Burger 101

They are now closed,! Timeout Bar will be opening here soon. I will miss that Turkey burger!

They are closed for good! I drove over there today to get me a good burger and they had a sign on the door that read closed permanent.

Do you have that friend, basically looks good on paper, but they can’t ever seem to connect with anyone? So you finally take them out for a night on the town, and you start to notice all of the flaws, and realize this must be how other people see them.
I read all the reviews for this spot before I went here. I actually was not in the neighborhood looking for a burger, there’s supposedly a Falafel place somewhere around here. But alas I would not feast on Mediterranean Hush Puppies…
Parking — Ample
Décor and Ambiance — It’s about 93% corporate. I don’t know if it’s a chain, but there are some unfinished bits of the spot
Staff/​Service — It was counter service when I went. Cashier was nice, and offered me Mayo when it didn’t come on the burger. (the very reason I ordered the burger was because it did NOT specify mayo)
The clientele — Spot was empty, even the dude in front of me got his stuff to go. Couple of red headed step children with parents in tow, did show up @ the end of my meal — but for a place like this, kind of a focused Chili’s or an expanded Moo-Yah’s — I’d expect the place to be kinda full. It was not. Why?
Looks nice, decent location. There are 2 Vietnamese options and 4 Mexican options in this strip center, as well as a wings place, a cajun place, and an all american type place — you’d figure that they’d get some of that synergy — especially given that their part of the parking lot has way more space…
Pricing — Bacon Cheese Burger + Fries + Drink — ~ 13 bucks. @ the competition down the street, the old school spot, 2 burgers and fries = 8 bucks. Across the Hwy @ the burger spot with garbled dirty name, I think it’s a buck less.
The Food
— Burger — Couldn’t tell if the burger was fresh ground. It was cooked to well done. (they didn’t ask me if I wanted it a certain way, so I’m not even sure if I could have gotten it cooked a tad less). I don’t recall any seasoning other than salt and black pepper.
— The buns — I really hate to be that guy. In fact, I hate that guy, but my buns apparently sat on the grill too long and left burn marks. Dude working the grill did hook me up with a fresh top bun though. Kudos.
— The Fries — I think they were battered before fried — no bueno for me.
— Cheese, Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, Pickle — all very nice, nothing to complain about.
The meal was fine, decent, adequate, okay, regular, ordinary, and other adjectives that describe middle of the road.
The fact that food is just kinda meh is probably why no one wants to take this restaurant to the dance. It’s a shame really.

Burger 101: It’s like an upscale fast food place, except neither upscale, nor fast.
So, with a name like Burger 101, I’d imagine a basic burger, but done right. Simple menu, few options, perhaps a little like In-​N-​Out, with their menu of burger: with or without cheese, fries, shake, and variations thereof.
However, instead of perfecting the basics they have simply come up with a boring, overdone menu with lots of non burger items and little detail paid to any one of them. If I order a fried shrimp basket, I doubt they’re «getting back to the basics of burgers.»
Perhaps they are really chasing a similar concept to «Café Express» with the idea of modern, upscale, metropolitan fast food. Unfortunately the Burger 101 menu lacks the imaginative parings, and unique flavors that make Café Express worth the drive and price tag. They nailed the modern — yet — whimsical décor here, but lost it when it came to the food.
For this concept to work it needs to be: Harder Better Faster Stronger.
Harder (workers): Walk-​up to the counter to place an order, fill your own drinks, listen for them to shout your number, fetch your own tray, get your own ketchup, bus your own tables. Yes that is how typical fast food chains work because their prices are half of what Burger 101 charges.
Better (prices): With the exception of the fried chicken, and fried shrimp baskets, there are no «combos» on the menu. If you’d like your burger with fries and a drink you get to order them a-​la-​carte. Which means we’re talking just over $ 10 if you got a plain ol’ burger (no fancy toppings). Say What?!?
Faster (service): There are sit-​down restaurants, and made to order food, and those things take time. But if this is about perfecting basic eats, I expect a little attention to efficiency. Time from Order to Table: 20 min on the nose. [this is not speedy, kids]
No wonder there isn’t much of a crowd in here at lunch — it’s just too slow.
Stronger (flavors): Basic does not have to be boring!
Basic would be the understated elegance of a perfectly crafted burger, with a perfect balance of juicy meat to soft supportive bun. Nothing fancy, just good cooking.
Boring is uninspired, half-​hearted, grilled meat stuck on a sandwich.
[hint* they serve the latter]
I would advise any prospective burger eaters to continue driving down Fuqua to C & D’s Burger Shoppe and getting a real burger (albeit without mushrooms or avocado) in half the time, for less money while supporting people who can at least put on the smile of customer service.

This burger joint whips out some great burgers and i believe the only one in south houston to offer a bison burger. Delicous food and friendly staff.

I am guessing this place is hit or miss. I went there Tuesday and was over charged. They could not refund the difference, so they gave me a cookie. Strange.
They were out of buffalo, so I got a turkey burger. Not really what I wanted, but I was there and hungry. I added a malt and onion rings, since the onion rings were so good last time. The burger and malt were good, but the onion rings were cold and lame. The cookie that I was forced to buy was the worst cookie I have ever had– it was salty and not sweet at all, as if they forgot sugar when making it.
I thought I had found a good burger place on the way home from work, but now I am skeptical.

I came over here because I remembered a Prince’s burgers but this was there instead. Not impressed with the burger at all — should have listened to the other reviews! Place was empty, only 3 booths taken & one ended up taken by someone from the burger place. Also, the only music played during my 35 minute lunch was very loud Van Halen.
Burger was dry and overcooked. Fries were just on the wrong side of overcooked, crispy but greasy. They’d sprinkled some seasoning on the fries so I thought I’d get some spice but I couldn’t even tell what they’d sprinkled on it. Everything was just very bland.
The reason there is plenty of parking is because it’s not all that good. If you want a burger in this area, just drive a bit further down and eat at C&D’s.

This was seriously the saddest looking meal I have had in a very long time. We ordered the Bacon & Blue and the Adobo/​BBQ Bacon & Cheddar burgers, a Southern Salad, a Strawberry Salad, and a side of fries.
Opening the containers for the salads was a total disappointment. Chock full of iceberg lettuce, there was only a sprinkling of SOME of the other items that were expected and nothing remotely close to what was pictured. I expected something at least on par with other fast food restaurants. There was not even a speck of the red lettuce that was pictured, and only 3 very tiny pieces of green leaf. I literally could have cradled the strawberries, walnuts, avocado, red onion, tomato, and cheese in one hand. These were the topping for 2 full sized salads.
The burgers would have probably been much better if they had not been microwaved. The buns were so hard and chewy that they had to be removed on both burgers. On the Bacon & Blue the lettuce was brown and over cooked. The tomato slices were stringy and overcooked as well. The meat, bacon, and blue cheese were somewhat tasty but I was too underwhelmed at having to remove everything in order for it to be edible. The Adobo/​BBQ Bacon & Cheddar did have a decent flavor but again, the microwaved taste and chewy bun took away from anything that would have been slightly redeeming.
Overall, the price for quality was horrible. They missed the grade and should try a remedial course. And whoever wrote their mission statement should actually eat the food before writing about it.

This place is totally mediocre. The burger I had, while not bad, was nothing special, and left me wanting for Five Guys. I was actually surprised at how few toppings they had available for their burgers (again, hail Five Guys). The restaurant also had a really foul odor when I when I was there, it literally smelled like a mens bathroom as soon as you walked in – very strange, and definitely killed my appetite. I went around lunch time on a Saturday and the place was pretty empty, maybe like 9 or 10 people there, which is odd considering how physically large the restaurant is. I wish the place luck, but making it on mediocrity alone is a pretty hard sell in Houston…

Buffalo burger with ½ & ½ (sweet potato fries & onion rings) was really good. My wife had the bbq chicken strip sandwich with fries. My burger was great. And the onion rings were very hefty. Sweet potato fries were ok. Her chicken was pretty good too. Next time I’ll have the regular fries.

Terrible food! While trying to eat they were mopping right by my table with pinesol. Who wants to smell that while eating?! Will never be going back

Those of you who rated this wanna-​be burger joint above 2 stars need to get out more. So it’s big and airy. Sorry, but when it comes to food, big and airy mean absolutely nothing. Which is a shame, because that’s all this place has going for it. I was a little concerned when we walked in on a Sunday at around 4pm. Ok, slightly off hour, but the place was almost empty. We walked up to the counter, there were two registers and two cashiers. There was one customer being waited on. Do you think the other cashier called me up to take my order? Nope. The only reason I could see is that she was taking care of her two kids behind the counter. They, along with two others (who probably belonged to the other cashier) were running into and out of the kitchen, bathrooms, and pretty much had the run of the place. I couldn’t tell if I was in a restaurant or romper room. Serious turn off! LEAVE YOUR KIDS WITH A SITTER DAMNIT! SHEESH! CJ was right when he said this place has all the signs of about to go under. I think I know what it’s gonna be next! So finally the cashier finishes with this guys order and when we go to place our order, I find out she hardly speaks english! HELLO! By this point I’m already wanting to flee for the hills. So long story short, two ¹⁄₃ lb and one ½ lb w/​fries and drink came to over $ 30. These are Fuddrucker prices. But as we all found out, nothing, and I mean NOTHING like Fudds. The patty was bone dry. No flavor whatsoever. Oh, and the «big and airy» dining area was littered with dirty tables most likely from the lunch rush…3 hours ago. Avoid this place like the freaking plague. You will most certainly be disappointed. Save $ 20 and go down the road to Whataburger.

Place is huge, airy, high ceilings, lots of light, clean, new, modern… no complaints. Ample parking. Not that crowded at the time I went.
Service was quick, though the food could’ve gotten there a little faster.
Self-​service drink station is nice, you can order ice water and add a lemon wedge to it like I do if you want to avoid sugary sodas.
3 stars because for the money, the burger itself wasn’t all that great. The ground beef does appear to be fresh not frozen, but there wasn’t all that much of it and it was a bit bland… so I had to use lots of Tabasco.
Finished off with a milkshake, which was pretty good.
Overall though, not sure I’d really want to come back… there’s better burgers for the money to be had elsewhere in this town.

Pretty good burgers (although I am still on my quest for the irresistible burger somewhere out there). I would not go out of my way for this place, but it is not a bad choice if you are in the area

Very clean (because it’s in a new building) business inside and out. LIke everybody says, the décor or whatever you want to call it is a little different but pretty neat.
Parking is a plenty, you won’t have a problem during rush.
Why only 3 stars? I came here for the swiss/​mushroom burger, how do you run out of mushrooms when it’s one of your main burgers on the menu? You’ve only got about 20 items on the menu and that’s including sides *shrug*.
Friendly staff, cashier helpful, nobody leaning on the counter texting or looking like they’d rather be somewhere else, great.
I opted for the advocado burger with bacon ½ pounder. After cooking it didn’t seem like a half pounder but I might be wrong, everybody knows the ½ is BEFORE weight, it’s a sales tactic. Burger came out a touch over medium well but not hard. I can see why the other Unilocalers felt it was dry but I must have gotten lucky. The bread/​bun I remember was ok, pretty good but not that nice soft stuff I’m used to getting ad Fuddruckers. The bacon here is not flimsy, it’s about ¹⁄₁₆ approximately, not the paper think that some places stick to ya.
Acoustics I can imagine would be horrible here because of the tile flooring and high ceiling so don’t expect to come here for a casual lunch meeting, yes I know, people don’t go to burger places for meetings, but they do sometimes for the casual ones.
Climate, seemed like a steady 80 degrees in here, very comfortable, oh speaking of that the seating is of wood so it’s harsh, think McDonald’s type.
I forgot to mention about something I found for myself to be neat, the menu that is displayed is HUGE, it’s about 15 feet tall I lie you not.
Will be back someday, maybe in a month when they decide to get the mushrooms ordered.

The reason why you purchase a 30 dollar bottle of wine instead of a 5 dollar bottle of wine is that the more expensive stuff is supposed to be much better. I walked into Burger 101 for the same notion: more expensive burgers should be much better than the stuff you shovel down your gullet at a Burger King. If you’re thinking about going to Burger 101, save yourself some money and go to Burger King. It’s basically the same product, but with less inspiration. I went to order a burger/​shake combo, only to be informed that the shake-​making machine was broken, which i found rather ironic in that they have a huge sign in their front window boasting that very product. I suspect that they just cleaned the machine and were lieing to me so they didn’t have to clean it again that night. The combo dinner i eventually ended up ordering came with a combo of onion rings and «seasoned» fries. Save yourself some money and get some ore-​ida fries/​rings from the frozen section at your local grocer and fry ‘em up yourself. To add insult to injury, i asked for malt vinegar to go with my fries and the employees looked baffled as to what that was. So I finally sit down and wait for my meal. There are 3 Televisions, all of them being channel surfed by one of the employees children. I was forced to endure 2 minutes of the «Mighty Morphin Power Rangers» then 2 minutes of «Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs», back and forth, back and forth. You’d think a paying customer would rate higher than some brat needing baby-​sat. The meal comes out. The burger has more bread and condiments than it does meat. They claim their burgers are ¹⁄₃ pounders. I seriously doubt it. The meat portion of the sandwich essentially the topping, being secondary to the bread/​condiments/​veg. Two words sum up this restaruant: uninspired and unmotivated. Not going back unless they cut their prices in half. Big waste of time and money. Good concept, terrible execution. I half expected Gordan Ramsey and a camera crew to come rolling in to film an episode of «Kitchen Nightmares».

While it is nice to see that simple burger joints exist in Houston’s see of gourmet burger stupidity, taking a Burger 201 class would have been useful.

My first and only experience here and it was worth it. Like the name and business model implies, it’s burgers… simply. It’s back to basics. From the menu, choose your meat, bread, and toppings. I had the turkey burger and it was delicious. The price is fair and I would definately make a return trip. If you’re thinking you want a burger for lunch and don’t want greasy fast food, you need to stop in here. I ordered onion rings on the side and they were marginal. Not greasy, but very tasty. The fries aren’t too bad either.

Last night I had the opportunity to compare Burger 101’s onion rings side by side with C&D Burger Shoppe’s. C&D’s had a crumbly batter, reminiscent of school lunch chicken fried steaks fresh off the Sysco truck. They were OK. I’ve never been to C&D before, so it was my first experience.
Burger 101 I’d been to before, and was not completely won over the last time. This time they were much better. The onion rings were nice and warm – not hot, but that’s on me for showing up a little late to pick up my hot dog basket to go order. The onions were still a bit firm and sweet. The batter was savory but not overwhelmingly so, light, and crisp.
A note on the hot dog – the buns they serve with these hot dogs are great. The last time I ordered a dog here, the bun fell apart. I’m assuming since then they’ve went with a new bun, because this one held up to 20 minutes or so of hot dog steam, mustard, and relish, and still stayed strong. My friend remarked on the deliciousness and wondered where their bun came from. Don’t suppose you guys could let me in on your secret?
This is the reason I give places that second or third shot after an initially unspectacular first visit. They deserve an opportunity to redeem themselves, and these guys did a good job. Thanks, Burger 101.

Came here for a quick lunch after discovering that Prince’s Hamburgers was gone. The décor of the place is nice! Its pretty upscale for a burger joint; however they fell pretty flat on the food.
I got a regular beef burger (sounded good since they say its grounded fresh daily) but it was rather dry. That’s something I would have expected from a leaner meat like buffalo but not with beef. As another Unilocaler mentioned, they also don’t ask you how you like it cooked and thats a little weird especially if you’re charging more for a hamburger ($ 4.99 without fries/​onion rings). I ordered the hamburger with the half and half combo (fries + onion rings) and its pretty hard to disappoint with fries and onion rings but they still managed to do so. I also requested spicy mayo and honey mustard but the sauces tasted the same. Bf got the fish and shrimp basket ($ 10 !!!) and said it tasted fishy (aka it may not be fresh).
Lets just say, for people who attended public school in Texas, its reminiscent of the hamburgers we got for lunch except a little better quality. We know for sure that the burger here has meat.