BurgerFi recently opened up on Mass Street a few weeks ago, and the restaurant’s concept seemed simple yet appealing: tasty burgers, hot dogs, and frozen custard. My friends and I went in there on a Friday night with empty bellies, expecting tasty yet filling burgers. Unfortunately, BurgerFi ended up disappointing.
Details
BurgerFi is located on 918 Massachusetts Street. The restaurant is open from 11 AM- 11 PM Sunday to Wednesday, and from 11 AM- 3 AM Thursday to Saturday.
Website: http://burgerfi.com/
The Menu
BurgerFi’s menu is expansive yet not overwhelming. The menu is broken up into Burgers, Hot Dogs, Sides, Drinks, Frozen Custards and Treats, and the Secret Menu. In addition to the food options, you can also customize your own burger, hot dogs, fries, and treats. However, after getting over the amount of options available, the thing that struck me the most was that these prices were pretty high. I mean, $5.79 for a frozen concrete? $6.50 for a simple cheeseburger? For someone who was living the broke college life, this was kind of a rip-off.
The Food
For lack of a better word, the food overall was “meh”. It wasn’t horribly disgusting, but nothing really stood out or made me go “wow!” either. The burgers are BurgerFi’s main selling point, seeing as how the word “burger” is in the name, and they under whelmed. They were really small (about the size of my fist) and skimpy when it came to toppings, like cheese or grilled mushrooms or bacon. Also, the patties weren’t very juicy and were maybe a step or two above those at McDonald’s. My friends and I all got different burgers, and we all agreed that while they tasted decent, there wasn’t anything really special about them. To add insult to injury, we all paid at least $6 for a burger that, frankly, wasn’t worth it. $2 or $3, sure, but definitely not $6. BurgerFi says that their beef patties are made from all-natural Angus, so that may be the reason behind the higher price tag, but what’s the point if the burger doesn’t impress? I mean, The Burger Stand a block down sells their burgers for $1-2 more, but their burgers are bigger, juicier, and, most importantly, way tastier.
The sides also kind of failed to impress. Just like the burgers, they tasted fine, but they weren’t anything special. One of my friends ordered a side of chips; however, when his order arrived, he discovered that he got less than 10 chips in a little container. Quite frankly, that’s inexcusable. The fries were okay, but kind of soggy. I ordered the Urban Fries (parmesan and herb fries topped with garlic aioli), and though I could see the seasoning and aioli on the fries, they ended up tasting rather bland. The only good side dish was the onion rings. These rings were HUGE. They weren’t onion rings, they were freaking onion bracelets. To eat an onion ring, I literally had to fold it like a sandwich. I could go on and on about them, but these onion rings were actually tasty and one of two things I actually liked about BurgerFi.
The other thing that managed to not disappoint me was the frozen custard. Although pricey, the frozen custard was the only thing I didn’t regret ordering. I got the Key Lime Concrete (vanilla frozen custard with key lime pie bits mixed in) and it was absolutely wonderful. The custard was creamy and delicious, plus the mellow vanilla flavor mixed well with the tangy key lime pie bits. It was a great dessert, and it was actually kind of big for me, so I didn’t feel like I was getting ripped off too badly.
Overall Impressions
If you were to ask me if I’d come back here again, chances are I’d say no. Maybe to get some onion rings or to try another frozen custard (seriously, the Key Lime Concrete was super delicious)or one of their hot dogs, but definitely not for the burgers. The menu definitely seemed promising, and the customize option was great, but BurgerFi ultimately failed to deliver a tasty burger. There’s tons of options for great tasting burgers in Lawrence (The Burger Stand, Dempsey’s Burger Pub, Five Guys, etc.), and I’d take any of them over BurgerFi any time. BurgerFi had plenty of potential to be a great burger place, but the actual food just fell flat and, overall, was only a step or two above mediocre.