Bistro Burger

My least favorite Bistro Burger location.
The layout sucks. The space is incredibly narrow, so when the long lines form at noon, most of the tables and chairs are crowded by those in line. Getting a seat during the 12 o’clock hour is a real challenge.
It’s loud and crowded. You’ll wait close to half an hour for your order. Ugh, no thanks.
The only thing that bumps a potential 2 star to 3 is that they use Estancia free-​range beef. Kudos for that.

Had I known about the Unilocal special I would have done it!
Their garlic fries are super tasty! I met my mom up for lunch here. You order, you seat yourselves, they bring you food. Noms. And the guy that brings your food is so sweet.
They seem a little understaffed but I guess you can blame it on the economy. Their burgers are good. I had the Pineapple, Cheddar Burger and my mom had the Mushroom Chicken Burger. Both were delish. Their buns are super soft (hehe) and everything was tasty!

I couldn’t quite figure out what I wanted for lunch yesterday until I remembered Bistro Burger, located just a few blocks from my office. I walked in and ordered the Cheeseburger Royale with Gorgonzola and an order of Frings (Fries & Onion Rings.) I think the total came to about $ 10 and change.
Meh… the food was decent, but I remain unimpressed. I thought the burger was very sad and I’m actually somewhat shocked they don’t put any kind of sauce or dressing on it. The rings and fries were both somewhat cold and soggy.
I won’t say I’ll never eat here again, mainly because of the convenience factor. Still, it was a very disappointing meal.

I think it’s wise to know a little about a place before you decide to spend your money and consume their product. This is helpful for many reasons but most importantly because you will be disappointed less often. If you go into Mc Donalds expecting Houston’s food and service it will obviously be a let down. I assume that this must be at least partly why there were so many 1 & 2 star reviews.
Bistro Burger’s name explains alot if you’re paying attention. It’s a Bistro! Meaning you order at the counter and the food is brought to you. Everything else is self service and made very easy for the guests to find and help themselves to any and everything they might need for their burgers, sides, and sodas. Still people kept asking the employees dropping off food for napkins, refills, straws, etc (which to their credit the staff did without the slightest show of annoyance).
Anyways, my rantings about 1 star customers aside, I like Bistro Burger. Their grilled Chicken Sandwiches are my favorite. The chicken is never over cooked or dry, and always has that BBQ/​hickory «grilled» taste to the meat. The burgers are quality organic and extremely good for a Bistro style burger spot. I love the fries, both regular and curly. Even better is that if you mention Unilocal you get the fries, onion rings or other small side for free!
Also Madison was able to happily doze on a pile of french fry crumbs in my lap while I read for awhile after I ate. They are completely dog friendly (I kept her contained to my lap or her bag, I’m not sure if they’d be as hip if she was «out and about»). So you know that means my rating is a 4.5 with the extra .5 stars for Fido’s everywhere!

I always pass by Bistro Burger on the way to work and it always looks/​sounds tempting. Unfortunately, it didn’t really live up to my expectations.
ATMOSPHERE
The restaurant itself looks fancy on the outside but it felt really cheap inside. Not only was it stuffy, but it also felt a little dirty (the wooden tables were sticky, the condiment bottles were disgusting, and there were some flies buzzing around).
FOOD
They have a pretty extensive menu and it’s nice that they offer vegetarian options, as well as chicken burgers!
My friend and I ordered:
1) California chicken burger with a side of regular french fries.
2) Vegetarian chili
The portions were big: the chicken patty was big and it came with a mound of alfalfa sprouts. I enjoyed the avocado and the jack cheese and appreciated that it didn’t fall apart like most burgers do when I devour them :) The fries, however, were a major disappointment. They were too greasy and I felt gross eating them.
My friend said the veggie chili was okay– nothing special.
Overall, this place was disappointingly deceiving and not worth the money. You can find better food around the area.

Went to see a performance at Punch Line Comedy Club and stopped in to this establishment for some food before the show.
As a big burger lover, I must say they had a decent selection of burgers to choose from. I ordered the Western Burger + onion rings with a side order of garlic fries. The first thing I noticed when I received the burger was that there was almost no grease dripping from the burger so that was a plus. The burger overall tasted better than average but was missing a little something that would really separate itself from other burger establishments. As for the side, the garlic fries tasted ok but I have definitely had better. Some of the fries were soft and had plenty of garlic on them while others were simply greasy.
Wait staff was pleasant and they even threw in the onion rings in my burger for free. Overall, for the price I would recommend Bistro Burger but would say that the burger is only better than average.

Cheaper than other establishments in the area, and yummier than Taco Bell or Subway. I had the Paris chicken burger with melted brie and mushrooms on a wheat bun. So good! The mushrooms kept slipping out much to my consternation but if you get a bite with a bit of everything, it is like heaven in your mouth.
The curly fries are pretty good too :)
A good alternative to the yucky stuff nearby.

This place was so bad that I am debating whether it is worthy of an anecdote that only I can weave.
NAAAAT…
I know the smile that stretches from ear to ear as you check your Unilocal Home Page and see that green font of «new reviews» above my thumbnail. For giving me that satisfaction, I will now give you yours.
Meeting up with le chez for lunch, I met him up at the Embaracerdo. We made grand plans to make a trek for some taco truck tacos as the pockets of le chez’s pockets have been threadbare lately. I note that this day, the weather was easily in the low 40s. Seeing him glide down the elevator in only a sweater, red rudolph nose with snot dripping out made me realize that lady luck did not smile down upon this man. Here was a man in the newly minted new year, sick as a dog, and when asked, devoid of a coat. I must mention… his warmest coat was stolen from a bar. Shivering, he told me that he could not make the journey for burritos as it was physically impossible and being adventurous, we implicitly agreed that we would travel… across the street.
Falafel…been there
Foccaccia Grill… been there and door was open and letting in too much cold air so le chez quickl vetoed it
Our last option was Burger Bistro. You would think with the «Bistro» attached to the name that these would be gourmet burgers. Walking in, I couldn’t help but notice the seating. I liked how in the middle of the restaurant was a huge rectangular table that promoted communal seating. Sometimes its good to knock elbows with your fellow yeomen instead of solitude. That was pretty much its only positive.
I ordered the pineapple cheddar burger with fries while lil cheezy ordered the bacon cheeseburger royale. The burger came out with an appealing setting. Everything was neatly placed so at least I knew this burger wasn’t something thrown together. Taking a bite, I nearly cried. I basically paid 10 bucks for a DC burger. (DC=dining commons at UC Davis) I loved the DC burger, and although it was an instant laxative, nourished me for 4.25 years. However, those penny pinching days are over; I thought I rid myself of those burgers forever, or so I thought. The patty was razor thin and the bun was a safeway toasted bun. It got easily soggy and the burger in its entirety was extremely salty. Oh yah… nothing like literally 7 – 8 french fries to finish the meal. There was no taste in the meat except an unethical amount of sodium and the taste of a pineapple ring straight out of the can. I left feeling extremely unsatisfied and extremely hungry. Serves me right that I let le chez pick out the place… misfortune only follows.

There’s smoke on Drumm Street, and where there’s smoke there’s … Bistro Burger.
At least this one still has the smoke. It’s been here a couple of years, and today I finally decided to check it out. It was full of loyal customers, wall to wall, but the service was fast. $ 10.29 bought me a real hamburger, unimpressive fries, and a diet Coke. Then there was the tip to clear the table.
Seriously, I was wishing I had gone to Burger Gourmet, where I can get a better hamburger, better fries, and the same Coke for $ 2 less.
On the up side, I ran into one of my favorite Unilocalers, and we had a little catch-​up conversation on the sidewalk.