Great Shame Burger.
This is possibly there worst burger I've ever paid for. I don't think it's even possible to make a burger with less flavor.
A public school lunch burger, circa 1980, is even better when you include the nostalgia factor.
Just about any food in Seattle, is overpriced. I'm starting to figure that out. But this was overpriced AND bad. I am usually very forgiving since I used to be a line cook.
It takes truly terrible food for me to reach the max. character limit on Yelp.
There are two locations in the Bellevue Square shopping area. The larger one is in the main mall. And there's a smaller location at Lincoln Square South (across the street) next to King Leroy bar that serves as their kitchen and has their burgers on the bar menu while also serving out of a take-out window outside the bar area in the "food hall".
I visited the smaller of the two, the one attached to King Leroy in Lincoln Square South. I just finished a movie (on a Monday) and wanted something more than popcorn in my stomach. It was already getting too late to cook something at home.
I ordered the Great State Burger. Their namesake burger. How could I go wrong? I'm supporting a local chain right that talks about local, local, local...it's gotta be good, right? WRONG.
When I got my food, I thought it was something off a kids menu. It was SO TINY. (I took a photo next to my keys for scale.)
The patty was gray, with very little caramelization if any. Almost no flavor. When I say almost, I mean the only detectable flavor was from the pickles. It was swimming in their "great state sauce" which was more like weak thousand island dressing. And the lettuce looked like it has seen better days.
The bun (which is the closest thing to Wonder Bread I've had in a long time) was not up to the task with all that sauce/dressing. It held up as well as a wet paper towel, but a paper towel would've tasted better.
If you've ever seen the movie Falling Down starring Michael Douglas, he's already nuts, but he's further outraged by the tired, squashed burger he is served at the Whammyburger. The Great State Burger reminds me of that same sad burger in the movie.
They charge $10.50 for this? And don't forget since it's counter service at the window, you pay the tip ahead of time, and assume it's going to be good. I normally tip 20%. I gambled and lost.
Oh...amost forgot. I had a side of onion rings. $8. I counted 7 1/2 onion rings. That's I think $1.07 per onion ring if you round up to the nearest cent. Also not giving me warm fuzzies about this place.
Fogo de Chao in the same building has an all-day, everyday happy hour menu with a $10 burger. (UPDATE: I had the burger at Fogo de Chao a week later and it was 1,000 times better.)
Tavern Hall (near the skybridge on 2nd floor of Bellevue Square, eastisde of the NE parking garage) has a $10 happy hour cheeseburger and an extensive happy hour menu. I'll have to give that a try next.
McDonald's has a Quarter Pounder with cheese for a little over $7 in the Seattle area, and I know for a fact it's way better (if you get past the whole terrible corporate fast food thing).
I'm gonna say Wendy's Son of Baconator is better as well (for sure when it's $3 on the Wendy's app). Jollibee's Angus Cheeseburger is leaps and bounds better, and that's from a place that serves chicken, and burgers are kind of an afterthought.
One day after I had the insult to all burgers from Great State, I made a burger at home with store-bought ingredients and it tasted very good.
And I'm not exactly a Top Chef finalist. It's not rocket science.
There is no reason at all to get a burger from Great State Burger. There are too many other options nearby and nobody should degrade themselves by paying money for such a pathetic and miserable product.
Seriously, I don't know how this local chain got popular. It's bad food at ridiculous prices. Granted, food in any kind of mall setting is taking advantage of a captive audience. Fish in a barrel as the saying goes.
But this is truly shameful. I wonder if the owners actually try the food at this location and do any quality control, or are the burgers this bad at all their locations?
My google research say this chain used to be part of the famed Sea Creatures Restaurant Group lead by Chef Renee Erickson, but it's not longer listed as one of their properties on their website.
An Everout (The Stranger) news blurb from March 2023 says Erickson sold the chain to one of her employees Nathan Yeager. Well, judging by the quality of the food, it's gone waaaay downhill since Erickson sold. Or it was never good to begin with? read more