Long before their recent claim to fame of being America's #1 burger chain based on Zagat's survey, this particular burger spot has been on my radar for quite some time. I know many people are very well aware of this if you come from the east coast, and they have been expanding rapidly west ever since. It's only come to my attention in the past week that there is actually a location about 3 miles from me so I had to check it out.
So to give this place a fair shot with the most unbiased expectations of all, I came here last night despite the line being 30 people deep. I never let a line discourage me from having a good meal. However, in the end I was sadly disappointed for the following reasons:
My biggest gripe about this place is that it didn't have a special sauce (i.e. thousand islands of some sort) for their burger. But as a disclaimer, I don't enjoy the taste of ketchup, mustard, mayo. I don't even put hoisin sauce in my pho. Maybe I'm a purist? But whatever it is - I believe a top notch burger joint needs to have a special sauce to distinguish itself from the competition. The typical condiments such as ketchup, mustard, mayo, A1 you can get anywhere (like your kitchen). Ok, some of you might disagree with me and find it essential to have ketchup, mustard, mayo etc.. on a burger. Which is fine, but I think the flavor of the beef should stand out in a burger. Do you put A1 sauce on your rib eye steak at Mastros, Mortons, Flemmings?
Which leads me to my 2nd point, the beef is cooked well done. I want some juicy patty. I will admit, it wasn't burnt to a crisp or anything but I don't particularly remember it being incredibly flavorful or amazingly seasoned. I just had a little bacon cheeseburger, so once you throw on all the toppings, it did look quite large but not because of the beef patty.
In terms of what holds together this burger, the buns are atrocious in my opinion. It doesn't have the proper fluff to them and once you mush it down with your hands, it doesn't bounce back up. Stays pretty much mushed and towards the end a little bit soggy. Perhaps the buns stay too long on the grill and absorbs too much grease splatters, but the fact the bun didn't have a nice golden brown char to each side almost dispels this hypothesis.
And on the same greasy topic were their fries. I had a regular order of the cajun flavored fries. It came in a 12 oz cup, was barely enough to split between 2 people (We could've got larger, I guess...). My best comparison to their fries could be Island's was similar in size, somewhat overcooked so that they were more brown in color, but not necessarily crunchier. Maybe their oil temp wasn't correct cause it seemed those potatoes absorbed more peanut oil than necessary. Flavoring was good, similar to the salt blend at Island's. I don't know why some people complain that these fries are so good compared to the limp ones you get at In n Out, to me, they are similar. But at least at InO, you can ask for crispy.
Last but not least, there is the value aspect of this place. Or lack of IMO. A little burger will run you $4, a double $5.50. This doesn't include regular fries which start at $4, large $6. I didn't get a drink so I am guessing $2.50. So basically to complete a meal (burger, fries, drink) you are looking at about $13 a person. They don't offer combo meals, you have to buy everything individually. How much does a regular combo from other burger spots run you? $5-$7.
Overall Verdict: Good to try once or once in a while, but doesn't pop in my head as a superior burger joint with distinct qualities.
My burger tasting resume: Red Mill Burgers (Seattle), Taylor's Automatic Refresher (Napa Valley), Brunch Box (Portland), Hodad's (SD), Burger Lounge (SD), Father's Office (LA) and countless chains across the USA. read more