The problem with these burger places is their tendency for getting away with over charging for their products. There is a nice burger takeaway near me that does their own burgers with quality ingredients and charge a reasonable price its still only mince its not that expensive.

I hope you toast the buns seperately!

I agree with the op. These places are so up their own arses. Nando's is another one. Very, very ordinary. I was quite underwhelmed when I was in the Glasgow one

[quote=Eater Sundae;79937972]
I was wondering the same thing.

This really annoys me, I do not like brioche burger buns as I find them far too sweet, give me a plain white fluffy roll preferably with a bit flour on top.

There's one of these places near me, I've only eaten in there once and was really disappointed by it yet, everyone else I know whose eaten there loves it. So maybe I got unlucky but meh, I can live without it.

I've been to a few of these places including Byrons and GBK. Although their stuff is better than places like McDonalds and Burger King they are still overrated IMO. Their ingredients may be better but their dining experience is still sub-par with a proper restaurant whilst charging full restaurant prices for simple food.

Haven't tried Shake Shack, I forgot when I was in the US and so far there's only one in the UK (I think). Five Guys is great but it is so expensive in comparison to McDonald's! I realise the burgers are much, much nicer. But are they worth the big difference in price?

Burger, fries and drink is over £10. That's more than double McDonald's


But Nando's doesn't bother me in the same was as the prices reflect what you're describing. You can get a half chicken meal including the two sides for £8 or so, it's reasonable. Personally, I like Nando's.

One tip for these places. Do NOT serve me a burger in a brioche bun. I don't know who thought this was a good idea but it's not.

Oh, forgot to mention- there's another up itself burger place a few doors down from where I work that accepts Bitcoin. Seriously. Get in the sea. Now.

There's a Steak House near me that specialises in Burgers and they're bloody beautiful!

It is. Brioche buns are lovely.

Good question, I think the phrase 'is bomb' is perhaps negatively toned, whereas if it had been 'is the bomb' then that would have been a supportive remark of significant magnitude, perhaps almost equative to a recommendatory comment.

However, it is unclear as to whether 'BRUH' is an acronym or a typo for 'BRAH', that well known word of amicably hostile association with some unnecessary capitalisation, or perhaps it may be an emphatic descriptive relating to an opinion of the quality of the repast served in said establishment.

TLDR : looks like "*boak*, avoid" from where I am

I went to Five guys before going to see a show. It was nice but it was really expensive. £10 for essentially a fast food burger. I've had many better burgers from vans at festivals, etc and they only cost about £6.

Well, the p*** artist job is the owners. So we like burgers. We like being pretentious (well, hipsters do). P.T.Barnum's famous comment about fools and money is never more true than it is today.

So basically take fast food, serve it in some poncey way and charge 2-3x more than you'd pay in a McD's or BK. Serve 'rustic' chips in a spitoon to be radical, and charge £5 a portion (7 chips). Convince your customers that 'twice cooked' is so much more premium than 'reheated'. And seeing as potatoes cost a few pennies a kg, it'll keep the owners in luxury mustache wax and moleskins..

Anyone tried the one in INTU Watford - the 50's style burger joint? Looks good, but I am never hungry when I pass so have never been in.

Chips from a normal chip shop are all twice cooked anyway. Nothing special about it.

I think I'm going to buy one of those little mini chip buckets and a little chopping board and next time I go to McDs just plonk my stuff on there when I eat it just to see what happens.

Make sure you drink your Coke out of a jam jar as well.

I and the wife very rarely eat out these days, so many mediocre over-priced restaurants, it is simply not worth the hassle.
Just because you serve 'pretentious sounding' food does not equate to a quality dining experience.

I am a bit of a foodie and would much prefer to cook my own burgers from scratch, that way I know exactly what I am putting in to my body, and they are simply delicious, if I say so myself.
Instead of costing £12 and being either over under cooked, I can make four quarter-pounders for half the price, cooked to perfection!

Yep, but chip shops just sell chips. Not artisanal chips. And cheaper. And pretention went out the window when newspaper got banned and 'posh' chippies couldn't use the Grauniad..


I'm kinda musing about DrBurgers. Serve burgers & chips in these-

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31Vu-6iKwoL.jpg

and beer in..

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...L._SL1500_.jpg

Would save on washing up as well!

If you're going to a decent place that isn't what "twice cooked" is. I make "triple cooked chips" at home, the Heston Blumenthal method and they're great, the cooking at different temperatures and chilling between results in an incredibly fluffy centre with a lovely crispy outside.

You're generalising a lot in your post. The independent places near me that serve good burgers make everything from scratch including the sauces and you get all sorts of different toppings and combinations. I don't mind paying around £11 for a burger because it tastes amazing and you leave looking forward to going again and trying another off the menu. A million times better than fast food so well worth the extra money.

So how are we supposed to pronounce 'artisanal' anyway? I can't see that word without subconsciously hearing a sort of beavis&butthead 'hehheh' type commentary on it...

I know what they should be, and what menus tell me they should be. So when I'm served soggy chips in some poncy dish, I'm naturally less than impressed..


Yep. There are pubs around me that serve some excellent burgers. But like the OP said, posh burgers have become a thing. And like any trend, there are people jumping on the bandwagon who forget that the food is the most important thing in a restaurant, not the way it's dressed or served, or the branding.

Put a stick in the middle of a burger and it becomes 'gourmet'

The problem with these posh burgers is that to me they always taste burnt. And they're often far too awkward to pick up with your hands, which should disqualify them from 'burger' category, as a burger is finger food, surely?

So, don't go to crap places then if you're getting soggy chips.

Your post sounded very anti-nice burger though, it came across that you thought anywhere serving "gourmet" burgers or anywhere serving burgers on a chopping board or whatever was bad, which isn't the case as there are some very good places as you've said above.

With anything you're going to get good and bad. There seems to be a lot of people on here who seem to say "£11 for a burger is a rip off" and that's that. They wouldn't even give it a chance when in actual fact a good burger at £11 is perfectly fine if it's a good, enjoyable burger. For me, when it comes to food, whenever I eat out I expect to fully enjoy my meal and I don't put up with average. £11 for a quality burger that I enjoy every mouthful of and look forward to having more is better value for money than an average burger at £5 that I finish and instantly forget.

Why does everything come on it's own plate?

You get a plate with a burger on, a separate plate for the chips and the sauce is presented in it's own individual mini ramekin and sometimes there's a metal side bowl of salad. I wouldn't be offended if they decided to save on the washing up.