Umami Burger

All these neuveau gastropubs out there that are overly trying to impress us with their homemade ketchup and pickled water that they are becoming really tiresome. I love a good burger (so long, Oscars in Berkeley), and will go out of my way to try new places. But, everything on the bloody menu doesn’t need to be house made (Truffle ketchup, miso mustard, housemade mayo using eggs laid into the hands of greenpeace members.) What the thunder is wrong with Heinz 57 for gosh sake… I understand the meaning of umami, but, by geez, it doesn’t mean you have to re-​invent table salt!
Ferguson and I had this years ago in LA and it was quite good. Something has changed, either in their food, my tastebuds, or maybe my expectations, but I can’t say I want another of these again after burping umami ketchup for hours after eating there.

We came here for New Year’s Day. It was empty so I guess people were all hung over at home lol it was a little hard to find because our gps took us to the front of this big building instead of on the side where the restaurant is. When you walk in you’re amazed at the décor in side. It’s so cool! We had the tempura onion rings and 2 burgers and they were delicious. This is a place where you can easily get hooked on. We were also given a free drink, the bartender was sampling different drinks to add to the menu and it was really tasty. Can’t wait to come back here

Umami is Japanese for «savory» but that’s not all there is to this charming burger joint. I’ll just put this out there right now. These are some of the best burgers I have had the pleasure of tasting. Staff recommends the burgers to be served medium rare. I’ll play by house rules and try your lukewarm and bloody burger… OH HOW WRONG I WAS! I realize now that medium and medium rare are the best ways to prepare burger patties. When you chew the (Manly) burger, the meat, bacon, and cheese comes together and breaks apart delightfully in a tornado swirling around my mouth and playfully tickling my taste buds. The Cheesy Tots are incredible! After traveling to Oakland from Sacramento JUST to eat here, our waiter, Brian, made sure we got to have them. Chef Jake made special arrangements and really helped make the drive worth it. Thanks gentlemen!
«This is no mere sandwich of grilled meat and toasted bread. This is God speaking to us through food.» –Marshall Eriksen

There’s something a little sloppy about this Umami Burger location. It has all the proper pieces to be a trendy restaurant, but just feels poorly kept. Not dirty, but just askew.
The food is the height of mediocre. From the fries to aioli to the burgers, it’s a whole lot of blah. But pricey blah.
Skip the pretense and «Fancy» toppings and just go to True Burger.

3 stars as the burger was off the charts in terms of taste and quality; as was expected. I’m holding a couple of stars in reserve because:
a) The Service sucked (and we sat at the bar); the woman who helped us acted like she couldn’t be bothered.
b) The ambiance has this weird negative vibe which I didn’t like, and the restaurant was freezing.
We will be back tho, and hopefully it will be better next time!

I came in excited to try Umami Burger and have to say I left underwhelmed. It was a good burger but not a great enough burger to warrant the price. Two burgers, truffle fries to share and 2 non-​alcoholic drinks just shy of $ 50 after tax and tip (this is a sit-​down establishment) is asking too much for lunch for two.
Food and drinks: There was nothing tropical about the tropical iced green tea I got and the color was so light, our friend thought it was water. The bottle of ginger beer that hubby got is a better bet. There were 2 Umami Burgers, 1 Sunny Side and I got the Truffle Burger for our party of 4. The person who wanted her burger the most cooked ended up with the rarest one of the bunch and both Umami Burgers ended up with no onions even though it was only requested on one. Another server ended up checking up on us and got another burger cooked as desired in exchange for the too rare burger.
Since the truffle fries and maple bacon sweet potato fries are considered starters, those came out first and we did not get our burgers until we were done with those. I recommend asking for it to be served with your burger as after having truffle fries as a starter, my truffle burger seemed lacking in truffle flavor. It probably would’ve been better to pair the two together. Also not a big fan of the truffle cheese on the fries itself as it did not take long before the cheese became cold and therefore a glob. Just personal preference, but I prefer them with just truffle oil. The burgers I tried (truffle and sunny side) were itself flavorful and filling without being greasy which is a big plus. However, since it is not one of the best burgers I had, I felt that it was overhyped for that price.
Service: In just the 5 min we were waiting for our friends, we were asked for our drink orders, followed by starter order but once the orders for everything was in, we rarely saw our main server again. Instead another server ended up being more attentive to us during the remainder of our meal, making sure everything was okay and correcting what was not. He was great but thought it was strange that our main server was only attentive when she wanted us to order more food. It wasn’t even as if the restaurant was busy as there were only us and one other table occupied.

I think I’ve had just about every burger on their menu except for two, which I have no inclination to try (Black Bean Burger and Greenbird Burger). The burgers are absolutely delicious! If you forced me to pick my top three favorites here, it would be the: Manly Burger, K-​BBQ Burger, and Sunny Side Burger.
I used to come here for lunch back when I worked in the area. The service was always good, and the burger patties are consistently juicy. I have to say this is one of my favorite burger joints. I would definitely recommend Umami Burger to anyone looking for yummy burgers in the East Bay.

Yummm! We’re back again! Now we’re trying other burgers we haven’t tried! Food was delicious. Flavors and presentation was divine. But, got disappointed with our server Maggie, she screwed up our order.

Good spot to grab lunch if you like fancy ingredients like truffle oil or arugula on your burger. I’m more into the classics, but the people I was with love that stuff and swear by this place. They also have a selection of ice cream sandwiches available for dessert.

To start this review off, I thought umami was a huge resturaunt chain which in my hopes mean the quality of food should be consistent. But not this location, I vow to never come back to here ever again as this was my last meal before I left for the airport.
We arrived around 6:30−7pm on a sunday evening (not crowded as the one in pal alto). There were a decent amount of seats our waiter was nice and quick. But the food was a major «wtf» moment. We ordered some truffle fries, I got a truffle burger and my fiancé got the umami burger. The truffle fries tasted great but the burger was more of a regret than disappointment. The patty just COULD NOT stay a whole no matter how we held it, it just kept crumbling and falling apart. My fiancé finished his but I honestly could not bear the sight of my crumbling patty with grease and oil all over my fingers nor stomach the food. It was just such an unpleasant experience, I just cant believe this is acceptable.

At around 2pm on a Saturday, Umami Burger was pretty empty, so I didn’t have a problem getting seated right away. The menu here is really extensive and there were a number of burgers I wanted to try, but I knew for my first time at an Umami Burger I had to go with the titular burger, and also decided on the Cali Burger for some variety.
My friend and I split the burgers so we could each try both, and we got a full order of the thin fries to share. I think I probably could’ve inhaled all the fries myself because they were so good, but it’s a generous enough portion to share and comes with four different dipping sauces for your dipping enjoyment.
The Umami Burger was my favorite of the two, but both were cooked to medium-​rare perfection. The flavors in both burgers were just so good, and they were extremely satisfying. Coming with a friend and splitting the burgers so you can each try more than one burger is a fun way to explore the menu. Service was pretty quick, and because the restaurant was mainly empty it was a pleasant eating experience (and that giant koi fish painting on the wall is pretty cool). For the two burgers, fries, and two tropical green iced teas (so good and refreshing), the meal was a little over forty bucks — good for the quality of the burger and how satisfying it was. Would certainly come back.

This place is awesome for upscale burgers and fries. Have tried at least half the menu and nothing has been a disappointment. The fries are excellent and the original sauces they provide are good enough to bottle and take home (I would buy the spicy one for sure if they did).
Probably one of the only places in town i have found that grinds their own quality meat, and i can feel safe ordering the burger rare to medium rare.
The tap and cocktail list is solid. They also tend to have some decent bottle options as well. Service is always really great here as well.
I would award an extra star if they added a few more taps and some variety to their draught offerings.

This was my first time coming here where I was invited to try their gourmet burger. For the burger, I tried their Umami Burger (with savory parmesan crisp, shiitake mushroom, roasted tomato, and caramelized onion). The burger was just yummy to the taste!
For the fries, I had to try their truffle fries (thin fries covered and flavored with truffle cheese and truffle salt). There were other choices of fried, but love the taste of their truffle fries.
The food was great, but a bit pricey. It was late at night when we ordered and the service was excellent and friendly. You will need to find street parking.
I definitely would recommend to try their gourmet burgers with its savory taste!

Just thinking about Umami burger makes my mouth water!
Truffle burger and truffle fries every time. My friends love the sweet potato fries.
I prefer Umami over Trueburger a few blocks down.
The burgers are smaller than typical burgers, so fries or a side are a must.

This is close to my work, so frequent it ever now and again. Be warned, they serve truffle fries here so when you walk in, it is a very strong odor. If you don’t like truffle, you won’t like the smell. But hey, its called UMAMI for a reason.
I do however, really like their seared tuna sandwich. ITs great. I get it with green chilis and its yummy. Their pickled platter is good too. Assorted veggies all pickled. Definitely does not disappoint.
I have not tried the fries or the other burgers, but everyone I have been with is not a fan. but Im not here to write about their experience.
I do know that if I want some of those zesty pickled veggies and or the tuna burger, I will return.

I don’t have anything wrong to say about this place. It was a wonderful afternoon eat out with my lady, so I finally decided to take her here. It was both our first time but we’ve had our eye on it for awhile.
So we get to the place, busy busy busy! Everybody’s on the hustle to make every customer satisfied. First thing I noticed was everyone was happy to what they’ve ordered. So thats a +.
We get seated, great waiter/​waitress forgot his/​her name. Gave us knowledge and hunor about the restaurant. Added extra humor on it. Cool!
We ordered their «not so secret» menu item– Cheesy Tots, some Truffle Frites, K’BBQ burger and Sunnyside burger. Everything was excellent. Then had snickerdoodle ice cream and peach cobbler cheesecake for dessert.
They had a tv, a bar, and a nice view of the kitchen if you were sat in the right part of the restaurant. Also had a cool bartender.
This definitely is one of the best burger joint experiences I’ve had by far. Hope to come back soon!

Like this lunch spot especially when the weather is just perfect around 75 degrees out and when one has the time to linger a bit for lunch before rushing back to the next work task at hand.
I really like the umami burger — great quality meat and would recommend putting a bit more ketchup on the burger for even more flavor!

My best friends took me here for my birthday. I’ve been to the Palo Alto one and was blown away. Sadly, this location did not meet my expectations from my first visit.
Service was great. Ambiance was cool and hipster, a too dim for my liking though.
The food came out in a timely manner. The four of us each got our own burgers and split 2 appetizers.
I ordered the truffle burger (medium well) with an egg inside. This burger just wasn’t as tasty as the first one I had previously had. It was just a plain burger to me, nothing special. I got medium well because I read somewhere that medium rare was too rare. I think I should’ve just gotten medium rare any way cause that’s the way to go, but oh well! The egg was cooked perfectly, a little oozy, just how I like it: D
My best friend, on the other hand, being his first time, loved his burger (he got the same thing as me). So maybe I put the last burger on too high of a pedestal? But I read someone else’s review that this location may not be as good as the other ones. Who knows!
You can never go wrong with the truffle fries. It comes with four delicious dipping sauces: garlic aioli, jalapeño ranch, el diablo, and sriracha aioli. I’ve had better onion rings elsewhere. They were extremely salty.
At the end of the meal, our server gave me a complimentary ice cream sandwich for my birthday. I probably wouldn’t pay for one, because it wasn’t amaaazing. But thank you for it anyway :)

I guess I’m behind in the times as there is an Umami Burger in Oakland! Well to be fair, I’ve known for about 6 months, but never had a chance to get over here. It’s a known fact that Umami’s is my favorite burger place, but I haven’t been to one in about a year and half.
First the décor here is really top notch. They bought some thought in the layout and it really kinda pays off. Looks great and I really can’t complain about that. Prices are still up there for a burger, but they do have a happy hour where you can get your beer and truffle fries at much cheaper prices. Go truffle fries.
The burger itself didn’t win me offer, but maybe it was because I tried something different. The cracker cheese thing in my burger felt off, and nothing beats melted cheese on top. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. Still, a mighty fine burger.
If you love burgers and our in the Oakland area, then you really need to check this out. Hopefully they finally get a location in the South Bay.

I’ve been here before, and a good friend of mine wanted to have dinner before he leaves California for his Master’s Degree. I instantly told him, «Umami Burger!» and so we came here on a Saturday night.
This was his first time, and he was impressed, and I was pleased that this was as good as I remembered it (my first time was over a year ago for a team dinner). For appetizers, we shared the Tempura Onion Rings and the Truffle Fries. The shoestring fries were delicious, though I would say that the truffle cheese was pretty heavy. We’re both also suckers for onion rings, and these were huge and hit the spot.
I had the Umami Burger my first time here, which was delicious. This time, I got the Ahi Tuna Burger. This was just delicious! The tuna tasted fresh, and both my friend and I were full by the time we finished everything.
Our waiters were awesome as well! Service was efficient, and they were always on the lookout for our cups and constantly refilling them with ice water. Definitely one of my favorite spots in Downtown Oakland!