Flat Top Burger Shop

I’m writing this review based on the many times I ate at Flat Top — which is now closed. The burgers were excellent, especially the grass fed though either patty type was tasty. They had a lettuce wrap option too. So when I was trying to watch the calories but craved a burger (yeah I know, but 200 – 250 calories saved is still something). Their fries were delicious, some of the best in Austin and the onion rings — my favorite in the entire world. I hope they come back or open somewhere else. This location was walkable from my house so it may not be as convenient but I’d still go. They staff was also great. I’d bring my dog sometimes with me and they also would give him something special.
I’ve read the people responsible for El Chilito opened Flat Top. To those people, if you are reading this, please bring Flat Top back.

Good burger, excellent shake. Let’s start with the burger, which didn’t disappoint but didn’t carve out any specific memory niche. It’s okay – I’ve had some fairly transcendental burgers. Thumbs up to Flat Top.
The strawberry shake! This might be the first time in Austin I’ve had a shake with real blended strawberries in it! Excellent taste, and the inclusion of real fruit in their shakes is something of an underrated factor in the authenticity of a shake. Other restaurants use strawberry flavoring with no fruit – but the fruit makes all the difference in the world. It’s worth coming to Flat Top just for their strawberry shake.

Gotta love the grass fed beef option. If you want gluten free, get your burger in a lettuce wrap. Best shakes on the East Side. Long live Flat Top!
Update: Flat Top short lived. Ahora ese lugar se llama El Sapo. Que nombre!

Another stop on my never-​ending Austin burger quest. First bonus points goes to Flat Top having grass-​fed options. The burger was pretty good — certainly not the best burger I’ve had, but not the worst either. The patty was manageable — not too thick and not too try. The bun was meh. As a note — the «junior» hamburger is a normal-​sized burger! Unless you are as hungry as a monster, you won’t need the regulars-​sized burger. The fries are huge, so again, unless you eat obscene amounts of food, it’s doable to get one to share. The ambiance is great — lots of hipsters, but very laid-​back. Love the indoor-​outdoor seating and funky lighting.

Cool place. Looks like it used to be a service station. Burger stand, but also has a sit down for drinks. They cook the burgers and sides quick. The burgers are either regular beef or grass fed.
I got a grass fed burger with bacon. The burgers are fairly thin, but tasty. Only problem I had was I added bacon with everything and bacon was missing. I took it back and they added, but then I realized tomato was missing, didn’t have time to ask for it, though. Burger tasted pretty good, but not sure of the difference in taste from regular beef.
I didn’t try the fries or onion rings. But I spoke with other customers there and was told fries were good.

Wanted to try out the grass-​fed cheeseburger for a long time since this place was right across the street from my workplace. Maybe it was the 100 degree heat but I wasn’t so happy about the steep price that I got for ordering a standard grass-​fed cheeseburger.
I won’t lie though; the burger was delicious and is surprisingly one of the best I’ve had in a long while. It’s nothing fancy though and unfortunately, the burger was far from filling (compared to the numerous other places I’ve eaten around in Austin). Frankly, a pricey burger that doesn’t fill a lunch sours my need to ever come back. On the plus side, the outdoor eating area is fairly neat (considering the place used to be a gas station) and the service is pretty quick and friendly. Maybe I’ll give this place another shot but I think I’ll stick to other places to get my lunch in.

Since Austin is known for its foodies, I expected more. Fail. The fries were the best thing. Sitting outside wasn’t awful either. Nice atmosphere and friendly staff.

If you’re looking for an honest and good burger, you’re in the right place. I got the grass fed burger patty with tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, bacon, onions, the works basically and a side of their onion rings. It was a super mighty delish burger, for real. I ate the whole thing and didn’t feel super gross afterwards. You basically order at the window and wait a bit and voila! Your burger arrives!
Now, it’s no super gourmet burger joint so don’t come expecting fanciness, but they serve up some good ol’ fashioned burger and a giant side of fries and onion rings. There’s also a bar next door that is pretty legit so check ‘em out!

I was promised a delicious grass-​fed cheeseburger on my visit to Flat Top and I was not disappointed. The burger was excellent.
Flat Top Grille is a roadside burger joint that not only serves up delicious burgers, handcut fries and shakes… there is also a full bar along with a few TVs for watching games.
The place is all open air so be prepared to deal with the heat on a hot day (though there are large fans set up).
This place is great, check them out!

You can taste the mediocrity. Onion rings were terrible. Not a fan of that kind of dry batter. The grass fed burger was average at best. This place is cute but overpriced. The chocolate shake tasted like soft serve with some milk. It wasn’t the worst but not great. It was also quite overpriced for not being that good. For a burger, fries and an iced tea it was a little over $ 13.

We recently moved in the area from the S. Lamar area and were looking for a close burger place and came to Flat Top.
I really dig the fact they re-​purposed the an old garage to give it a real open feel.
My girlfriend had the jr. cheeseburger and I had the jr. chicken burger w/​cheese. They were decent, but for a price that is slightly below hopdoddy’s I expected a little more flavor to the meat as it was a bit dry .
We additionally bought some onion rings, which I felt had no taste at all. Maybe it was the batter, but I expected to at least taste something with the onions and yet I got nothing.
I may give it one more try as the milkshakes do intrigue me, but due to the price I’m in no rush.

As the flat top was a popular hair style in the American 50’s, Flat Top Burger Shop brings you back to the no frills burger of days gone by.
The burgers with chopped onion that are thin and cooked on a flat top grill: That’s what it’s all about, Cunningham! The regular is a double. The meat tastes good. Nothing too special about the buns. Overall, it’s the classic all american greasy burger you have tasted everywhere. You don’t get fancy recipes or variations here.
Really friendly and caring staff.

I love this place! It’s a convenient location in an old time gas station building. The prices are not bad, compared to most burger places.
Here you can get hand cut fries that are delicious and hand formed patties. Nothing frozen from what I can tell.
They also have an option for grass fed beef… which is a lot healthier and still great flavor.
Definitely one of my favorites in the neighborhood, I will be back…

I stopped at Flat Top for lunch. I often pass by the location while commuting and I have always wanted to give it a try.
I gave the grass-​fed double cheeseburger a taste. Definitely a good experience. The burgers get a little crispier than burgers from P-Terry’s or Burger Tex. You get a bit of crunch around the edges. It was a delicious surprise.
The burgers are definitely juicy. I got it all the way with tomatoes and onions and it was already dropping some sauce out of it. You could tell it was going to be good.
I also gave the onion rings a try. I didn’t enjoy them as much as the burger. Don’t get me wrong, they tasted good, but it was kinda awkward how the batter didn’t really adhere to the onions. There were a lot of bites where I was just eating un-​battered onions.
I did notice that they have a little bar setup on the right side of the place. Could be a cool place to chill and catch some ESPN during the day. I took my order to go though.

Sooo good. Cheaper than gourmet, high quality, love the onions in the burger.
Way better than traditional fast food but less expansive than the swanky places in town.

We’ll be back for more. The grass-​fed burgers were great, the fries crisp and full and the onion rings delicious. And the servings? Generous. No there is no wait staff and there isn’t any carpet in this renovated garage. Just good food, cold beer, fair prices and less than 10 min from the Capitol and no Austin attitude. Like I say, we’ll be back.

So, just down the I-​35 access road is a Short Stop. The burgers are exactly the same and much cheaper.
The shakes here are ok, but, because they don’t make me poop gold, I feel like they might be a little overpriced.
The onion rings appear to be made from scratch, but were super greasy.
With there being a Sonic close and Short Stop just up the road, I’ll pass this one by.

Flat Top is another contender in the «less is more; no we’re not gourmet» burger arena. I get it that Flat Top isn’t trying to be a gourmet foodie hotspot so I don’t judge them on that, but they don’t do anything to set them apart from P. Terry’s either. Well, maybe the grass fed beef is a nice addition.
Grass fed beef brought us here for lunch and I think it does make a difference. The meat was seasoned well too. (Maybe a tad bit too much; let the beef sing for itself.)
Flat Top subscribes to the «thin patty» philosophy (so sad) but the quality and flavor almost make up for it. The physical location is nice & unassuming, built into a retrofitted auto-​mechanic shop. Big roll up doors allow the wonderful outside to become the wonderful inside.
Everything is clean and new. I think they’re still in their honeymoon period as far as restaurant space goes.
The burgers don’t come with many options.
Cheese or no cheese (American)
Single (¼lb) or double (½lb)
Grass fed or regular ground chuck (⁸⁰⁄₂₀).
Toppings: Lettuce, Tomato, Pickles, Mayo and Mustard. … And that’s it! (You can add Jalapenos for a few cents more).
These burgers won’t blow your mind, they won’t blow your socks off and they won’t blow you away; BUT they’re not bad burgers in a good location. A perfectly fine choice for a Wednesday lunch, I say.
The fresh-​cut fries are pretty good but they’re a bit on the small side. (At least they’re not battered).
If you like P. Terry’s, you’ll probably like flat top, although P. Terry’s is more in line with the prices I’d expect. Burger, fries and _​no drink_​set me back $ 9 and change. At P. Terry’s that same combo WITH a drink would be $ 6/​$ 7.
Anyway, it’s a good lunch spot for satisfying a basic need (food –into– belly) and the natural beef is a huge plus.
Room for improvement? Yes.
1) American Cheese. What gives with that. C’mon guys. Step up your game
2) ½ pound burgers should equal ½ pound patties. (Not 2×¼ pound patties).
3) Thicker, more legit fries (potatoes that taste like potato!)
4) Everything is «priced up» for what it is.

Flat Top was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I ordered the ½ lb hamburger with everything but bacon and mayo on it, and my boyfriend had the ½ grass fed burger and fries. The fries were money. Thick-​cut and salted just right, some were crispy and some were limp. That’s how I like it. The burger, however, was kind of disappointing. The hamburger patties were burnt, but there were a couple of bites that were ok. I asked my bf how his burger was, and he said it reminded him of Sandy’s. So there you have it.
The burger shop is located in what looks like a mechanic’s garage, which was repurposed and now houses their kitchen, an eating area inside the garage part with picnic tables, and restrooms. There are about 10 parking spaces, and you walk up to the window to order. Their menu is really simple; they have burgers, grass-​fed burgers ($ 1 more), chicken «burgers», and vegetarian burgers (they said they stopped doing the vegan burger and are now just doing vegetarian).
To sum it up, I don’t think I would go out of my way to eat here again, as Sandy’s is a cheaper and safer bet, but if someone were buy me a burger from here I wouldn’t say no. I would definitely steal their fries, though.

It occurs to me that ordering a vegan/​veggie burger in a dedicated burger joint must be like ordering a non-​alcoholic beer in a brewery or dedicated beer pub — as in, what’s the point? But if they’re offering it on the menu, I’ll give it a shot, and maybe one day I’ll be blown away by something unexpectedly great; unfortunately, the vegan green chili burger here didn’t quite do it for me, but the place itself did — I thought Flat Top was really, really cool.
I’m pretty sure the process and procedures here are modeled after its corporate cousin El Chilito across the street, a business exercise using burgers instead of tacos. The point is while I’m by no means a native Texan, I am an unabashed romantic — and Holy Last Picture Show, this place is everything I’ve ever imagined a small town Texas burger place would be like. Maybe that’s the point of this place.
From the walk-​up window to the picnic tables in the converted garage bays to the country music tunes twanging in the background, I found it hard not to like Flat Top. And when the lovely Kana at the window called me out for using the name «Dave» on my order, we began cheerfully chatting why both of us do that, and agreed most people just can’t seem to pronounce or spell our real names. And during this entire conversation, I kept thinking, where else would I be having this repartee at? A McDonald’s? Mighty Fine? Oh, I don’t think so.
Incidentally, I asked and it’s okay to use the big parking lot across the street between El Chilito and Red House Pizzeria, and you’ll probably save some time and trouble by doing so. Remember that anything with the «junior» preface here means one patty, or you’ll wind up with two. The bottom line is I’ve had better veggie burgers, this one wasn’t that bad, and aside from the Diet Coke I can’t vouch for anything else. But if you ever do want me to join you here when you’re in the mood to chaw down on dead cow flesh, and that little bag of Satan’s seed known as «french fries,» then seriously, text me — I’m pretty sure you’ll get my prompt response, «On my way.»