chicken was unseasoned and unsatisfying. I couldnt even finish half, jus a waste of good chicken breast. We did also played giant connect four , but only one game we couldnt figure out how to get the pieces out lol. So i guess the atmosphere had a nice vibe but the food we specifically tried womped! read more

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I was craving burgers and thought I'd check out an event full of different burgers. We went during the weekend and the event was basically empty. No lines, and all the vendors seemed bored. There were tons of parking but entry was $10. The singers looked bored too, singing to an empty venue. Unfortunately me and my SO aren't big eaters so we only got to eat two burgers each. Luckily our first choice, burger priest, was really good! We saw a banner for Holy Chuck advertising that their burger was one of the top few in canada. But these were by far the worst burger sliders I've ever had. The meat was meh and the combination of toppings was gross. And we thought we avoided the worst burgers at the event, hero burgers, but boy we were wrong. This was my first and definitely my last time going to burger fest. The fact we paid $10 for a lame empty event was criminal. Next year I'll just stick to going to PizzaFest only. read more