THE EMPIRE
As the name would imply these burgers should be better? Right?
Well, given the hype around this place and everyone telling me that we HAD to go check it out for burger Tuesday, I gave into the hype (which many of you know isn’t like me at all haha, come on I do it for you guys)
So first things first, the one we went to is located within the Britomart country club so if you’re anal about music levels this might be an issue..However since I’m more a “pretty face on the arm of someone else” type rather than a conversationalist for us it wasn’t an issue. Also unrelated Auckland city parking can get F#@%ED
That being said when we get over the fact we’re at a “Trendy Burger Joint” and put aside our “cool kids suck” attitude and get down to business we had to get on with our findings. The first order of business was a Milkshake, cause lets face it what goes better with burgers than shakes? am I right? So of the 3 choices at $5 a pop I chose Chocolate – alternatives being Vanilla or Strawberry, and Kudos to the process of pour out ice cream , smash in some chocolate sauce and there’s your milkshake and it was good.. Dunno if it was $5 good but it kept me happy waiting for Morgan who was late.
But, the reason you’re here and the reason I drove all the way to the city… The Burger… I must disclose, this was sold to me as “Just like In and Out Burger” which is not only a pretty tall order, its also a lot of hype which did become a factor; for those who don’t know, In and Out in the states is much on Par with McDonalds over there but is the more favorable choice and having had it when I was there last it’s easy to see why, perhaps I’ll do a proper review at next years E3 (hint hint Steven)
Not many options, this is the style of this place, keep it simple keep it good.. keep it ” Better” their tag line ” Better burger – Proudly selling the best burgers in Auckland and New Zealand!”
We shall see …
We both ordered the Double Cheeseburger standard with Fries and a Soda – $13 a piece I also got the side of fries that had the onion / mustard etc just to give em a try.. which wasn’t really worth it.
Didn’t take long at all for the food to come out which was a bonus, well presented etc.
Given that it did more or less look like it did in the picture which is a rarity that was quite something, the size was pretty small but the “Just like In and Out” prepared me for that; what we weren’t prepared for was how small the fires and drink were also small-ish which may explain why the prices were on the lighter side which seem’s to be a selling point for a lot of people; which I do find interesting given that you’re still looking at least $13 bucks for a “small feed” and closer to $20 for a “decent feed”
Right anyway… The burger
Double Cheeseburger $7 for just the Burger .
2 Patties
Cheese
a sauce that tasted much like the Big carl Sauce
Lettuce
Pickle
Pretty simple stuff, now if you like your burger patties quickly grilled you’re in luck, I noticed the inside of mine was a little on the pink side which some people might not like but the patties did come out pretty awesome with just the right amount of black on the outside and pink on the inside that I like, I felt this was note worthy.
Again, these are fairly small burgers so they are quite easy to smash down, to the point where I ended up ordering a second to fill the gap I felt was left from just one burger. It went down great, very tasty and yet very simple with a mouth/feel ratio around the 7.5 mark. Losing points for being overly moist so at the half way point moist becomes soggy and it starts to fall apart on ya.
Now, If i were to review this burger as just a burger, no marketing, no hype and no hipsters tweeting about it’s awesomeness I would likely have given this burger a 6.5 as its a decent quick bite for not a huge amount of cash… but … there was hype… so much hype.
Given that so many people after the announcement of regular burger nights, said Better Burger had to be visited cause its the best and how does my top knot look against my vintage Ipod… and leather satchel, they have certainly got the talkers talking; Which sure if you actually have an awesome product would be a great thing.. alas I feel at best this was a mediocre burger as there was nothing stand out about it; it’s simply been latched on to the right crowd at the right time while there is a real food buzz up here in Auckland, Kudos to the marketing team on that one. So almost to it’s detriment the the burger didn’t live up to the hype, which cost it valuable points
I would give this burger, all things considered a 5.5/10
I wouldn’t rave about it to people and I certainly wouldn’t make a trip just to go have a “Better Burger” but if I was in town and that’s where the crew wanted to go I would tag along and happily have the same as I had this visit and not complain and be fairly well satisfied
If you want to check them out you can get their details here BETTER BURGER – Do you think I’m wrong? Did your tweed suit disagree with me? let us know in the comments
Until next time Burger Lovers !
Nick
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