Bella’s Burger Shack

It is expensive for what you get. The burgers are good, fresh, but I have had A LOT better for the price. I honestly think the burgers at Ruby Tuesdays are better for the price point. My lunch cost me $ 16 for a burger, fries and a drink.

Apparently in 2010 I thought $ 5 was a lot for a cheeseburger. Now that I’m more familiar with the town, I’d say this is one of the better budget friendly options. Burgers and fries are consistently good. People are particular about their french fries, but I like Bella’s style — crispy but greasy at the same time. If you don’t like greasy I don’t know why you’re in a place that calls itself a shack. Portion is not too big, not too — you know how this one ends, right? Nothing magical here and I wouldn’t drive out of my way for them, but they’re solid. Staff is friendly and the tables are clean.
Skip the milkshakes.

Disappointed… Small burgers, expensive, tiny potato buns, not to be expected for a place that calls themselves a burger shack.

So I found myself in Basking Ridge with one of my two kids, since we were headed off to see the other perform in his marching band at Ridge High. Anyhow, don’t look for the place on Finley Ave no matter what Google Maps says: park in the lot on Maple and you’re right there.
Place is quaint — a few small tables, surfboard on the wall, menu on chalkboards suspended from the ceiling. It reminded me of Titos Burritos in Summit. We all ordered burgers — I ordered a cheeseburger with cheddar, bacon and mushrooms. Sides of fries and onion rings and a fountain soda. We sat and waited for our food and looked at selfie photos printed out and covering the wall (they’ve got a free fry promo going if you post to Facebook).
The wait was fine, but the food was disappointing. Burger patty on the small side, and instead of cheddar, I ended up with what looked like mayonnaise but I think was an American cheese sauce and was tasteless. It turned off my younger son who only took a few bites of his burger (he ordered cheddar too and got the same thing). They forgot the bacon too. I liked the fries; they reminded me of Five Guys and I liked the onion rigs, though my wife did not. Sodas were good but be warned there is no diet cola, only diet root beer.
Overall a mixed bag, but one additional star docked for the filthy bathroom. There were workers sitting around with nothing to do, just playing with their phones. Someone should have been cleaning the bathroom.

Tasty Bella burger and nice portion of onion rings topped off with a Wild Bill’s root beer. Like this Basking Ridge find and prefer supporting a local business that stands up strong to the more established regional/​national burger joints.

Bella’s burger was delicious. No tables sit more than four people so not good for a large group. Ice machine did not work. Specialty sodas were very good. Atmosphere is relaxed bit a little tight. Cheesesteak sliders very tasty.

I love it here. Staff is always friendly and the food is always good. It is a hidden gem in town

Fantastic burgers, sodas with real flavor and nice staff. Had the black and blue burger and loved it. They even cooked it temp to order (med rare) perfectly. Comics in a rack for the kidos. Mixed and matched the soda ginger ale with the fresh ice tea. Yummy ramma !!!

Martin potato buns? Seriously? The burgers are premade grease bombs. Fries are soggy. To top it off it’s expensive. This place should be embarrassed to call themselves a burger specialty shop.

Came here with my step brother for a quick bite to eat before a long road trip. I was pleasantly surprised with Bella’s. The food was straight up DELICIOUS! I got the hamburger with onions, mushrooms and bacon with a side of hand cut fries. The ingredients tasted amazing and you could tell they put time and effort into every order. I would recommend this place to anyone.

I’ve been to Bella’s many times and had their Bella Burger, which is super tasty! The last few times, however, I had their Wedge Salad. I love this salad! It’s more like a chicken cobb salad without the avocado, than a traditional wedge. It’s a pretty large serving, so you most likely will have leftovers!

Looking for a different burger from the fast food joints. A little shop in the back of a parking lot opens up to a nice size eatery. Menu nicely displayed above as you walk in.
We had the Jersey Burger. Only other place we saw a egg on a burger was down the shore. Burger was cooked the way I liked it. For me, the burger could have been bigger, but it tasted great.
The wings were also tasty. We had the sweet and spicy wings. The wings were the perfect size and were very tasty.
You won’t be disappointed.

The food was way too expensive for McDonald’s type burgers and soggy fries. The chicken tenders were okay but too breaded. The only thing that was good is the soda.

I got a Bella Burger. A Bella Burger is a burger with bacon and cheddar cheese and Bella sauce. I don’t know what Bella sauce is but it is good. I also got cut fries and the portion was too much for one person. The burger was on the small size by the way so it all evened out. They have a wide selection of fountain sodas.
They have free WiFi so you can hang out on the Internet and post reviews to Unilocal while you are eating and drinking the all you can drink soda.
It is in downtown Basking Ridge by the methodist church. Yes, mount airy.
Maybe next time I will try something healthier here. Not that that matters anymore.

Bella’s is a quaint surfer burger shack on the back side of the building. The burgers are delicious and perfect for a cheat day, BUT the onion rings are what made the meal!

Big fan of this place, about 10 minutes from my work. On average I stop by once or twice a month when I’m jonesing for some burgers, but not too often ’cause the man’s gotta watch out for his cholesterol. Anyway, Bella’s burgers hasn’t disappointed me yet, I’ve tried all four kinds, and they’re all pretty good.
Now, I’ve had quite excellent burgers elsewhere, but Bella’s burgers can hold their own. My minor beef (ha!) is that the patty’s a bit small than what I’d like. But then again, if you get two, then you’d be in the $ 15 full service restaurant burger territory, so I guess it’s not bad.
Besides burgers, Bella’s got other sandwiches too. I had the tuna sliders the other day, delicious! Okay, fine, sorry for getting tuna at a burger joint, geez.
Anyway, I do recommend Bella’s Burgers. They have pretty good food and good service. Food comes out pretty quickly. Caitlin the manager is super helpful and nice as are other staff.

This place has the makings of a great burger joint but narrowly misses the mark.
The burger was good but not great. They did cook it to a perfect medium rare, and the toppings of bacon, egg, and cheese were pretty decent. But it just lacked that little extra something. For an extra $ 2 I could have doubled the size of the burger, which seems like a pretty worthwhile deal as the patty was small, though that’s probaly something light eaters can appreciate.
The hand cut fries were also good but not great. They might want to experiment with other brands of frying oil. Still, at about three bucks the bag of fries was surprisingly big and could easily accomodate two regular appetites.
Overall this place was great value for money; with a bottle of water it came out to a little over $ 10. It’s a step up from regular fast food but at least a half step down from the better burger spots in Central Jersey.

GREAT burger spot. Simple menu but everything is delicious.
Fresh cut fries, potato rolls, good onion rings.
I don’t know why people give this one such a low overall rating. We visit here often as the kids love it as well.

This used to be a great place with excellent friendly service. The food was good although some times overly salty or thrown together. But it is clear to me the teenagers running the place have become jaded and overwhelmed. Last Saturday my wife, 3 year old and I decided to end a day of strawberry picking with a burger. We were hungry and remembered Bella’s. So we drove from Chester and found the restaurant with one other table occupied. We ordered from a pleasant, straight dark brown haired girl, and sat down.
As I patiently waited for our food I noticed an influx of people enter and two other tables became occupied. 20 minutes had passed and being an understanding and patient customer, who knows food does take time to prepare, I waited, patiently. Watching the kitchen I noticed a tray of food move toward us, and past us to a table of 4 who came in 10 minutes after we did. Not cool.
I flagged down the girl we initially ordered from and inquired about the status. She rolled her eyes up into her head and said «sorry but we are reaaaaly busy». To which I replied, «perhaps now yes, but you took my order 25 minutes ago», showed her the receipt and pointed out the tables that came in after us who had their large trays of food already. This seemed to perplex her.
She took my receipt over to another girl who approach me, with receipt in hand and asked «what did you order?», as if the receipt didn’t explain everything from time of order to items ordered. The girl walked away to investigate the error and returned indicating our order was «lost». So now it is 35 minutes and my family still has no food.
As I explained our dissatisfaction, she kept trying to interrupt. She wasn’t rude, but she wasn’t making my experience any better.
When an establishment messes up like this they typically do something to show they care and value the customer. Free fries for the starving crying 3 yr old perhaps? A comped meal even? What was offered was 10% off my NEXT order. Yeah right. Not ever coming back!

The Burger Shack offers affordable, good food. It’s a bright place with wood tables and rough wood walls.
We were the only people in for lunch at 12:15 that day and the staff was helpful and friendly. The food is tasty but there were some avoidable small problems on this visit.
Burgers were not huge but notably thick, very reasonably priced at about $ 6. The tuna sliders were 3 for $ 8, nice chunks of gently grilled fish on a small, fresh potato bun with a slice of onion. But no sauce on the bun (first minor problem).
I didn’t see cajun fries on the menu, as one review mentions. The hand-​cut fries were long, thin, perfectly golden brown and filled up a small paper bag. But they were cold (second minor problem), we were the only ones in the shop, did they not make ‘em fresh? Tried the Bella’s special dipping sauce, which turned out to be a very mild chipotle mayo mix, I recommend it, it’s a generous portion and just half a buck.
Bella’s serves soda by Wild Bill, no idea where it comes from (but it’s not Boylan as some reviews claim). Ginger ale was only ok, sasparilla was a mild form of root beer and fairly tasty. A chocolate milkshake was a little spendy at $ 5 but very creamy, strong chocolate flavor with extra chocolate sauce squirted in to show on the sides, tasty.
I call it a surf shack because they have a surfboard standing against one wall, and it’s pretty casual. Low key music with the Boss and others. No skis anywhere but the TVs were showing skiing movies :)
The address on South Finley may be technically correct but it’s sure not helpful. The place is easy to find if you look for the Bernards Twp library on South Maple Ave. Park in the lot opposite the library entrance, Bella’s front door is right there.