Hamburger Hamlet

So no joke, the day it was announced that Hamlet was closing, a buddy of mine texted me and said that this place was closing and that the manager was interviewed on TV and said that they were going out of business because of bad Unilocal reviews! I totally thought he was serious and really freaked out. C’mon… GEEZ… IT’S A JOKE!!! (well, kind of a joke… the place is (was) very retro inside).
Anyway, I looked, and I was just punked by my buddy. The manager never said anything about Unilocal reviews. So I don’t take anything back.

Hey Pasadena, why are you so intent on letting our favorite haunts close or move out of town? You might want to really have a meeting about this and discuss it with your suits. Not much of a reason to hang out in Pasadena anymore.
And now Hamburger Hamlet is gone. For what? Another blah chain of some sort? Maybe another Walgreens? Or how about another mattress store?
Brother…

I am so thoroughly pissed that Hamburger Hamlet is CLOSING:
This is a travesty — an abomination. 2014 and all subsequent years mean nothing, now.

Walked around Lake during New Years Day and this place happened on to one of the few restaurants that was open, so we decided to give it a try. I ordered the Classic Reuben Sandwich and their classic strawberry milkshake. I wasn’t too impressed with the Reuben just because it tasted a little dry and the bread just didn’t do it for me. The strawberry milk shake was pretty good though.
My friend ordered a turkey sandwich with a bisque lobster soup. He enjoyed his dish, but thought that the bisque was a bit heavy.
Our server was friendly and did a good job in making sure our water cups weren’t empty. The food took longer than 20 mins to get to our table.
Overall, decent restaurant with average tasting sandwiches. Though I should probably try their burgers next time since it is what they’re known for.

Went to HH on my lunch hour — I literally work across the street — only mentioning this to let you all know I had an hour to eat my lunch. One would think an hour would be plenty of time to order a burger and a soda and eat the damn thing. One would think. Nope. Not the case.
Got there about 1:45pm on a Tuesday. The lunch rush hour was pretty much done. I was happy about that. We were seated right away.
Since I was on my lunch hour I placed the entire order at the same time to avoid extra wait time.
I ordered a soda and a Reuben with garlic fries and my friend got a Heineken and a Regular burger with regular fries.
Initially things were ok. The waiter wasn’t especially friendly, but whatever. He brought the drinks. Half way through the beer, we realized it was a Heineken Light. Not what we ordered.
Took some time to flag the waiter down to get the correct drink order, he finally brought back the correct beer and make a joke about the bartender being asleep. I get it, a mistake, it happens. No big deal.
About 20 minutes later the food comes. I started eating my garlic fries — which I will say, were pretty damn good… and then… BAM! My friend spots a nasty long black hair right smack in the middle of his fries. I knew it wasn’t one of ours because I have long blonde hair and my friend has super short hair. GROSS. GROSS. GROSS.
Here we go, looking for the waiter again. He comes, looks at the hair on the fries, apologizes BUT asked if we wanted a whole new order or just new fries. Was he serious? He was.
I requested a WHOLE new order — which he accommodated.
By the time the order came back, it was time to go back to work — late. So our lunch was boxed up to go. :(
OH! The waiter didn’t even offer a complimentary meal, I had to ask — which again, he accommodated. It’s not the point though, I didn’t go there looking for a free meal.
The service was slow, not that great and HAIR IN YOUR FOOD IS DISGUSTING.
I know others rave about this place. Not me. No Sir.
All in all, sucky place, they can keep their fancy indoor fireplace, I won’t be going back.

Call me crazy, but when I go to a place called Hamburger Hamlet, I expect to eat a hamburger!
I was here for a work function, and they had a mini buffet set up for us. I’m guessing the coordinator for our group decided on our selections, but it was a weird combination! First, there was a wilty, over dressed salad. Then it was on to the four hot trays, processed looking ham, steamed rice, steamed/​soggy veggies and an alfredo pasta — like I said, a weird combination. I couldn’t get myself to finish my food.
The service was good, as the wait staff was scurrying around to fulfill drink orders and take away dirty dishes.
I think I need to eventually give this place another shot and order a hamburger!!!

I’ve had breakfast and burgers here and have been pleased with both. Wait staff is very professional.
You get the feeling you’re paying for a much more expensive meal, but it’s actually very reasonably priced.
Love the classic feel of this place. The back rooms with the large booths and the arm chairs by the fireplace make me feel like I’m in an episode of Mad Men.

Notes from my Unilocal check-​in:
Service by Valerie C. is friendly & accommodating.
Alarm Clock Omelet was topped off w/​a Serrano Pepper pesto was a nice touch.
Wife thought her over easy-​eggs were too runny. I told her to order «over-​med» next time. She enjoyed her $ 1 mimosa weekends.
I never met a spicy bloody mary I didn’t like.
Sitting around the large fire pit is nice, especially on this rainy day.
Private lot. 1^st 2 hrs free.

Very standard/​consistent American food. Nice size portions and good service. I went for brunch and had the veggie omelet with hash browns and corn bread. The corn bread was a nice healthy portion along with the omelette which was full if veggies. The prices are also pretty average. Overall, I think that Hamburger Hamlet is just a nice option around town.

Long Standing, old school establishment that is an icon in Pasadena Area.
Been here a number of times, surprised I haven’t reviewed it yet.
Service — expect old school service, they do a very good job of making sure you have what you need. Usually very consistent.
Roadhouse Chili — Hamburger Hamlet, yet I start my review off with Chili ??? Well, I just love this chili. First and foremost, it is not over the top exploding with Fire and Flavor and all of that. But darn it, it is just wonderful and tastes so darn good. A great way to start the meal, might I advise, getting a bowl to share and let the spoons fly. it is basic chili. You have what appears to be 3 kinds of beans some corn and a tomatoe’ey taste. Consistency is just right thick enough to grab your attention away from a soup, but just a little run to it. What you won’t find is over the top spices with the Chili flavor jumping out of your mouth, or cayenne or any heat. Just a basic bowl of chili that everyone at the table is sure to enjoy regardless of your «heat» profile.
Burgers (you know, I know there are other things on the menu, I look them up and down every time I go in and darn it, it is Hamburger hamlet, just can’t step away).
Our Favorites :
Parmesan Burger —- the meat has incredible flavor and combined with the Shitake Mushroom, sautee’d onions and oooooh dang, the namesake Parmesan Crisp, you just gotta love it. Always great and if you like the Mushroom Burger aspect you have to try this with the Parm Crips to change things up.
Caliente Burger —- don’t let the name fool you if you are afraid of a little heat, cuz honestly, this one made be called caliente, but it is not. More of an ortega chili type of flavor cuz all you have is the Pepper jack cheese (which is not hot) and the Serrano chili paste. Just tastes so darn good if you like an ortega chili type burger. No Caliente, but Muy Bueno !!!
Fries — tell you what, if you are a big fan of any type of BBQ Potatoe Chips, then when you get your side, order the Mesquite Fries… you will think you have a bag of lays BBQ Potatoe chips in front of you cuz that is the flavor your getting. Something a little different and good.
Price, yah, by today’s standards it is right there with all those other fancy «Gourmet Burger» places and you are going to be set back about $ 12 for your burger. But it is very ample size and worth it. A while ago we all used to think it was expensive, now it is just the standard. So go get you one of the Big Daddy’s who started the Gourmet burger decades ago before it was chic and trendy to do so !

Lake Avenue: Pasadena’s chain district. Although at first blush such a title suggests that a lack of interesting fare will abound, let’s be honest — once in awhile you want something great tasting, good quality, and somewhat predictable. Being a new (and temporary) resident of Pasadena, I was excited to try out all of the delicious and trendy establishments, but during my first weeks I must admit that my explorations were put on hold and I found myself running into casual restaurants for a quick bite rather than leisurely playing Anton Ego for the night. This was the first of those places.
Hamburger Hamlet wasn’t terribly well known to me outside of several trips to USC football games during my childhood, and my memories were embarrassingly fuzzy. The restaurant’s fireplace, dark tables and deep red booths set a decidedly moody, almost Godfather-​esque atmosphere — atypical for a modern burger joint. But then again, this restaurant does not hold itself out as one of a gaggle of trendy, metallic (and terrible) Burger Lounges and Smashburgers — it is a full service restaurant, where one can come and spread his law books on a table, sip on a cocktail, and chow down without having to stand in line at cash registers and then play with wilted lettuce and color-​less tomatoes on condiment bars.
Cocktails are reasonably priced and possess heavy pours and delicious flavors (kind of makes me realize just how pathetic downtown has proven itself to be when a chain burger joint beats them at a Manhattan). Garlic fries are a guilty pleasure, though their sweet potato vie for a close second place. And the burgers — whether classic, teriyaki, or barbeque — are grilled to order, thick and delicious. The bun (the deciding factor separating a good burger from a great burger) is unique: light and airy, with a subtle yeasty flavor, it is more than a simple carb load, and an entirely delicious addition. Service is professional and attentive — treating parties from one to ten alike with the same care. With a cocktail, a ½ pound burger, and a salad coming to about $ 20 — and all of it extremely well done — there really isn’t anything negative that earns mention. The name may be a little goofy, and the atmosphere not quite what you’d expect, but in the end it just works. And I keep coming back.

If Hamburger Hamlet was my choice, we certainly wouldn’t of ended up here. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the one driving for lunch, and for some reason, still unbeknownst to me, I was outvoted? Next time I’m driving and going alone.
Memo to Hamburger Hamlet: have you ever taken the time to deconstuct your name and realise, that the word «hamburger» appears in it? It’s safe to assume after what I was served today for lunch, you might want to reconsider your name. The best part about lunch, was the drive back to work. That’s sad!
The restaurant wasn’t crowded, even though it was lunch hour, but it really didn’t matter, because the service was soo poor, lethargic, listless, comatosed, jus all around inert (me chemistry analogy: not readily reactive with other elements, like people). I would assume that getting a glass of water, shouldn’t be that arduous of a task, let alone request. However, 15 minutes to get our drinks, is definitely unacceptable, but who’s keeping track of time, this guy. Especially when three out of four drinks, were simply water.
I ordered a regular classic cheeseburger, with burnt buns; overcooked and dehydrated beef patty; wilted lettuce; macerated tomatoes; water-​downed thousand island dressing; and old ass onions (jus a tinge of sarcasm). Well, that wasn’t what I actually ordered, but it’s what I got and subsquently what the waitress got back. She definitely was upset that the cheeseburger looked so inedible and offered another one, however, I declined. The water was good, it even had ice in it.
I’ll give Hamburger Hamlet 1.6102 Stars, and out of the kindness of me heart, round it up to 2!

I just ate here for the fist time, although I’ve passed it a thousand times. From the outside it always looks empty, but on a whim I went with a friend for lunch.
Lunch Deal: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday buy 1 classic burger & fries combo — get the same combo for free!
It was a legit burger! Nice thick patty and grilled to perfection. The best surprise was the combo comes with a choice of seasoned fries– garlic, chipotle, regular, sweet potato… So good!!! Totally want to go back for lunch!

Honestly, I don’t know why more people are not eating here ALL THE TIME. I have been here for lunch, brunch, and happy hour, and I can honestly say each time was great. Seriously.
Let’s start off with lunch. They have tons of items, whether you want soup, salad, burgers, sandwiches, pasta, the works. I had the Asian Mango salad and it was really good. My mom and I shared an order of the potstickers, which were also warm and delicious. The slaw that came with them was actually pretty tasty too. My mom also ordered the lobster bisque and she said it was some of the best she’d ever had. And I had a bite of my boyfriend’s Napa burger: pesto and bread on the meat mixed really well.
Brunch. Hello, $ 1 mimosas? I am SO THERE. We also decided to split the alarm clock omelette and a stack of blueberry pancakes. The pancakes were the flatter kind, which was unexpected, but they were still really delicious. And the omelette was spicy and yummy! I wish they had given us more pesto and salsa for it, but it was so great that I’d definitely order it again.
There was no wait for either meal. And with a Nite on the Town Card, if you spend $ 40 (alcohol INCLUDED), you get $ 10 off. The card and discount are good for lunch, dinner, AND BRUNCH. Why would you not come here?!
Happy hour on Sunday evenings is low key and relaxing.
One of my new favorite restaurants. Hands down.

This chain started in the 1950’s and I think that is where they stopped. I felt like I found a restaurant partially frozen in time. Big red leather booths, big red leather chairs, old timey artwork on the wall, dark wood, dim lighting, a huge fireplace in the middle of the dinning, but with top 40 coming through the speakers. Weird.
Despite the décor being a little off putting this place wasn’t bad. The service was prompt, the food was decent, and the seating was very comfortable. I got the Hickory Burger. Sounded good because it had BBQ sauce, onion rings, and other delicious toppings. Sadly it really lacked flavor. It wasn’t bad, but nothing like what I was expecting. I also got the sweet potato fries. Way overdone doesn’t even begin to describe them. They were also somehow bland too. That is not to say it wasn’t better then a McDonalds burger, but it wasn’t by any stretch the best thing I have had.
I chose not to finish my burger, mostly because I am eating more mindfully (notice not healthier, just more mindful of how much I eat). I had my leftover burger the next day and it was awful. They patty was hard, the bun turned to mush from the BBQ sauce, and nothing tasted good about it. The fries also went south super fast. I threw them out.
I think what hurts this place is two main factors; their size, and their lack of knock out food. This place is HUGE. Like four rooms huge. They had a front area, a bar area, a back area, and a enclosed porch. Their clients barely filled the room we were in. It also made it confusing to figure out where we go to get seated. Maybe back in the day this place was popping, but now it felt empty.
The food was also not outstanding enough to justify the prices. It was good, but when you compare it to the competition it has today (Umami and The Counter just to name a few) it just doesn’t compare. The menu was probably very exciting and gourmet a few years ago, but now it just feels dated like the rest of this place.
I’ll probably come back for a happy hour, but I think next time I’ll pass on this ghost town.

was a hungry hippo when i came with my 3 best friends. Ordered a little more than we should but left happily full.
A good place to come chat with the buddies. The food was pretty standard, service was decent and bill was pretty cheap for the amount we ordered.
check out my pictures :)

Really looked forward to coming back here, it’s easily been at least 7 – 8 years since I last came in. The interior is much brighter (it used to be a CAVE) with a wonderful brick wall on the south side of the main room. We were seated directly next to the kitchen but the noise from the kitchen was limited.
Our waiter was very polite, when asked for suggestions he recommended the fish tacos, which my dad ordered, & the sesame ginger salmon, which I ordered. Neither of us ordered alcohol and stuck with water. Both of our waiter’s recommendations were excellent, my fish was perfectly cooked and our waiter suggested that I substituted mashed potatoes from the basmati rice, which was definitely a good idea, as I prefer potatoes. The potatoes were good, not amazing but still good. It also came with red bell peppers (yum!) and spinach which I gave to my dad since its not my thing.
Our service the entire night was flawless, all staff member were very respectful and helpful, a nice thing to find.
I ordered the white chocolate cheesecake which was a little dry for my taste but a very generous portion.
Parking in the lot behind the restaurant was VERY crowded tonight, parking could also be a serious issue during lunch.
Great experience, great value for your money. Nothing too fancy but a nice place to go for a quality meal.

Honestly, this is some damn good tasting comfort food up in here. I really enjoyed it today… esp. since we had a rather sizable sugar buzz going on from the chocolate festival we had just been to. Anyway, I decided to get a smoked salmon (lox to some of us) omelette, which also had jack cheese and scallions, which I REALLY liked, and it came with sausage links (probably the best I’ve ever had) and some hash browns (those were just okay but certainly edible). It was supposed to also come with corn bread, but they must’ve forgotten, and honestly, I didn’t want anymore carbs, so I said nothing about it.
My husband and daughter both ordered hamburgers… a hickory burger and a good olé’ American cheeseburger. My husband ordered his with onion rings that looked great, and my daughter ordered garlic fries. The garlic fries were OUTSTANDING !!! They were perfect just the way they were. No dipping sauce was needed.
We also got an order of calamari, which was lightly breaded and fried… quite good. I think everyone just needed something to minimize the effects of too much chocolate/​sugar, so we ordered this appetizer, but at lunch time, we honestly didn’t need the extra food.
All of us really enjoyed our meal here. We were going to try a new place but at the last minute, decided to come here because we knew it had easy parking access. I’m so glad we changed at the last minute and came to the Hamlet.

Came here for a co-​worker retirement lunch.
Food is a bit over price. Restaurant crowded is light even during peak lunch time. The food come out a bit slow. The rare medium cook burger is a bit under cook, has to go to restaurant right away after come back.
The sweet potato quite good but isn’t fresh at all, seem like been cook for hours. Not sue why they still raise the price despite was’n’t even that many people eat there, It make sense to raise price when there’s business, but when you needs new customer, the last you need is raise price.
They flag me for posting picture of their burger which is just crazy would never go back then.

Came here today for lunch with a friend and «Yay! I’m a fan.»
+ 1 STAR: MARILYN BURGER. 8 oz Angus Chuck (I learned recently that chuck = 20% fat). Avocado. Jack cheese. Tomatoes. Onions. Iceberg. Dijon Mayonnaise. And a pickle! IT IS SO DELICIOUSSSSSSSS.
+ 1 STAR: GARLIC FRIES. I am always wary of getting garlic fries because several places I have gone to just dump in some fries with some garlic and that’s it. The fries don’t absorb any of the garlic at all and it’s very disappointing. But not this place. The fries actually are garlic-​y! LOVE IT. Delicious with ketchup and they compliment the burger well.
+ 1 STAR: FREE PARKING. There’s a parking lot in the back that the businesses on the block share that is free for 2 hours. It’s $ 1/​hr afterwards I think if you want to stay longer. Free parking is awesome.
+ 1 STAR: AMBIENCE/​DECOR/​SERVICE: It’s a really nice restaurant! It has that classic-​old-​restaurant feel and it’s very large. The room that I was in had a fireplace and cozy chairs around it. And they have coathooks by every table! I like the décor. And the service was great. They are very nice and friendly.
So overall four stars. The place is a bit on the expensive side, but the food is definitely worth it. I definitely plan to come back to try their happy hour as well: D