Nestled in historic Bellefonte, I had honestly never heard of this place before one day I was walking past and stopped in with my daughter. We had an amazing first experience here and the staff was very polite. That being said, I am writing tonight to review my second visit that took place today. I had emailed the restaurant with concern for my fiancé who has Celiac. To my surprise, they promptly responded back within the hour and provided me with the most thoughtful and kind-hearted response I have ever received by a restaurant. They assured me that all precautions would be taken to keep her safe from cross-contact and they mentioned they have a dedicated gluten-free fryer (a huge bonus!) When we finally arrived later in the evening for curbside pick-up, the staff was just as polite as I remembered from the first time and they recognized me by name from my email, which was pretty cool and reassured me again that they would take every precaution to keep my fiancé safe. Our food was ready in less than ten minutes and our hostess/waitress brought our food out to our car for curbside pickup. The food was not only second to none with exceptional flavors in every bite, but it tasted even better knowing we were taken care of! It's not everyday you stumble upon a real gem of a restaurant like this, especially in a small town where one might expect certain dietary accommodations to be scarce, but State Burger was an exceptional find. I would highly recommend this restaurant to any burger lover! Oh and I forgot to mention, the burgers are completely customizable and you get to name your creation at the end which is fun not only for my five year old but for us as well! Thank you to the staff for making this a memorable experience and we will definitely be back again! read more

See all

Just absolutely amazing. From the milkshakes to the burger, great service and everything!! Super fun idea!

OMG. SO. GOOD. Really clever idea - so many options! And so well prepared. Definitely try the sauteed brussel sprouts. Who would have thought? And the fries are really great - lime ones you would get at the shore. It's a favorite place to go. I didn't used to crave burgers like I do now, since I found State Burger. read more

I love the ability to build my own burger! I ordered the veggie burger and had it made into a salad. The house bbq was out of this world good as well as the garlic aioli. The fries were fresh and yummy (I got the Old Bay seasoning) Very inexpensive for what you get. The decor is fun and relaxed. Great place for a casual but high quality meal. Conveniently located downtown. read more

See all

We arrived for lunch on a Saturday at about 2p and we were immediately seated and our waitress came shortly after that and took our drink order and explained how ordering worked. We ordered our burgers and waited and waited. The waitress came and refilled our drinks. We were getting impatient and asked for order of fries while we waited for our food. We just finished the fries and out came our food. Burgers were good and toppings were great and fresh. But the wait time was excessive particularly given that is was after the lunch rush. read more

We really wanted to like State Burger. Bellefonte seems to be going through a mini-resurgence, with several new eating and drinking establishments opening in the past few years. It's a welcome alternative to the college-oriented establishments and service you get in State College and we eat in Bellefonte at least once every weekend. Being a new place, it's been pretty busy on weekend nights, but we were able to get a table for two after just a 15 minute wait at 7:30 pm on a Saturday. There were comfortable seats available while we waited. You order by choosing burger, bun and topping options off a short checklist. Easy and quick. Good selection of conventional and non-conventional (peanut butter!) toppings. It was St. Paddy's Day, so we started off with a coffee-soda drink special (non-alcoholic - they don't have a liquor license). The drink was unusual, but quite tasty. After about 15 minutes, out came the burgers and fries. Alas, this is where things went downhill. The fries were soggy and oil-soaked. They tasted like they either weren't pre-fried or were fried in oil that wasn't hot enough to produce a crispy texture. 4 out of 10 points. The burgers looked fantastic and, indeed, the toppings were outstanding and the freshly made patty looked quite appealing. However, the beef had no taste and was served lukewarm. 6 out of 10 points. The dining experience (atmosphere, wait staff) was excellent. The building has some really cool lighting and the tables are spaced well. Kudos for not trying to make a few extra bucks by jamming tables close together. The wait staff and management were extremely attentive, friendly and helpful. 10 out of 10 points. State Burger has a number of positive reviews, so I'm hoping we just had a bad experience. However, when you basically serve 2 signature items - burgers and fries - you need to do it well consistently. We'll give it another try in the future and hope things improve. read more

Bellefonte is a stunning Victorian town, and could use a few more charming restaurants to match. State Burger is filling that void. From their friendly prompt service to their "Choose your own everything" style burger menu, to their sides and milkshakes (Try the cereal milk-shake- it's fantabulous), State Burger is doing it right. What really excited me is their gluten free bun option that really actually honestly does not crumble and fall apart instantly like a sad sand castle the moment you touch it! A miracle of gluten free technology! My only slight critique is that I requested a medium, pink-in-the-middle burger and it arrived overdone, but other than that it was perfection. We will certainly be returning in the future! read more

Best burger in the State College area hands down. If you're looking for a great burger joint, it's right here. Everything is a create your own kind of item, from loaded fries to amazing burgers. Literally will never stop eating here. read more

We decided to take six of us to this place based on word-of-mouth and checking the reviews. The place is nice and I like the way you order your burgers and sides. You have to fill out a pre-printed sheet of paper by check marking or filling in the box for what kind of business you want, condiments, toppings, flavors (for fries too) and then give your burger a name. You even pick whether you want your burger to be red, pink or gray in the middle (temperature: rate, medium or well-done). However, although I picked pink, and it arrived gray, as did my wife's. Everything tasted great, but if you're offering specific cook times, you should honor them. Had they dished up what they promised, this would be a five-star review. Maybe next time read more

Good burgers with lots of options. Best milkshakes around. I'll be back next time I'm in town.

This place is a mess. We got there two hours before they closed. The people ahead of us were a party of two. There were two empty tables that seat seated two people apiece. And there was a table open that seated four. My party was next, four people. The hostess sat the two people at the four person table. So bright. We waited and waited and finally were seated. Then four more parties that came in AFTER us all had their orders taken, their food brought to them, before our order was even taken!!!! I asked my son, are we invisible?? We waited and waited. My group wanted to leave, finally I had to wave down the hostess and said do you think we could have somebody take our order? She said yes. Finally several minutes later someone came and took our order. when the burgers came they were warm, not hot. And the patty's crumbled apart. We had to eat them with a fork. They had very little flavor, surprisingly bland even after dumping salt on them. $5 for a milkshake in a small glass. By the way, we were seated literally in the middle of the room, not off in a corner. Lots of wait staff all over, so not shorthanded! We again waited for the check. Finally we left. The only reason to go here, if you're lucky enough to find parallel parking on the street, is for the topping options. Not the burger itself. Lastly, terrible acoustics, nearly impossible to hear in there. Not their fault, just one more reason to skip it. read more

We were visiting my daughter at her college and stopped for lunch. I'm glad we got here a little before lunch cause boy does this place get busy and I see why. The food is delicious and I love the concept of building my own burger. read more

Went here for a Friday lunch for the first time. It's in downtown Bellefonte so there's no parking lot so you have to find street parking. The place is nicely decorated and seemed trendy. When you get to the table you're handed a paper and a pencil and basically build your own burger. I ordered the veggie burger with brioche bun, nacho cheese, lettuce, tomato, and fried pickles. All burgers come with fries and I got the Parmesan and garlic dust on them. It was alright but I probably would've liked the fries better without the dust. The burger was divine and I want to go back and try the pretzel bun. The only reason they didn't get 5 stars was the veggie patty that was used. It was soggy and fell apart while I was eating it. It was still pretty tasty tho and overall good experience. read more

Our favorite go to restaurant. Food is always delicious and the customer service is excellent! Best burgers around with gluten free options too! read more

This place is almost always busy, and with good reason. Their food is delicious, and the menu caters to most dietary needs, including vegetarian (good house-made veggie burgers) and gluten free. The milkshakes are fantastic, and the appetizers are tasty. Prices here are fantastic. The only downside is that at times, service has been slow, but that seems to be improving. read more

Seems like they use frozen burger patties which is NOT acceptable for a place dedicated to cow and burgers. And we ordered our burgers "pink" and they were gray, not juicy and again, obviously frozen. Never going back. read more

Interesting idea, but a huge failure on execution. My food was served ice-cold. Inexcusable and I won't be returning. Freezing cold burger with fries that were so cold they couldn't hold the garlic Parmesan dusting of flavor. Instead, a huge pile of yellowish powder sat on top. read more

The service is great. Reasonable prices. Awesome milkshakes too! Definitely recommend if in downtown Bellefonte.

Go here! Everything was high quality. From the service, to the food, to the prices. Our server's name was colleen and she had great suggestions and a good attitude. It's a build your own burger setup and there's a lot of great options. Again, Meat and bun quality was excellent. We had one with brioche and one with a pretzel bun. Perfectly cooked meat and well seasoned. The salt and malt vinegar for the fries was a great touch. Price for 2 was under 30 bucks which was good all things considered. For me, it closely rivals 'The Feild' in nearby State College for best burger in the area. Will be back. read more

The chicken, ranch and cheese fries were excellent but the burgers were small and tasted as if they had been frozen and the potato roll was dry. read more

Unfortunately, I heard that it was really good and sadly we were very disappointed. The wait was long and the staff was very unfriendly. When we asked how long it would be of a wait, a man said "when people leave". The food took about 45 minutes for our burgers and they were very average. My daughter got a milk shake and I think the milk may have been spoiled. She couldn't drink it, we told them about it and they still charged us. Needless to say, we won't be going back. read more

What a disappointment! Was looking forward to a good burger, fries and a shake. Received a mediocre burger, good fries and skipped the shake because the service was horrible. Walked in at 4:54. There was the owner and three servers standing at the host stand. Someone said hi. No one asked how many in our party or where we'd like to sit. A woman walked away from the group around the corner and put something on a high top table. Looked back at us and said, "Here you go." And walked away. After sitting down I realized that the small clipboard was the burger menu. I only knew this because I had been to Burgatory in Pittsburgh (Don't expect this place to come close). After a few minutes our server came by and asked if for our drinks. My wife asked for club soda no ice. The server looked totally baffled by this request, the replied, "We don't have that." So plain water it was. We then preceded to navigate our way through the confusing 'check mark what you want' single page burger menu. Using a really cheap colored pencil I marked what I wanted. Food came out and my wife's order was wrong but at that point there was no way we were sending it back to wait again. My burger was ordered "pink" it was closer to well done. Flavor of burger was just fair. Fresh cut fries were yummy. The iced tea I ordered was fresh just wish I would have had at least one refill offered to me. Finished our meal and waited over 5 minutes for our server to show back up. That was plenty of time for me to talk myself out of a shake. And to observer the following. . . A small group came in and asked for seating for 8. They were told they couldn't seat that many. If they wanted they could split them up 6 and 2. Seriously? There were more than enough empty seats and tables that could have been put together. But instead this group left. Out the door went at least a $100 ticket plus tip. More to that but don't feel like writing it. Our server finally came and asked if we wanted desert? We asked for just the check. She pulled it out and sat it on the table. And walked away. Didn't stop back by so we paid the money due plus a tip (not really deserved) and left. No one said bye or thanks for stopping in. Did I mention we drove 40 miles to try this place because we had a gift certificate? Bottom line. We will not return. If it's a burger you want go to The Field in State College. Pay the extra 20% for better quality and better service. read more

Wish we found this place 8 years ago when our kids started going to PSU. The milkshakes are delicious and we love building or burgers.

Being local, we had been looking forward to finally tasting their food. One-half hour before they were to close, my partner and I saw seats available, so, we stopped in. We were told that they were no longer seating, because the cooks had been rushed all night. Hmm... A pity. I'm sure that McDonald's or Burger King would have welcomed us, in spite of how busy they were that day. It's not good that their actual closing time doesn't coincide with their publicized time. Unprofessional. read more

We love this place. I am gluten free so the option of making my burger into a salad my favorite. Their fries are also bomb and we splurge on the occasional milkshake read more

We stopped at State Burger after a day of tooling around near State College. In our party, there were four adults and four kids, ages 4-7. We knew not having a reservation could hinder us, but we saw it wasn't crowded, so we went in. The person at the front indicated we could have the high table, but with our four year old and his short legs, we thought it best to stick with lower seating. Welp, that, my friends, was where the train left the proverbial station. To give you an idea, this was 3pm on a Saturday, and there were two other tables occupied when we arrived. This left the tall table, and five-six other tables available. The front person asked us to wait a minute, then disappeared. She did not return, rather a manager-type did, and informed us that it would be "about a 45 minute wait". Huh?? We thought we must be missing something, because there were clearly two (possibly more) four-top tables that could have been moved together to accommodate us in the center of the back space. Did they have a reservation for those seats? Nope. How I know that is, they offered to seat us if we agreed to sit at the two four-top tables, separately, literally within arms reach of each other, but not moved together. What made this even more asinine was the same person who greeted us initially was our server, and she took our orders JOINTLY AS ONE TABLE. She literally stood between us and could have touched my back and my friend's back at her table, and treated us as one order, even asking (which took some nerve) if she needed to separate the checks for us. At first, giving the benefit of the doubt because this situation was so odd, I thought perhaps they didn't move the tables because they were heavy, or grounded to the spots they were in. Nope. Then, I thought maybe they were concerned about clearance of the area (fire hazard) if they put the tables together. Nope - without even measuring this, I could see this could have been easily accomplished without risk to the other customers. I like to compliment service, I like to find the good in each experience, and the food was pretty good overall. Slow to arrive, but in the right circumstances, that's not a deal-breaker. The menus with crayons is a bit juvenile, but hey, it gets you a custom order and it's not expensive to maintain. Plus the kids liked that option. Good form. The fries were good, food was plentiful, drinks were refilled. These things are why I even considered a 2-star rating instead of 1. That said, I can't leave a good review here. This was clearly a case of them hoping we would just leave after the initial brush-off. I would have had better luck (and more receptive) at a chain restaurant. To the owners who may (or may not, with their overall level of "give a darn") read this, please note - if a party comes in making a perfectly reasonable request, honoring it might be in your best interest. There are lots of burger joints to choose from, and your burger was fine but not outstanding. Service is what people remember. People will tell their friends about how you treated them. I hope others have experiences much more rewarding than ours. read more

I visited this joint a month or so ago back when visiting one of my girlfriends who attends Penn State's grad program. Boy am I glad she took us here. You get to choose what you want on your burger from a checklist and even get to name your burger. The staff was extremely friendly and the food was phenomenal!! read more

The food is always amazing here! Love the look, feel and all the food! The staff is great. Service is prompt most of the time, although when there's a rush you wait up to 45 minutes for you food. On the plus my daughter is a diabetic and they always write down the the carbs for us!! The 4 stars is for the wait time but the food is definitely 5! read more

Highly recommend crafting your own burger or burger salad. It's incredibly affordable and if you craft your own salad I believe you get an extra 2 toppings then if you chose the burger. The veggie pattie is one of the best that I've ever had, very juicy and flavorful. The many different spices fries gives you plenty of options. To come back and try something new. Love it here! read more

Great atmosphere, awesome food, and nice waitstaff. Plus their shakes are to die for.

Great place to create your own burger with so many options! Don't forget to get a milkshake at the end! My favorite part was the atmosphere. Very industrial and friendly with lots of pictures of cows on the wall! read more

Update: Came back last night and the food was just as good as the first time! This time though they had some music playing which was a lot better. Glad we came and can't wait to come back. read more

OK, we finally made it to the State Burger. Not a lot of reviews, however, we decided to give it a shot. Results? We are glad we did. This place delivers in location, quality and service. A+ for service thanks to Shanta. She asked if this was our first time and gladly offered up the whats and hows and left us to it. The SB provides a hamburger/fries menu with some other goodies, which all looked great as they passed us by and on to other tables. The menu allows you to make the choices by using a simple, and highly effective and efficient (I'm assuming) way of placing your order. So, the food; 6oz and a 8oz burger with our choices of fun toppings and AND each with an order of hand cut fresh fries. Burgers were cooked to the correct temperature and the fries, those fries...dang!!! Nothing small about the order size. Nothing short on quality. Bottom line: fun, very clean, very friendly, great customer service (Shanta) great food, and all this at a very affordable price. 2 meals with drinks was less than $20. Really, where can you get all that for $20?! Come visit this Bellefonte gem folks, you won't be disappointed. We will be back. soon. read more

Walked in and stood there while the hostess and a waitress talked and we were ignored for about 3 min so We Left sorry but you won't get our business again ! Acknowledge your customer no matter how busy you are read more

Moving to the area we picked up a local magazine and saw this was listed as one of the best for State College in 2018. So my wife and I struck out Saturday night and decided to check it out. First the location is in a very cool spot. Second the menu is simple, which makes it easy. Lastly everything we got was great. We both ordered burgers, fries, and shakes. The burger was good, I've had better but for the price we paid, we were really surprised. The fries were good, I asked for a dusting, could barely tasted the dusting, but that's not a deal breaker. I ordered the cereal milk shake and our waitress told me what it should taste like. She was spot on. The service was outstanding. One of the owners was seating customers and the place was pretty full. We saw two waitresses working the tables, but we received great service. If I had one complaint it would be that I couldn't get a double burger, but other than that, no problem. I can't wait to go back and eat again. read more

This place deserves 5 stars. Little known to people outside of Bellefonte (and I plan to keep it that way), this restaurant offers a unique twist on an american classic. These high quality burgers, which you can name for yourself, are customizable and offered at a great price. I am a Penn Stater, but I will keep this only to a few friends! read more

This is definitely different. Pretty inside. And you order on a piece of paper. Burgers are pretty good and comes with fries. Decent prices too. read more

Good food! Burgers are great and so many options. Brioche bun left me wanting, as well as the garlic fries. The fries themselves are too crunchy for me but overall a great place! Will be returning! read more

Love this place. Always friendly service, nice atmosphere, and the food is delicious. BYOB and enjoy!

For some reason, my review from last year no longer shows up, but it's important for potential customers to know how the owner treats customers and his staff. We WERE regular customers, and really liked the place. However, our last visit (back in May 2018) turned us away forever. We had a dance recital to go and had my parents visiting. Since we knew we had limited time before the recital, we called first to see if they could seat us. Whoever we spoke to on the phone said yes, and we told her we'd be there in about 15 minutes. When we arrived, there were a couple parties waiting, and the restaurant was fairly full. I went up to the girl at the front and said I called and they said they could seat us. She then told me it would be about 45 minutes to an hour. I asked why we were told over the phone that they could seat us when we got there and she said "no one would have told you that. You didn't call us." At this point, I thought I was going crazy. So, I walked to the back to see if anyone else could help us (hopefully the girl who took our call/reservation request). No one seemed to recall the phone conversation... Then the owner pops out and tells me to leave. He then goes on to say I called over an hour ago (which was a total lie). As I'm pulling my phone out (which did verify that I called 20 minutes ago) to show him that I did call, he points to the door and yells "LEAVE". I was in SHOCK and embarrassed. Now, it does take about 10 minutes to get to the place, so add parking and the initial wait at the door and we were up to 20 minutes. Now I've been called a liar (in front of a crowded restaurant) and am upset. I continued to try to show him the time of my call. He wouldn't even look at it and kept smiling in a very sarcastic way and yelled 'leave'. I should add that on prior visits, the food was decent. Burgers were fair to good. Fries were always cold and soggy. Additionally, the owner talked to us a couple times during those visits. He always had a sarcastic attitude that we initially thought was funny, but now realize that maybe it wasn't. He was also very demeaning and condescending to his wait staff. It's too bad that this happened, but I refuse to return to a place where the owner treats people this way. A better approach would have been if they apologized. Or, better yet, if they knew they were busy, just tell us over the phone so we could have made other arrangements. Instead, the owner talked down to us, called us liars, and bullied us out the door. Hopefully others don't get treated this way. I wish the owner the best of luck, and hope he learns how to deal with people in a more respectful manner. read more