Citizen Burger Bar

It’s alright. More like a 3.5. I came here after wanting a burger and saw they do lettuce wraps for no extra charge. Okay, sounds like worth giving it a shot. I also like their dedication to local, no-​hormone meat, etc. I came here not long after they opened at 11:30.
It was a bit weird: the hostesses escorted a gentleman who followed me to a table. At the moment I felt a stab of shyness so I grabbed a menu as soon as I walked in. Once he had been shown his table, I waited for the hostesses to acknowledge me as they chatted about something else for a few moments. Er, ok. No biggie, I was then escorted to a booth (score!).
My helpful server greeted me not long after I had been seated with water and asked if I had been there before. Nope! He gave me the schpiel (which I appreciated) and said he’d leave me alone for a few minutes. Great! Unfortunately he left me a little longer than I would have liked (just me perhaps) but enough time to look over everything (I guess that’s on me since it was my first time there but I had already looked at the menu online).
He took my order and answered questions about the serving sizes of their sides. I decided to go with a Timbercreek burger with a lettuce wrap and avocado with a side salad and an iced tea (they only offer unsweetened). My server came with my tea and said he’d come back with sweeteners. Not really sure why he brought them, unless he just wanted to give me the option (I wanted unsweetened tea anyway).
Food also took longer than I would have liked (I was hungrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyy). Other orders were ready before mine so I’m not sure if I was given more time to order or what. Anyway, food came out on a nice rectangular plate, with a pickle. It was all presented nicely (you can look at some the pictures others have taken to get an idea) and according to my requests.
Here is where it kinda goes downhill. There was barely any avocado on the burger. The side salad was tiny for $ 4. The burger itself was dry (I had asked for no pink/​medium well but it seemed well-​done. Timbercreek burgers seem to be like that as I’ve cooked them myself at home. I used to think it was because I was lazy or didn’t know how to cook them or had the wrong equipment, but maybe not). The lettuce wrap held together reasonably well (about 3 leaves on the top and bottom) and the burger itself was hot enough for me to know it had been cooked recently and brought out promptly (rather than sitting on the counter).
I was asked once as to how I was doing and that was just fine, I wasn’t taking that long anyway.
Server followed up by asking if I wanted anything else or a dessert or any iced tea. I said no, that was it. I got my check… and a new iced tea. This was just weird, I thought I had made it clear I didn’t want anymore, but I felt bad and didn’t want it to go to waste. I drank about half… and then noticed the streaks down the sides of the glass. I didn’t notice them in my first glass (was it the same one?) and I was happy to see the streaks were on the OUTSIDE of the glass rather than the inside. But I wasn’t all that thrilled and stopped drinking it. I wasn’t charged for another drink though.
Used the restroom. It was clean, but it’s DARK. I know it fits the overall décor (the dining area is also a bit too dark for me), but I didn’t care for this. Still, it was clean and adequately stocked.
No one thanked me or said goodbye as I left, but that’s a minor thing in the grand scheme. It wasn’t terrible and the service was good overall. But there were minor blips and the food just seemed too expensive to justify a return trip. If people wanted to come try it I’d go again but otherwise I’d probably get my burgers elsewhere.

Best bartenders, beef burgers, service around. The staff know their stuff and do an excellent job. Very friendly and professional, fresh, yummy burgers made correctly! Highly recommend food and bar. Found my new favorite spot. Patrick and gang rock. Beautiful women work here too. Very clean. Truffle fries are not too oily and my burger was perfectly prepared with the correct add ons. Beer and drinks fast and cold.

I really wanted to give this place more stars but after multiple unsatisfactory visits… the best i could do was give it 2 stars. The Location and the Décor of the restaurant was definitely a plus. Its in the Heart of Clarendon and there are plenty of TVs to catch all the games. The hostess and the waiters were very polite. Initially, our waiter forgot our drinks we ordered but after he was reminded, he made sure to come by frequently throughout our visit to make sure everything was ok.
The Main thing we came for was a good burger, and i Left still wanting a good burger. I had gone with a couple of friends so we all ordered different burgers. The burgers we got were the Citizen Burger (Medium), a Custom burger (Medium Rare) with cheddar cheese, and a Custom chicken burger with chicken/​Cheddar cheese and lettuce buns.
The burgers were all big but they were not cooked as requested. Both the beef patties had been cooked almost well done and had become dry. The Chicken patty was cooked well and the concept of substituting lettuce for a bun was creative (even though it has been done at other restaurants).That Being said, it does not separate itself from any other chicken sandwich i have ever had. As i had mentioned before, this was not a one time occurrence as i had the same outcome on a different occasion as well.
Overall, It would not be my first choice for burgers in Clarendon, but its a good place to get a few beers and watch the games. The staff is polite and its not loud so it creates a nice atmosphere to hang out with friends.

Respect the beef! Whoa, can we say «liquid smoke»? Service was excellent but we were underwhelmed by the food. We ordered the American and the Citizen, two seemingly basic burgers hoping to enjoy the taste and flavor of local, grass-​fed beef but were sadly disappointed.
We order our burgers median rare but got patties which where well done; not the end of the world. What was really bad was that the burgers themselves tasted very artificial. My boyfriend, who is very into BBQ and grilling, said that both burgers tasted of artificial smoke. Unfortunately I didn’t really know what the strange after taste of my burger was until I let him try mine.
Good concept but poor execution… The cows deserve better!

In my quest to rate the top 10 burgers in the DC metro area this place is in the top three!
The hotness burger with truffle fries is everything I dreamed a perfect burger meal would be and then some!

Hands-​down one of the best burger joint in this area. You can either make your own burger, choose from the signature ones, or even customize them to your liking. The meat was very juicy and char-​y (smoky flavor) which went very well with the rest of the toppings.
Service was also great, from bartender to hostess to waiter.

This is an update to the owner Andy, who responded to my review. While yes I was a former employee who was unhappy working there, that is not the basis of my review. As you can see in the past few reviews I am not the only one who thinks the taste and quality of the burgers is lacking and the service offered there. I am not the only one who has been «let go» or «left». The general manager was just «let go» and another server recently left due to job dissatisfaction a couple weeks ago. If the happy hour was truly the best «bang for your buck» then it would be busy all the time but usually it is not as another Unilocaler pointed out; this is a bad sign. The $ 9 burger you refer to is the «mini» which is half the amount of meat as the standard 8 oz burgers. Of the standard 8 oz burgers offered the average price is $ 14 before taxes. I also forgot to mention there are no milkshakes offered, which is odd for a burger restaurant. I think if the service was extraordinary it could help validate the prices but since it is not that doesn’t help.
While yes I was a former employee who wrote this review after being let go I am being honest in my review of the quality of food and service provided at Citizen Burger. Again there are much better options I would recommend exploring in the Clarendon area. Founding Farmers is great and offers unprocessed burgers near Foggy Bottom! I encourage all looking for a healthier, good tasting burger to go there.

Great location, great service, great beer list. Unfortunately, at the end of the day you are there for the burgers, and the most I can say about those is «meh».
In my opinion, the burgers (citizen burger and steakhouse burger) were both fairly dry and under-​seasoned. The French fries and sweet potato fries were good, but not exceptional. I expected the fried pickles to be in the burger, but here apparently that means one big fried pickle spear draped over top of the bun. It didn’t make much sense to me why that would even be an option.
At the end of the day, if you’re charging $ 15 for a burger, I would expect it to be delicious. Citizen Burger Bar doesn’t deliver on that expectation.

I really wanted to like this place. A burger bar in Clarendon would have been a great addition to the area but alas it wasn’t meant to be.
The place is very well decorated, clean, and they have happy hour everyday from 4 – 7 and all day on Sunday (although I’m not sure if they run all day Sunday happy hours beyond football season). They have several tv screens through out the place so no matter where you sit you’ll have a view. The food presentation was magazine worthy but it stops there.
Onto the food… I ordered my burger medium and it came out almost well done. It was tough, dry, and chewy. It seemed as though the meat was over handled (kneaded the meat for a while) or they grilled the burger and constantly pressed down on the patty releasing the juices, the fat, and flavor for the grill to taste but not the customer. My burger was sad and disappointing.
I would be open to giving it another try considering all the great reviews. Perhaps they were having a bad day. If the burgers redeem themselves, I’ll be back to update my review

When it comes to high high quality meat in a burger Citizen Burger ranks with the best: the best of the best.
First time in I ordered the Citizen Burger, pink, as they describe. What shone through was the utter astonishing quality of the meat and the cooking. That is a damn great burger, ranking favorably with any burger in the region… and we have some excellent ones.
Here is to Citizen Burger. Its a restaurant, a bar, a sports bar, a restaurant bar with very sizable comfortable seating for couples, families, two couples, a large friendly and well stocked bar and an obviously friendly knowledgeable staff.
Easily one of the superb burgers in the entire region!!! Can’t commend it enough

VEGAN burger is fabulous! It’s so different than most veggie burgers– worth the trip to try it. It’s a blend based with beets, and is super tasty. The bun was hearty and almost as good as the ‘burger’.
Atmosphere is fun and very nice. Service was average.
I’ll be back!

A friend and I went in for a late night meal and we left very, very full. We started with the fried pickles and while I’m usually a huge fan, they fry the entire pickle as opposed to slicing it and frying the pieces. It gets messy to eat when it’s whole and the breading comes off anyway. The serving is also huge! We probably had 3 pickles each and it didn’t look like we even made a dent in the dish. For our burgers we both ordered the big mini. While it tastes great, it was just too much burger… and we both came in pretty hungry. If you have a moderate appetite I would suggest the mini. We also ordered the truffle fries which honestly I can’t remember much about because there was so much burger.
The service was fantastic! We were one of the only ones there, but the bartender, who was also our server (we sat at the bar) was very attentive, friendly, and fun to talk to.

Yum! They have a whole spiel about their grass-​fed beef and local ingredients, and that’s all well and good but I care more how the food tastes. This place has yummy food and makes you feel like an upstanding global citizen! Win win!
My burger was awesome and my companions felt the same about theirs. Lots of choices for toppings and bun, but I stuck with the Citizen Burger. Cooked perfectly pink and although it was messy, it was worth it! The fries were great too, both regular and sweet potato.
I didn’t try drinks or desserts, but in the words of Arnold, I’ll be back.

Burgers are like ‘Homer with a donut’ delish, melt in your mouth uuumAAAAzzing!
We first came across this burger while staying in Charlottesville VA. So, we were so excited to find out there’s now one in our backyard.
A clean piece of meat, local ingredients and beverages, modern but cozy, warm and welcoming atmosphere. The service in Charlottesville was above and beyond, the server truly represented the brand. The service (hence minus one star) was lacking… the server didn’t talk about the apps, burgers or options, beverages… NADA! One of the male managers (? Or supervisors) was more engrossed in chatting and joking with the staff than keeping up with the pass, floor tasks, and guests. Enough about the service… the monster, juicy, flavor packed burger! I ordered the hotness… omg, it was sooooo good! Spice, jalapeño, cheese, chili, spicy saucy spread, seared bun… ooolala! Kept it healthy w some sweet potato fries, lol! Enjoy! CHEERS!

I like the burgers. They are a good size, decent price, and taste great. They don’t seem to be able to get medium-​rare down, but I didn’t mind since they were good.
The fries are also delicious — I tend to skip fries as they are never great but I would get them here.
The citizen sauce is amazing with fries

Great happy hour spot! I had a few of the $ 5 cocktails, and loved each one. The portion size for the bar snacks was pleasantly large. Great indie playlist on in the background. And, I think I lucked out with a great waiter who was attentive, friendly, and had great suggestions on drinks.
Can’t wait to come back for dinner.

How did I not know this place existed?
I’ve been to clarendon grill and mad rose plenty of times but never seen this place. They definitely need a flashier sign because it is delicious!
Everything is based around the «organic, grassfed, sustainable trend». The décor is very earthy, modern. Clean restaurant.
We got onion rings and the spread (hummus, chili, pimento cheese with bread and veggies) as an app. The onion rings were insanely delicious and the barbeque sauce and ranch it was served with was perfect.
They serve a lot of local beers and wine.
I got the House salad with spinach instead of romaine and it my goodness it was great. You would think of a house salad as wimpy but this was far from it. I love a hefty salad and it was loaded with spinach, crunchy bacon, tomatoes cucumbers. I was very happy.
Very moderately priced for a restaurant in clarendon.
The only sad thing is they only have TWO desserts which are birthday cake and key lime pie. NO milkshakes!??
I would still be back.

This place pretty much lived up to the my expectation. Great burgers, fries, and beer.
My date had the Cville Burger, pink, on the truffle brioche bun. It was amazeballs. Let’s talk about this bun, and how it is delightful and slightly sinful. Lightly perfumed, with a subtle woodsy taste. The grass fed beef was so succulent and juicy. All perfectly complimented with sriracha mayo, grilled yellow peppers, bacon, fried onions, and avocado. My only complaint is that the bacon wasn’t nitrate free.
The truffle fries… OMG — they were so good — and so simple. If you’ve never had truffles before (or even truffle oil) — please add it to your culinary bucket list! Crispy with truffle oil smothered in parmesan cheese. Love.
I had my own creation… a grass fed burger, pink, with a lettuce wrap, chili, fried egg, and bacon. Another winner. I was excited to learn that the chili is paleo.
All in all, we really enjoyed this place and will definitely be back.

I don’t know about you but, I like a good burger, especially a good grass fed burger. At CB, you can order one of their custom burgers or customize your own. Personally, I like to make it my own way. LOL
Burger, no pink, with jalapeño jack cheese, lettuce, jalapeños, dijon mustard, on a brioche bun. Or, burger, no pink, jalapeños, blue cheese dressing, lettuce, brioche bun. Or, burger, no pink… you get the idea.
(I love the way you state you want your meat cooked: pink, little pink, or no pink.) Anyway…
The truffle fries and sweet potato fries are delicious, and a great selection of beer and wine.
Oh, if you’re sitting at the bar and Ian is working, chat him up. He’s friendly, helpful, and and checks in on you often.

This place is a welcome addition to the crowded Arlington landscape but they need to work out a few kinks quickly if they want to stay on top.
They have a variety of burgers featuring local or black angus beef, chicken, a vegan faux burger, or a grilled cheese option. These come on a variety of buns and feature either an extensive topping list or pick one of their «signature» options (the menu reminds me a bit of Ray’s Hell Burger). I had the Timbercreek local beef on the briochte bun. The beef was lean, tasty, and perfectly cooked. The bun tasted fresh and didn’t fall apart which is a major plus. As for the toppings, I highly recommend the lean and tasty bacon which adds some flavor to the onions, pickles, etc. that accompanied my burger.
I ordered the fries with the burger and while not amazing, they are tasty and well seasoned. They are a large order so a couple of people could split these with a couple of these huge burgers. The fried pickles aren’t anything special, they are very heavily battered like a piece of fish at Long John Silvers or something at the county fair. They aren’t awful but are too heavily breaded for me.
They have an excellent beer and cocktail list (happy hour at the bar area too) so you have a variety of beers to choose from to wash down your burger.
The service here is friendly but very much lacking. I ordered the fried pickles appetizer and they completely forgot about them. When I asked about it, they had a panicked look and finally brought them halfway though my meal. To be fair, they comped them but they should have since I would’ve told them to just forget it otherwise. Also, one really odd thing is the lack of ketchup on the table for a burger and fries shop. They don’t bring it automatically and when we asked, they said «we’re working on it now» and a few minutes later brought one individual portion, not enough for the table. You shouldn’t have to almost make a Citizen’s Arrest to get some ketchup for your fries.
I enjoyed this place and will be back here for a burger and happy hour, hopefully they can work out their kinks and be around for a long time.