25 Degrees

I’d been wanting to try this place for a while, and I finally was able to drag the wife there on a not-​too-​busy Friday night.
The #2 was quite good — have to love prosciutto on a burger — then adding pesto, well, that’s MY burger. Get yer own. Cooked to a perfect medium-​rare as ordered as was the wife’s medium-​well version of #3 (green chile, jack, chipotle, hold-​the-​avocado). The burgers are Plenty Big — go easy on the sides unless you are starving.
Speaking of sides, the onion rings and sweet potato fries were both very nicely done — not greasy, and very hot! I tried the Guinness milkshake, which while good, is not something I need to get again. The Guinness lent a hint of greater depth than just a regular chocolate shake, and was fun for the novelty, but not enough of a difference to repeat. The wife’s strawberry shake was VERY good, and probably the way I’ll go next time. The shakes are provided with the mixing cup — so you actually have two full servings worth (might split one for two people)!
As for the overall ambiance, we enjoyed the décor with the French wallpaper (I think of toile as having pastoral scenes, and this was just patterned — but nice), the semi-​dim lighting, metallic ceiling and general décor. The only thing to detract was the screeching metal music playing. I don’t mind contrasts — but this was discordant.
The value was alright — we expected premium prices for the premium burgers, and will return, I just doubt it will sit high in the rotation.

My perfect burger:
ground sirloin — medium
point reyes blue
bbq sauce
bacon
chili
with a side of sweet potato fries
I love the cheese & extras/​sauces options. So many high quality ingredients to choose from, so if you’re indecisive like I am, check out the menu before you go. The drinks are good but take awhile for them to make. I had a blueberry collins. Gin + blueberries = what more could a girl ask for?! Next time I’ll be ordering bacon wrapped dates.

25 degrees is a great spot for a date, dinner with a friend, or a late night bite. The burgers are tasty and not too greasy (the grilled cheese is pretty decadent as well), the fries and onion rings are awesome, and the drinks are just right.
Good service, reasonable prices, and delicious food. Love it!

Ambiance!
Whenever I am near CityNorth, I sigh sadly and wonder, «what can I do to get people to bring some business to North Phoenix»?!
This little gourmet hamburger spot is one of those places that give me hope for CityNorth.
Fun menu, and beautiful interior (warm tones. darn brown on gold and love the fab wall paper)!
The menu reminds me of delux burger in Phoenix.
I had a grilled sirloin burger with a fried egg and bbq sauce (very fun combo); though I didn’t ask for cheese, they put cheese on it, so that would be my only complaint.
The skinny fries were great :)

I’m a sucker for sweet potato fries! Any place serving this yummy delicious ingredient deserves my love. I think I can survive off this for 30 days… any reality TV show takers… huh. huh? Well, over food was really excellent. Gourmet burgers are to die for aren’t they?! Sorry Carl’s Jr… your $ 6 burger — really? I had the number 3 here — yeah sounds like a secret Chinese sauce, but better! My burger was cooked just right — juicy and medium-​well. The service was good and the atmosphere tries to re-​enact modern hip fine dining. Though you probably wouldn’t know the difference after a few bottles here :) — enjoy!

25 degrees Fahrenheit is a bit cold for me, 25 degrees Celsius is the typical San Diego day that I miss so much, but as any Chef knows, 25 degrees as it applies to meat is the difference between a medium rare and well done burger.
A few days ago I had a mediocre burger at Lush Burger in Scottsdale so when my trusty pal «Mikey» suggested we drop in and have a burger at 25 Degrees in City North I was a bit reluctant. After spending some time at the bar with the menu and cheerful staff, I realized my reservations were unfounded.
Getting rite down to it, I ordered Bacon wrapped Dates ($ 8) as an appetizer and we all know my feelings vis a vis anything prepared with bacon and/​or butter. Along came a plate of crispy bacon wrapped around sweet dates stuffed with both bleu and marscapone cheeses. Without the need of dipping sauces they were delicious, I could eat somewhere in the neighborhood of ten thousand of these little bits of sweet, salty, creamy tastiness!
So many burger joints get the fries wrong but not 25 Degrees, the ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ fries were on point! Skinny as fries should be, these hot little burger sidekicks shared a carton with their sweet potato brethren and arrived hot and full of flavor accompanied by garlic parmesan and spicy aioli’s (couldn’t get the Chef to tell me what was in it though I suspect red bell pepper and cayenne). The fries arrive before your burger so that you can judge them on their own merits.
25 Degrees’ raison d’être is the humble hamburger ordered either by number (as we Americans have been conditioned to do) or in combination with any of three meats, thirteen cheeses, fifteen extras (including jalapeño bacon and Hatch green chiles), and/​or fifteen sauces. My order was ground sirloin prepared medium, topped with stinky Red Hawk triple cream cheese (from Cowgirl creamery), crisp bacon (again, my love of this salty culinary necessity is well documented), and Hatch green chiles.
Few things are better in my opinion, than a juicy, properly cooked burger. This one had great meaty texture and was quite frankly huge! One thing stood out, the Red hawk cheese is very fragrant but if you can get past the olfactory assault you will find a tangy, rich cheese with a creamy texture that ties the other toppings together superbly.
If your in North Phoenix and in the mood for a great burger, a cool atmosphere and a tall glass of Sonoran draft root-​beer, make it a point to stop by, have a seat and ask for General manager Courtney Cowan. Tell her Tony sent you!

Good food here the cocktails are great, definitely a bit too pricey for my experience eating at these type of places. I would recommend it more if they were a bit more realistic with the price for the portion. Or maybe I just don’t like the Scottsdale scene.

25 degrees + date night = great night. We tried out 25 degrees tonight and really looking forward to our next visit.
We started out with some beers. It was a 1^st for me trying out a Dirty Ho which is quite the funny name for a Guinness and Hoegarden beer (similar to a black and tan).
We were on our way to see a movie so unfortunately didn’t have time for full dinner. We tried out 2 appetizers and both were amazing. The cheese and smoked meat board was really good. Definitely ask the really friendly staff for advice on selecting which cheeses you want as I had not even heard of some of the cheese options before.
We also got the tuna and eggplant that sounded odd but wish we had time to order a 2^nd plate. It was just that good.
Next time we will try out the burgers as those sounded really good. 25 degrees is a must visit!

This is a great place for a gourmet burger. The Executive chef Grant is awesome, I like to sit at the bar where you have full view of the kitchen so you can watch him work. The burgers are unique in their combinations of flavors and use a variety of cheeses not available at a lot of other burger joints in town. The different sauces (made from scratch) are also great to mix and match.
My favorite dish is the tuna appetizer served on tempura fried eggplant; in a word… decadent!
Full bar, good beer and friendly service also a plus.

25 degrees has become my go to burger joint in town. I love the décor of this place which has a old school yet modern feel that isn’t trying to hard to be trendy like some of the other gourmet burger places in town.
The Fries are good but not great IMO. I know that rosemary is a big trend now with fries but to me its a little overpowering but i must say that there onion rings are the best i have had in town. there big, golden brown, and dont fall apart on you. They have a great texture and the breading is lighter then other batters but still gives you a great crunch. I have yet to try the sweet potato fries here but I have only heard good things.
The burgers are the real deal here folks. They have just the right amount of fat content in the meat and a big. It is hard to get a consistent medium rare burger at places when the patty’s are so big but they always hit it on the head. I believe the buns are made in house and they are fluffy and a tad sweet which I like. When i’m here I usually go for a bacon grilled onion burger with Gruyère cheese and can’t seem to stay away.
The service has always been top notch and being from Oklahoma I love soda and this place has the best Coke I have had in Arizona and there root beer is homemade, on tap and tastes absolutely unbelievable.
If you are ever in City North you should definitely check this place out.

Okay so I went back today and wasnt in the mood for a heavy burger but they offer this yellowfin tuna burger with spicy aioli and crispy onion strings which sounded yummy. So I ordered it and it was fantastic. Filling but not heavy and packed with flavor. I dont know that I would order anything else, it was that good. Im dying to try their breakfast but alas this is the last weekend for that until summer is over.

If you are in some serious craving for some gourmet burgers, come here! You have to pay a little, but it’s worth it!
You get a choice of their pre-​made burgers or you can just CUSTOMIZE it! You get to choose a huge array of cheese and other nice sautéed toppings. What makes their burger extra good is the bun and the patty. The bun is sooo soft and buttery while the meat is so perfectly made.
After the first bite, I just kept eating away. I never finished a burger so fast. Hehehehe! =)

I really want to give this place a 2-​star rating just because it was so not worth all of the hype. I cannot believe how much praise this place has gotten in the local media. It is a cool enough space but it is up in the middle of nowhere on a dead street in a dead part of town full of no character or personality. Everything about CityNorth is fake and this restaurant is too.
I had heard about how great the burgers are so that’s what I was looking for. They have four pre-​made type burgers or you can «build your own». The pre-​made ones sounded horrible so I decided to build my own.
Sirloin burger — $ 9
some weird cheese that lacked description — $ 2
avacado — $ 1
horseraddish cream sauce — $ 0.50
So for my burger $ 12.50
Oh, you wanted fries? That’s another $ 4.
So almost $ 20 later, I have what one would expect (for the price) to be a damn good burger. I like my burgers medium. I expect some pink in them. I want to taste the meat, not the nasty char that happens when people overcook things. My burger comes out and looks good. It is giant and in some nice looking bun. Quite impressed. Until I cut it in half and see that it is more medium-​rare than medium. That’s okay. I’m not going to complain. Then I bite into it. The outside of the patty is leather-​tough. The inside? Uncooked. What gives? You’re a damn burger place!
Their saving grace was the fries. They were great. I should have just started and stopped with them. But even those didn’t live up to $ 4 fry expectations. No dipping sauces, no ramekins, nothing. Just a red ketchup and yellow mustard bottle like you had in your elementary school cafeteria.
Nothing about this place was worth the price. The quantity is there but the quality was not. Will not be back and will probably not be back to CityNorth either.

JD and I went with another couple on Saturday afternoon to check this place out. Its really cool inside but we started off sitting on the patio. Before our apps came out it got cold so we moved inside.
JD and I split an order of half onion rings half sweet potato fries and both were really good. What was annoying was that if you wanted dipping sauces you had to pay $ 0.50 for a little cup of each. You already have to pick your meat for $ 10, add cheese for $ 2 and toppings for another buck or so, talk about nickel and diming! Jeez. Everyone else got million dollar burgers, but I just picked one of the four «pre-​built» ones for like $ 12. It had avocado, green chile, and cheese on it and I didnt add anything else. Everyone agreed that the burgers were pretty good but hard to eat because A. the burger patties were quite thick B. the pickles, tomatoes and onion slices served on the side were also thick, and C. with all the other toppings ordered everything just kind of fell apart.
They have very few wines by the glass and instead serve it by the small, medium or large jug. Not a bad thing, just kind of strange. A medium jug worked for two of us and beers and soda’s placated the other two so not a big deal.
I’d like to go back and try some of their «snacks» and a salad. I’m not really a burger girl and should leave those to the people who love them.

We just tried 25 Degrees last night for a late dinner. It was good but I would not say it was great. It might be our fault because we went at about 8:30 p.m. but the music was so loud and and it was very dark. It felt more like a bar or lounge. It had bold wallpaper and chandeliers as the décor. The place is not very big!
My favorite things about 25 degrees were the sweet potatoes fries and root beer!
The burgers do not come with any side fries or chips so you have to order the fries on the side. The side order of sweet potato fries are $ 5 and are big enough for 2 or 3 people to share one order.
The burger was good but we had a long wait for it. We had already finished the fries which come out earlier.
I really like City North and will try again for lunch! The patio did look very nice. I plan to enjoy a a glass of wine and a burger for lunch on a nice afternoon!

Attention bourbon fans. You must come here. 25 Degrees not only boasts some of the city’s best burgers, but they may have the one of the best bourbon selections I’ve seen in this state. Really great, rare. Lots of fun to be had. If you feel like splurging, they have 3 – 4 kinds of the nearly impossible to find Pappy Van Winkle. It’s worth a try.
They are known for their burgers and wine. I’m generally not a fan of thick burgers, but these are perfectly prepared and made with sirloin and beef combination that is really well flavored. I always make my own (cheddar, bacon, tarragon remoulade), but there are about 4 combos you can choose from. If you get the fries, I strongly suggest doing the half and half with a side of the horseradish sauce, which is divine on the onion rings. I’m drooling now.
The bartenders and staff are also very welcoming and nice. They always make our visits enjoyable. My only gripe is that drink prices are a little steep, but that’s the norm at CityNorth.

Went to 25 Degrees for dinner on Holloween night for the first time. Gotta say that the burgers were really really good. You get to pick your meat, then the cheese, sauce and the toppings. I ordered mine with lettuce only — which is my new thing now. I put avocado, carmelized onions and this spicy aioli. We also started with the sweet potato fries — which were totally yummy. Our kids had turkey burgers and they loved them.
Hubby and I ordered wine — which comes in 3 sizes or Jugs. We got medium jugs (ha — sounds pretty funny actually) which was the equivalent of half carafe each — and not cheap. The medium was enough to last the whole meal.
When the check came, there was a little sticker shock. See the meat is all around $ 9, then the cheese is $ 2 and then each additional topping and sauce is $ 1 so the burger ends up costing you around $ 15.
If you want a very high end burger thats super tasty — this is a great place for you. But be warned about the cost — its going to be one of the more expensive Burger and Fries you’ll eat…

I am on a 2 star review tear!!! This place was just Eh. It was billed as a great burger from my brother. He let me down for the first time in my life. He said it was better than Burger Bar. Oh, Jacob…
I ordered a burger with Swiss, caramelized onions, and portabello mushrooms. This is something I get at Burger Bar and felt this was the only way to compare. It came out hot, which was nice, but for something that should have been full of flavor, there was just nothing there. I can’t explain it. Maybe I should have pulled a Richard Z and dumped the Dead Sea on it. The bun was nice, though. So I left the table after dropping $ 16 on a burger that tasted like nothing.
The restaurant looks nice. 2 stars.

I’m not really into burgers as I don’t eat beef. Jeane F. fellow co-​worker and Unilocaler was obsessed with bringing me here, regardless. It’s in City North which is a concept I do not understand.
The actual restaurant has a great feel– the bar is inviting, the giant booths are comfortable and the communal sink area is refreshing. They do have specials on booze which is a nice touch for an upscale restaurant. Strangely, the specials were on PBR… maybe it isn’t as upscale as I thought.
They have three major options of burgers so I chose the number three with turkey. It had avocado, green chillis and a chipotle sauce. You can make your own, as well, but it seems like it could get pretty pricey.
We also had the fries and onion rings to start (a healthy meal, I know!). I enjoyed that they came out in little Chinese take-​out boxes. The onion rings were top notch– not something I eat often, but I caught myself reaching over to nab one more than I normally would. The turkey burger was alright– a little lacking on the seasoning. Not amazing, but not bad either. Just okay.
Our service was great– our server stayed on top of what we needed and was friendly.
I had never been to City North and found this restaurant to be alright. if I found myself in the area again, and wanted to calm my burger fix, I’d go again. Not something I’d seek out, though.

Perhaps a bit on the pricey side, but sometimes you pay for atmosphere. This very sexy and trendy joint is located at City North (next to Blue Martini). I ordered the #1 sirloin burger with carmelized onions, gorgonzola, crescenza (soft, buttery cheese), arugula & thousand island dressing. OMG! It was massive and juicy and made me lose all dining diplomacy as the juices dripped down my arm! My friend built his own w/​hickory bbq sauce, cheddar and bacon.
On the side we had onion rings, sweet potatoe fries mixed w/​reg fries. Errrr… lemme make sure my gym membership is still active! LOL
Personally, and I know this will cause a small uproar, I think the burgers are FAR better than Delux! I never understood the Delux cult following anyway. There… I said it! :)
I even endulged in the Guinnes milkshake (Guinness beer/​vanilla bean & chocolate ice cream)! You know the saying don’t knock it til you try it?? This would be one of those times. When’s the last time you had a sugar high and a buzz at the same time off a desert… hmmm?
Bön Appetite!