Best-O-Burger

Both Best-​o-​Burgers in SF are now closed :(. Damn shame too.

Here we go again. It’s 2010, do we not have the TECHNOLOGY for HALF STARS? If fractional numbers are beyond the pale for Unilocal incorporated then maybe a 1 to 10 scale? I think every damn one of my reviews would be a fractional one if I had the option.
Anyway, because I’m a hater let’s start with what’s wrong with «Best-​O-​Burger» (who I want to give 2.5 stars, witness me clicking in the middle of star 3 in sad futility):
–The name. Does it really work for anything? «Best-​O-​Books»? «Best-​O-​JunkWax»? It makes you seem country B.O.B. and not in an authentic way but just in a stupid one.
–The menu. What the hell? The regular burger is fine but the sliders are confusing. Gourmet sliders is an oxymoron (Unless you’re over at Burger Bar — yum!) so give us what we want; a bunch of little burger buddies. Maybe White Castle and Krystal ruined me but I expect my sliders to be plentiful and tiny to SLIDE down my gullet. The B.O.B. sliders are nowhere in particular; too expensive and big to really eat a bunch of them but too small individually to serve as a decent snack or meal on their own.
–The staff. A confused jumbled mess. Whoever manages this place needs to step up and train these poor bastards.
The good news; the regular burgers are good. not great. but good. I’d put them a solid half star (Ha!) ahead of Bistro Burger which is damning with faint praise but still worth noting. The onion straws are tasty but greasy as hell (don’t get me started on batter to onion ratio and what this means to your cholesterol).
In summary, besides San Dimas High School Football Ruling! (which it does), I’m left meh-​afied by another lackluster downtown burger experience. Do I have to drop a $ 20 spot at Town Hall or Burger Bar for a good burger during my work hours? Do I? Sorry, I’m ranting. Let’s go get Thai or something.

My friends wanted to go to the pasta place in the One Market food court. Not in mood for pasta I opted for a burger here.
I got the ¹⁄₃ lb BBQ Burger.
When I sat down to eat it, I felt like good olé Clara Peller from Wendy’s «Where’s the beef?» commercials.
The giant ass bun nearly devoured the burger. It sopped up all of the BBQ sauce on the burger which was fairly undercooked and greasy.
Nothing special. Not running back any time soon.

Let me start off this review with saying that I visited their old location near China Town and I loved it. The staff was friendly and very knowledgeable about the menu and ingredients. I am way into their logo and menu design. Their old dining room and front counter were equally fun, reminding me of some places in Japan that try to capture American kitsch. The burger was pretty decent, the chicken sandwich was delicious (I had been fantasizing about it for a while since this visit) and the rings and strings were cooked perfectly and a nice change from regular fries.
Imagine how excited I was when I realized they had moved to a food court a block away from my work! (Although I’m confused about them leaving their old location since they JUST opened up the dining room last month.) I’ve been twice since I discovered the new location and honestly, I’ve been really disappointed. Both times the fries tasted over cooked and like they had been sitting under the heat lamp for a while, the burger was ok but not as good as I remembered, the chicken was way over fried and soaked in grease. The new location leaves a lot to be desired, it just looks (and acts) like any other random burger place in a food court. After the last two visits, I really have no desire to go back.

A lot of suggestions and I finally met my pal Matt at Red’s Java House and we ambled over here to One Market to try Best-​O-​Burger and see for ourselves what all the fuss was about. First impression and I’d read it somewhere was In-​N-​Out on steroids, but the food court atmosphere diminished even that. Typical food court appearance and set up, you order and are given a number and a paper cup for your beverage you dispense yourself unless you order a shake. They bake their own buns which not only saves them money, but should provide a much fresher bun that the racks we see behind the counter of most fast food burger joints. The counter help are just like most food court kids, restless, irritable and in discomfort which makes it a pain in the ass experience. How does In-​N-​Out keep their diverse work crews so upbeat and pleasant?
Al Carte is the deal, much like their stand alone counterpart I keep mentioning, so we ordered their special burger with cheese and fries and very quickly our number was called and we were ready to share with you our experience. Not bad, but not terribly good either. It seems impossible to not have food straight from the grill and fryer not be hot, but our grub just wasn’t and I can see no way that is possible unless they screwed up and got orders mixed up. The meat to bun ration wasn’t right, but the meat is good like the bun, the fixings were chilled and fresh although the tomato was almost green and mostly core. The fries were warm and lacked flavor.
I was really disappointed after hearing so many raves about this two location burger operation, but constructive criticism might just point the ship in a better direction.

blah!
Tiny burgers, overdone fries. Im done with this place… please bring back YES burger.
Thats all! Bob Sucks!

This was definitely not the healthiest veggie burger I’ve ever had. Oil was quite evident. Tons of cheese was mixed in with the mushroom patty. Bun was anything but wheat. Not exactly my preference, except when it’s $ 2.99, served quick, and sized to be more of a snack than lunch. Judged by that standard, Best-​O-​Burger is just fine.

If I could replace the word «Best» in «Best-​O-​Burger», I would do…
Grease-​O-​Burger
Expensive-​O-​Burger
OKAY-​O-​Burger
Mommamakesitbetter-​O-​Burger
Burgers start at $ 2.49. Tops off at $ 2.99 for a bacon burger, pesto burger, shroom burger, etc. Shoestring fries, regular fries and yup, sweet potato fries are $ 2.99 and they’re OK.
I would come here if I’m craving a burger but am avoiding the massive amount of calories. For those wondering how big (or small) the burgers are, they fit in the palm of your hands. The bun definitely makes the burger seem bigger but the pattie itself is no bigger than an average person’s palm.

The price-​to-​size ratio may cause a lot of fuss among the cost conscious, but I try to focus on the food alone. I’ve had Best-​O-​Burger before at their Pine Street location and discovered that this new venue had a slightly different menu. I tried to focus on the new options since I knew from past experience that the non-​burger options like sloppy bob, sloppy dog and the chicken were not that great. In general their freshly baked bun has a great chewy texture, their burgers have a flavorful sear and their veggies are fresh. They are adventurous with their burger permutations, but aren’t always successful in execution. I’m a fan of their pesto sauce, veggie burger and seared burger patty. Everything else is ok. If there was a 3.5 stars available, that would be a more precise rating for me.
Cobb Burger: Basically a bacon & blue cheese burger with avocado slices. Would have been nice to make it truly Cobb-​y with eggs and chicken too! No secret sauce.
Shroom Burger: Perhaps mushroom overload, could have stood a few less. They use the boring button mushrooms instead of one of the many more exotic varieties. The mushrooms did oddly act like a good conduit for the secret sauce flavor.
Veggie Burger: The burger portion is basically a «patty» made of melted cheese and sautéed mushrooms. I really got into that burnt cheese concoction the more I ate! The pesto was quite pleasant and had whole pine nuts. No secret sauce since it’d probably overpower the pleasant pesto.
Yam-​O Strings: I liked that they were thin since a lot of sweet potato fries are chunky. The rice oil does make them feel lighter. They were a tad overcooked with some bitter burnt ends.

Let me preface this review by saying that I am a big fan of the other Best-​O on Belden Place. I’ve always had juicy burgers on moist, normal-​sized buns. Yum-​O, indeed.
However, at this location: I seriously wanted to vomit. The cheese wasn’t melted, the bun was cold, the patty was luke warm and dry, not juicy at all. Most terribly, the bun was this oversized, cold french roll type of thing. What the frack? The «slider» was all bread!!! Nasty.
A clear message to management of this new location: IF YOU THINK YOU CAN CREATE THE ILLUSION OF A BIGGER BURGER WITH A SUPERIZED BUN AND JACK UP THE PRICE AND THINK WE WON’T NOTICE, YOU NEED TO PACK IT UP AND GO HOME. «Burger up, dude!» The one star is for the sweet potato fries, which were actually good.
To top it off, they got my order wrong. My pesto slider never came. 2 underwhelming plain sliders, fries and a coke = $ 11 .00. Never again. What happened to the 6 dollar burger bags like at the old location? BTW, the counter help doesn’t speak a lick of English (or pretends not to) so if you try to complain I guess you’re out of luck.
And 11 bucks.