I tried a burger at Tommi's in the Westgate here's what I thought

It’s never been somewhere I’d go by choice, to be honest.

After speaking with shoppers, a couple of years ago, everybody seemed to have the same question: is this the place with the free toilets?

The idea is it’s: ‘social’, somewhere to hang out and grab a bite of ‘street food’ to eat.

When you think of street food, you assume it’s local people, start-ups, shacks on the side of the road or market stalls on the weekend. This isn’t quite the reality behind the illusion, in fact, it’s quite opposite. All of the units inside are chains (the owners have more than one shop).

At the back, on the left, is Tommi’s, a place to grab a burger. I went to try it out last week.

This place is undeniably cool with cardboard cut out DIY signs and fairy lights adoring the grills but, in the Westgate Social, it does feel like a clash of two worlds. The Westgate social is quite vibe-less, it’s practically pitch black, it’s got the same boring seating everywhere. It doesn’t look that different to my school canteen if the curtains were closed.

I can imagine Tommi’s on the rooftop in its own restaurant rather than a booth downstairs. Picture this: the same flames in the kitchen, exposed pipes, leather sofas. It’s all very hipster.

When I walked in, there were a group of students sitting on a longer table next to me playing a card game with a box of chips to share. I thought: this is what it’s all about. The social isn’t a carousel of people like in Nando’s when you know there’s probably a queue of people waiting for your table. You can come here with hours to kill and grab a burger (albeit a pricey one).

My veggie burger cost £8.50. It’s the same price as the classic beef burger.

I would have chosen the vegan burger (£10.90) but they’d run out.

My boyfriend got the chicken burger priced at £10.50.

You have to pay £1.20 extra for cheese.

The menu

On the side we chose the Viking fries (£5.50) – these are cheese topped fries with jalapenos. Usually, they have crispy fried onions but they had run out.

We also chose the Cajun Fries (£5.90) – similar style to Five Guys, if you’ve ever been, but these were more French fries covered in Cajun seasoning.

At the side of the unit, Tommi’s have a rack with tonnes of free sauces which you can decant into little pots to bring to your table (or takeaway). You can also pay £1.20 for fancy mayo or burger sauce too.

We had two glasses of Sauv Blanc (£6 each).  

I’m not a veggie, though I am trying to eat less meat. Saying that, I think trying the veggie option is a really good way of telling if the restaurant really cares about the taste of the food or if they’re relying on you being starving when you order.

The order took about 5 minutes or so to make – I didn’t time it but we weren’t waiting long at all.

They shout your name and it’s ready to collect, there’s plastic trays (like from the school canteen) to pop everything on. We grabbed some hot sauce, BBQ and Ketchup too.

My boyfriend and I tried our first bite at the same time. He loved it. The flame-grilled chicken, which isn't breaded or coated by the way, was perfectly cooked. I had a bite and it was delicious. It wasn’t that different to a Nando's burger but you don't choose your spice here.

The veggie burger

Mine, however, was disappointing. The veggie burger itself was really soft and tender but also really plain and lacking in seasoning. Without the cheese, which we got extra (£1.50), it would have been boring.

Half-way through we had a stroke of genius and added some extra hot sauce – this was a game changer. I gobbled down the rest in a flash. But this was something extra, not curated by Tommi’s.

I feel like the veggie option was plonked on the menu as an afterthought. I’ve had a better veggie burger at McDonald’s and for half the price and you don’t pay extra for the cheese.

The chips were great – the fake cheese squirted on top is the best kind for loaded fries and the jalapenos gave it a kick. They needed the fried onions to make the flavours more complex but we knew full well before ordering that they were out of stock and it was fine. Though £4.50, even with the fried onions, is – dare I say it – a bit steep.

Same goes with the Cajun fries. Would buy again, if Tommi’s was open late and on my way home from a night out.

In all seriousness though, I can’t think of a reason that we’d go again.