BGR The Burger Joint

My wife and I were in the mood for a burger, so we walked from our apt. across the street to The Burger Joint. We had been by this place for months and never stopped in. Man, were we glad we did! This underrated burger stop serves up some great burgers cooked to order and cooked up fast. My wife got the standard burger, I got the ahi burger and we shared some sweet potato fries. Both burgers were cooked to perfection and the fries were great. There are quite a few burger places in SD and with Slaters ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ right down the street, I’m sure the competition is fierce. If you’re not looking for a noisy, expensive burger stop with f-​bombs flying in all directions (Slaters), then head over to The Burger Joint, enjoy some 60’s-80’s music videos and a great burger.

I was sorry to see this place close down. I think it would have been better in a better location and with more marketing. I ran into it running an errand in the strip mall it was located in.
The burger I had was big. It was very filling. I really liked the sweet potato fries. It is a lot of food. The atmosphere was really cool reminding me of Corvette’s diner. I really loved the coke dispenser where you can get different products with the different flavors. That kept me occupied for awhile I was waiting for my food.

Why the hell did this place close, fml

They have an amazing turkey patty here! Not to mention that the meat portion is large and in charge. I have been here twice and ordered the turkey burger both times. It definitely does not disappoint. You can even get it protein style if you want a healthier option. Otherwise, it is served on a soft brioche bun that is superb. The burgers are all just under $ 10, but super filling. You don’t need to order any sides, but I’m sure they are tasty as well.
There are so many burger spots in San Diego, but this one if definitely in the Top 5.

This is an appeal to VEGETARIANS to go to BGR!
As a burger joint, this place is the real deal: massive portions, 100% fresh ingredients, shakes, delicious fries. The ambience is like a ‘50s drive-​in theme, but with an ‘80s twist!
The veggie burgers are 2-​die-​4. The ONLY other restaurant that even attempts to serve up something more than a thawed-​out Boca patty is Burger Lounge. But BGR leaves them in the dust. Both make their own veggie patties, but BGR’s is not only larger (although size isn’t everything), but it’s juicier, more flavorful, and holds together while being eaten, whereas Burger Lounge’s basically falls apart after being bitten into.
The BGR veggie burger is heaven.

First time to eat here and happy to say will not be my last. :)
I learned from previous burger joints, best to order a regular burger and go from there.
I ordered two «box sets» lunch specials. (burger, fries and soda) The wait time for the food was okay, not terribly long nor MCD’s speed.
The burger was cooked correctly, MR and I must say, quite tasty & juicy! The fries were also worthy and good amount to boot. But what made the burger is the bun. Wonderful flavor, toasted just right. Makes me miss Bergie’s…
The restaurant has interesting décor (you can see by my pictures I took) and the facilities are clean.
Looking forward to their specialty burgers…

Wow, can San Diego really handle one more burger joint? I guess so, cause they just keep a coming.
Read most of the reviews on BGR. Extremely mixed I must say. And fairly justified from my own experience.
Came here (place was empty, a recurring theme in reviews on here and not a good sign) with a friend who raved about it and I have to admit, I was served a very delicious and juicy burger.
Had the Black Truffle Burger. Truffles, mushrooms, caramelized onions and crumbled blue cheese. Tasty, messy and filling. Garlic, rosemary, parmasean fries… also hot and tasty. My friend, who had been here once before, ordered the turkey burger and we split the fries. We had $ 1 off and a free fry, all from Vons back of receipt coupon.
I won’t go to any burger joint that won’t cook my burger the way I like it as I’ve stated in previous reviews. I like it medium rare. I don’t go to Hodads anymore because they won’t do it. Hence, a dried out hockey puck IMHO.
BGR, will cook it my way, but just doesn’t know HOW to do it. Other complaints on here confirm it. We both asked for it MR, but both got extremely rare… pretty much raw. I had to convince my friend that she wouldn’t get sick, they make Steak Tare, Tare this way, but we didn’t order Tare Tare. But can’t deny it was very tasty.
After we ordered and were getting our sodas from the revered tricked out soda machine, the gal came up to us to tell my friend they were out of turkey burgers. How could she not know that when we ordered? She just got a plain burger after we were told.
The biggest problem here is the service. While the girl behind the register was nice, she didn’t know squat about anything we asked about. From the burgers, to the fries, to their VIP reward program… just about anything we asked her, she had to go ask their not so friendly manager. Really? You are a chain and you’re not training your employees in a standard corporate manner? Not good.
When I asked about their VIP cards, which they seemed to be out of, the manager (who cooked our burgers) came out from behind the counter and grudgingly wrote out a handwritten note saying to give me credit for the burgers when they got their VIP cards in again. Never once asked us how our experience was.
When there is the glut of burger places that now exist in SD, you need to really step up your game if you want to stand out. Taste alone is not going to make you successful. Customer service (and fair pricing) is what rules these days. And smart GM’s, or social media employees are reading the reviews on here and if savvy, are responding accordingly.
I live right near here in OB. I’ve got Raglan Public, whose burgers I truly like and are also organic and hormone free. I’ve got Rockys, which many not be organic, but are consistently delicious, simple and fair priced. I’ve got other choices is what I’m trying to say. I’ll be back and give them another chance. Just heard from a friend last night, that she is replacing the manager here, so for sure I will come back and see if they have shaped up.
But Daddy O’s Burgers did not survive here either. Could be location too. We will see on a follow up review.

Not bad! Been curious for the past few months; and let’s say curiosity did not kill this cat!
Yes it is dead empty 99.9% of the time, don’t be fooled– a gem in the making.
Why I gave 4 vs 5: a) music is not to my liking and b) I’d prefer it to be (a lot) less expensive.

How funny. I went to BGR with my in-​laws and son on the same day as Will W. (8÷12÷12) and had a nearly identical experience.
As Will states, this is by far one of the worst restaurant experiences of my life, and I don’t make statements like that lightly, so it’s not an exaggeration. There were a total of two employees working at the restaurant. The guy working the register informed us one employee had just not shown up for work that day, and apologized in advance if there was a wait. We should’ve taken that as a sign and left right then. We ordered sliders (4 small burgers) to share, along with fries, onion rings and drinks and the cost was over $ 30. Not cheap, but okay.
After 20 or so minutes, the sliders come out. This guy, who must’ve apologized to us fifty times (we felt bad for him, actually) by the end, said the fries/​rings weren’t ready, but wanted to get the burgers out before they were cold. That’s a great idea, except he was too late, they were already cold. They even got the cheese we requested wrong. Then when we inquired about our drinks, he got this scared, blank stare, and we knew he’d forgotten them. We reminded him what we ordered, so he went back and eventually got them out to us one by one. By this time the people who ordered after us already got their food – burgers, fries and drinks – all together. What was going on here? Still, I had to go up several minutes later to ask about the fries/​rings, and he said, as Will mentioned, they were ‘just dropped.‘
The kitchen staff was completely disorganized and flustered, and only ONE PERSON missing caused this? Something doesn’t add up. Not to mention, the restaurant was almost empty! Finally, almost an hour after finishing our sliders, the fries/​rings come, with a side of more apologies. The guy was really nice, like I said, and offered to get us anything else free of charge, but by that time we had wasted enough time there and just wanted to leave. I suggested a refund would be nice, but to which he had no response. We were there over an hour and got shoddy, overpriced food in phases.
But I don’t even think we had the worst experience that day. A table of women waited for their food for a long time, then disappeared. We noticed they were gone, but all of their food – burgers, fries and drinks – were sitting on their table completely untouched. They must’ve been so frustrated with the wait and disorder they left food they had already paid a hefty price for sitting uneaten on the table. What a shame.
It could really be just a bad day, which happens and I’m not above excusing unforeseen circumstances, but the problems at this restaurant seem to go far deeper than being short an employee. And I highly doubt I’ll return to this place again to find out.

I stopped by BGR after a failed attempt to eat at Phil’s BBQ down the street. Phil’s was packed (about a 1 hour wait).
My group was much to hungry to wait that long to eat and I am not willing do deal with hungry attitudes. So we stopped by BGR (Burger Joint) for food and beers. Beers was necessary so In n out was out of the question.
I ordered a Wellington Burger Medium Rare — (Briocche bun, beef patty, sauteed mushrooms in black sauce, lettuce, tomatos, onion and crumbled blue cheese), fries, and 3 Pacifico’s on draft.
First off the Medium Rare was really cooked Medium — Kind of a bummer. However, the burger was good, very good… not Umami good but pretty close. The mushrooms were off the chain and the blue cheese blended in perfectly. Its a sloppy burger but its good. Its also pretty large — about the size of a $ 6 burger at Carl’s Jr.
Abut the burger, the patty was good but not these most memorable, but the rest of the burger was outsanding (bun, sauteed mushrooms, and blue cheese)
Fries were a nice medium cut golden and crispy.
Beer was cold. Appartently they have a kick ass soda dispenser that can blend in multiple flavors… but i would know because i drank beer.
Expect to spend around $ 17 bucks for a meal.
The real rating is about a 3.5 star rounded to a 4 star.

Quite possibly the worst restaurant service I’ve ever had. Please read this before you go, I am not over-​dramatic, this is the honest truth.
It’s 12:40pm and my family and I are looking for a cheeseburger and stroll into BGR. When we walked in, there were no customers, we were the only ones there. For three cheeseburgers, a beer, and a soda, the total was $ 40 even. Fine. We went and found a table…
The time is now 1:07pm and our food finally arrives after asking and checking on the status of our order. The cashier/​server comes over with our meals and apologizes and informs us that our fries and onion rings are on their way and that they just «dropped them» in the fryer.
I inspected my burger and was quite confused, the bun was toasted, but cold. Whatever, it’s my first time here, maybe it was a thing they did. I took a bite and even the meat is cold, it’s clearly cooked but everything is cold. We all decided not to waste any of our time and just walked out. That was the biggest waste of $ 40 and time ever spent.

On a mission to try a new burger joint each week, my review is in comparison of other burger joints in San Diego.
You can taste the quality of the meat. The ingredients were all super fresh too. We both liked the thinner bun, but I’d prefer wheat to brioche. We both opted to have the mojo sauce on the side and were glad we did, it’s got a different spice/​kick that was more suited for the fries then the burger.
The fries were clearly made fresh as you could still taste the potato and they were nice and hot. No spice to the fries, just straight salt and oil, the way it should be!
Amazingly fresh shakes, I had the strawberry. They also have one of the «fancy» soda machines, but Pepsi, not Coke (booo!).
BEST part of the place, and the single item that would draw me back time and time again, the awesome 80s/​90s music videos playing on the various tvs. We sat for a while after we were done just to sing along! Reminds me how great MTV could have been!
No tables service, you pick up your stuff at the counter, but the service was still great and the place was really clean!
Overall, nothing to write home about, but still fresh and quality food.

Solid 3: not great, not bad. but definitely not worth the price tag.
First off, service was great. Came with a large group (~20) and found that they had pre-​arranged the tables for us and set out cute «reserved» signs. They came several times to double check when we’d want them to assemble our massive 9lb burger, which a friend had pre-​ordered as a surprise for our other friend’s birthday :)
Each order takes a little long to come out because they seriously make them to order and there are only 1 – 2 cooks. I ordered the sliders and the bf got the Wellington. He liked the mushrooms in the burger, to his surprised and said the burger was decent. They dropped one of my sliders when making them, so they came out and brought it to us later, wrapped up in foil. I was already done with my other 3 by then and was too full, so the portion is pretty good. Meat was whatever, and I honestly feel the only thing that makes them taste like anything is their «mojo sauce». which tastes pretty much like big mac sauce lol.
Onion rings were yummy, but were pretty greasy at the same time. They were about $ 5, which is a little much for the amount we got. but that could go the same for the burgers as well.
Our total for sliders, a burger, an order of onion rings, and a soda (peach sprite is the bizz) came out to be $ 25 which is way more than I’m willing to pay for a mediocre meal for 2. I’d say this place is pretty comparable to Smashburger or Five Guys so if that’s your thing, go for it.
Wow factor: that huge ass burger

I had a UT deal to get 3 of their $ 7 burgers for $ 10 but they were gonna give me a punch card to use once each visit. Seeing as my deal would expire the next week, I planned on coming in 2 more times that week. We ordered 2 of ‘The Burger’, sliders, fries and a milkshake for the little one. The total was somewhere between $ 30 – 35, I think.
I told the guy that I had a deal to use and I was gonna show him my phone. At first he was insisting that he needed the print out and I told him that it didn’t mention printing it. I told him I buy lots of deals and pay attention to the fine print so I would’ve printed it if that was required. I showed him that I had the # on the phone and he could just write it down and everything would be fine. He seemed to totally soften up and agreed to that. Then, he proceeded to take the entire $ 21 off my order! I asked about the 3 visit punch card and he said never mind! He turned totally nice!
As our burgers were cooking, I remembered I hadn’t added cheese so I ran over to ask for it… he said they’d put it on at no extra charge so I dropped the $ 2 I was supposed to pay in their tip jar!
Order up! Burgers were perfectly cooked, cheese melty goodness, fries perfectly crisp and yummy. My daughter enjoyed her shake and I forgot to mention they have one of those fancy Coke machines from the future!
They had 80s videos playing and I loved that… the place was also very clean.
Overall, great experience! I will be back!

I honestly don’t see the hype in this place.
First of all, they are highly inefficient. Having one cashier results in a long line of people waiting to order. By that time, I was irritated and considered walking out.
I should have.
I ordered a regular hamburger and fries. It was «meh» at best. The bun was rubbery and somewhat hard, while the large steak fries were bland. I peppered the hell out of my burger and fries hoping for some sort of flavor, but even that didn’t help. I’ve had better burgers at fast food joints– no joke.
I’d suggest visiting Burger Lounge, Smashburger, or Raglan.

I am super happy to give The Burger Joint a 5 star review after my initial low review. After my first review I was promptly messaged by the owner due to his concern over my bad experience. He offered to make it up to me and urged me to try their veggie burger.
Luckily, my gf and I showed up here on Memorial Day for their free burger day and tried it out. Their veggie burger is amazing! It is house-​made, and completely unique. It has a nice crispy exterior after being grilled, and has a nice smokey and sweet flavor from the molasses they use. I think the base of it is brown rice and black beans.
I’m looking forward to going back and trying the ahi sandwich. They owner said that they get fresh ahi from a local supplier and it is supposed to be amazing.
Also, if you eat meat, this is the place to go for a burger. They grind their meat daily in small batches and use good quality, no hormone/​antibiotic, aged steak. So you can actually get a medium-​rare burger and not being playing russian roulette.

The housemade veggie burgers are enormous! I was dying of starvation and after eating only half, I was totally stuffed. A good choice for starving vegetarians.
The works comes with lettuce, tomato, pickles, grilled onions, and mojo sauce. I don’t know exactly what the mojo sauce is, but I’m guessing it is a mayo-​based sauce, like the sauce at In-​N-​Out kinda. It’s good, whatever it is, and I’m glad they just put a bit of it instead of totally slathering it.
The brioche buns are made fresh in La Jolla, with a special recipe designed to absorb meaty juices from a medium-​rare burger without falling apart. Not applicable to the veggie burger, but very tasty nonetheless.
I think the veggie burger is about $ 8, which is kind of pricey for me. It is huge though, so you get your money’s worth. It’s just more than I normally expect to pay for a burger.
The french fries are $ 2.49 and they are awesome. Super crispy. A must-​have side order, and a good deal.
Compared to housemade veggie burgers in the exploding/​imploding San Diego burger scene, I’d say this one is on par with Bunz. Translation: At the top of the veggie burger game.

For a $ 10 burger and over a 15 minute wait, when you can hear crickets in the place, I better get an orgasmic burger. Yea I said it. It better be the bomb dot com.
The burger was decent; the service was pleasant; and the ambiance was super sweet (probably the overall star-​rating savior).
Let’s just say that there are better burgers out there for less money; however, this new lil’ establishment has quite the potential and while I don’t necessarily recommend you try this place tomorrow, I’ll be checking this place out again sometime to give it another shot.

Another gourmet burger joint in San Diego.
The Wellington — Flavor explosion is what it should be called. You get their premium, dry age beef a long with Roasted mushrooms, caramelized onions, garlic with a touch of mustard seed and blue cheese for around $ 9. Expensive you say? Well, wait until you take a big bite. The combinations of the above ingredients is like an orchestra in your mouth. Very savory and juicy. The only downside is that it’s a little bit too rich. They add a too much blue cheese in my opinion.
The Cuban — Another delicious burger. Bottom half is the burger and the top half is the cuban sandwich.
Fries — They are just ok.

BGR comes highly regarded from my other Unilocal friends, namely Dave M. and Alan B, so we decided to give this place a try!
I have decided that getting a burger on a Sunday morning as BGR first opens is a pretty clever idea. The place was EMPTY! The place is nicely decorated and we noticed that there was a guitar in a shadowbox signed by Dave Grohl. Pretty cool! Walking to the counter, we were greeted by a friendly BGR employee. You know, having good customer service is literally half of the overall experience when you go out to eat. I’m sure you already know this. The menu was pretty extensive, but I decided not to panic order, like I normally do in these situations. I went head first for their «The Burger», plus swiss and the works. Krystle went in on the Mini Sliders, sauce on the side and ordered us their onion rings.
As I was beginning to walk over to the soda machine, I noticed this ridiculous Coca Cola machine that I’ve never seen before! You pretty much can have any Coke product that you want from this thing! Talk about choices!
Our order came up and presentation was outstanding. For some reason though, Krystle’s mini sliders looked amazing compared to my burger. She complained that the bun was too big for the small patties. I argued that the bun that they use for the mini sliders were SO delicious, and I don’t usually go for mini sliders. Having the sauce ordered on the side was a good call, because you can never tell how much sauce they smash on it. Their mayo was a little tart, and very very tasty!
My burger is what I expected. Monstrous! The beef was cooked to perfection, but I some how could not get into the bun. I loved all the fixings, and they were fresh. I think I’ll pass on this next time.
Onion rings, to me, were bomb! Huge and you can not miss dipping these in their mayo. I got BBQ sauce too, but afterwards, I wasn’t feeling that. They also have fried asparagus, and we want to try this next time instead!
They had music videos playing on their TVs, that actually ended up turning out really good because some of the songs were oldies, but goodies. One was a live performance by Paul McCartney and friends for «Something» which really made for a great eating experience.
Overall, I left pretty happy, full and a BGR fan. Location is probably great, because there are a lot of competing eats in the same shopping center. We left paying $ 22, for our order, plus one medium drink. Do NOT forget to ask for military discount, which is 10%. Will be back again for shizzle!