Two Dudes 3.5 out of 10

Here we are trying a seafood eatery for their burger. It was not because we didn't find any other burger place, but getting recommendations to see the two dudes for a great burger. 

Sadly it didn't go as well as we thought. I was looking forward to this, because I saw on the menu that they had a burger topped with hot dogs and chili. Now, all of us that BBQ know, it is great to have burgers and hot dogs together, on their own, but together. Well, this restaurant had it and I thought, what a great combo, his has to be good.
Lets get to the review. I ordered the Atlantic beach, which they call the turtle burger. A combo between 8oz ground chuck, topped with grilled hot dogs and chili. Yeah, what a combo. This has to be good. I ordered my burger medium as I always do and the first thing that I check if they got the order right. No, right from the get-go, a strike against them.

The burger was well done and I realized when I cut into it, it looked very plain like regular hamburger meat with no spices in it.  But I thought, well, looks might be wrong, so here we go. I tasted it. I expected to be overwhelmed with all those different flavors in one, burger, dogs, chili and was waiting for the explosion. hmmmm, I'm still waiting. Let me make this short and right to the point. The meat had no spices in it, the hot dogs were alright, the chili was very plain too. Oh wait, there was cheese on it as well. I'm not a cheese person and forgot to tell them to keep it off. Didn't matter because I didn't taste it. I was afraid I was losing my taste that day, but I wasn't. My partner in crime was the same opinion. It wasn't a bad burger, good size and great price for what you get. But I wish they would do more with spices. So in my review I would have to give them a 3 out of 10. My partner is giving a bit higher rating, that is why the average is 3.5.
On a side note to the review, we also tried their shrimps and they were awesome. Great size and great taste. Their fries were also great. Would I go back for a burger. Doubt it. For seafood, absolutely. In my opinion, the burger could be great if they pay more attention to what people order and add more spices to their meat.

BurgerMeister

Blind Rabbit 10 out of 10

Our next visit brings us to Blind Rabbit on Kings Street.

We've received numerous messages from people to try it.  Well, we did.  For sure we hit the right spot for a burger.  Let me just get the entire review into one word.  It was A-W-E-S-O-M-E.  As you can see from the menu there are a few burgers to choose from. 

I went for the one that I thought was the one with a twist, so I decided on the
The Holick Burger'.  I don't think I've seen a burger yet that was combined with a braised pork belly. Well here we go. The burger looked great when it arrived.  Of course I ordered it medium cooked as always and first test is to test that.  Bingo, right on the money.  Was perfectly cooked.  This was such a strange combo with that pork belly when I bit into this.  Combine this with the egg (which I love eggs on burgers anyway), not to forget the Arugula and the bread and butter pickles.  Well, let me just say this.  What a great delight of all those different mixtures of tastes put together.  It was like an explosion in your mouth.  Wow, what a great combo of tastes.  For some strange reason they all fit together and to add that it for sure made it out of the norm burger taste. 

The meat was so flavor full, perfectly spiced and was so full of that oh so good juice that we all love. The fries were cooked perfectly as well, not greasy at all.  For my taste there was a bit to much sea salt on them, but for others might taste perfect.  Just as a side note, make sure you order their special catsup, it was something to taste.  Great spicy addition.

  It was a real delight and for me it had that wow factor from the moment I took my first bite into it.  I highly recommend if you want some awesome burger to check this place out.

I'm very pleased how lately we are finding more places that really know how to make a burger and show pride in making a burger.  Would I take the drive to this bar to get a burger, not only yes, but hell yes.  Awesome job Blind Rabbit, don't change what you are doing with those burgers.

I'm starting to really enjoy our burger reviews in Jacksonville, they are getting better and better.  But we are not giving up to find even better ones.  So the search continues.......

The BurgerMeister

Crazy burger recipe challenge: Beer Can Burger from the BBQPitBoys from Youtube

We added a new challenge to the burgergeeks.  We are trying to duplicate the craziest recipe for burgers we can find. Our first test is the BBQPitboys Beer can burger.  Please check out our Facebook page to see how we got there. Burgergeeks facebook

Ketchup 9.5 out of 10

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Let me start his blog with this....holy moly, what a freaking huge burger. Now that I got this out, lets review our next Burgergeeks burger challenge. We'd been contacted by the owner to see if he is right that he has the best burger in Jacksonville. Well, lets see if he does. First impression was that we loved the menu, many choices when it comes to the burger and also as I call the 'wow' factor. Burgers that you normally don't see as a combo like a burger with shrimp, whhhattttt?? OK, this will be interesting. So, for myself I thought I'll go for the the big one, the "Andy Altee" which is two 8oz patties, 3 slices of cheese, and 6 slices of bacon. Bring it on. As you can see from the picture, they brought it on. As always, I ordered mine cooked medium and with fries.  I saw that they also had chili and with me spending a lot of time in TEXAS and loving chili (and I happen to make one kick ass chili myself) I had to order that too.  More on that later.  So, first thing I check was if the burger was cooked correctly and it was.  

Right on the money as you can see from the picture when I cut it open.  The size of this thing is amazing, just mind blowing.  Now the next thing I do is taste the meat by itself to see how the seasoning is and man is it good. Yeah, someone took some time with this meat.  It had a great taste to it. Well seasoned and very juicy when I tasted it.  I have to give them so much credit for their bacon as well.  Those were not some little strings of bacon that you get in so many restaurants in town.  Oh no, these were some real thick slices of bacon and perfectly cooked.  Not greasy and very crispy.  I'm getting more and more the feeling those cooks in there know what they were doing.  I'm still amazed how big this burger was.  Let me go on with the cheese and the entire thing.  It all fitted perfectly together.  Even the bun was a great tasting bread and what not to frufru as so many other places try to make.  Was simple and right to the point being a hamburger bun and not to forget, to cover this massive amount of food and keeping it together.  Now for the lettuce I wasn't to impressed about it, but to me that was just minor and didn't effect the score in my mind.  I was after the cow sorte say and man oh man did they put a good part of this cow on there.

Yeah Chic-fil-A you lost with this competition on eating more chicken. I had to add another picture when I cut it open so you all can see what this burger looks like cut open.  I mean look at that thing.  I don't think the picture does it even justice. Let me also add this, I'm not a tiny guy and I love food and I know how to eat, but I could not finish this monster.  I pretty much took another meal with me home which I loved.  Let me say this that you better bring some hunger when you order that one from the menu.  I was very pleased with this hamburger and after the last two burger attempts we reviewed I'm glad we went to taste this one.  

Now on a side note let me give a quick review on the fries and chili.  I can't stand it when you get rubbery fries drenched in greasy like we have been served in a few restaurants.  Again, what a great job on the fries, well cooked, no rubbery feel, not greasy and very crispy.  Now the chili, my hats off, finally some restaurant in Jax that knows how to make chili.  You can get it with beans or without, of course I had to get it without.  It was fantastic.  Whoever came up with that recipe knows how to make chili and how to cook it.  So again my hat is off.  

So in my humble opinion, this burger from Ketchup gets a 10 out of 10 from me.  Would I drive to Mayport to get this burger? I would have to say not only yes, but Hell Yes!  Well worth it.  Also great atmosphere and the staff was friendly and very attentive.  Not to forget you can bring your dog to sit outside and they feed them too, which I got a kick out off and love that.

After we completed our review and paid our bill, we notified the owner and Chef Ace French that we were there. I was very impressed how concerned he was what we felt about the burger. It really came through that he is really proud of the food he serves there and told us how he gets up at 6 in the morning just to get the meat ready and mixed.  Now this shows me how restaurants should care what they give to their customers.  For sure he does.  In this place they just don't mass produce their food and care what they give you.  That was my impression.  So happy to see that after some other reviews we had and just being treated like the next number.  I can't wait to go back and taste some of the other burgers or even other items on their menu.  If they are as good as this, then man oh man I have to drive to Mayport often.  I highly recommend this restaurant if you want a burger that is out of the norm in our town.  Now the question is, who can out do them.  We have some more restaurants to review in the coming months......the challenge continues........

The BurgerMeister

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Do you like really good burgers? Then I think we found a place for you. Our latest burger review brought us to Ketchup, located at 2434 Mayport Road. This was a lunchtime visit and I brought my appetite (I was starving). The first thing I noticed was that the burger menu was impressive. I had to step back and ponder which burger I wanted to try. There were more creative combinations here than any other place we've visited so far: 14 different 8 oz. burgers and one 16 oz. behemoth called the Andy Altee. Styles ranged from the Classic burger with lettuce, tomato and onion, to the Harley burger topped with pulled pork and melted Jack cheese, to the Wooten burger with fried oysters, wasabi cream sauce and pepper jack cheese. And if you prefer, each combination can be ordered on chicken instead of beef. I settled on the Avery, which is a half pound burger topped with fried onion straws, sautéed Vidalia onions and melted smoked Gouda. I ordered fries as my included side, and added a bowl of their homemade chili with beans. When my burger arrived, my jaw dropped. This thing was HUGE. The burger was cooked to medium as ordered. The burger patty was flavorful and juicy with a hint of the applewood smoked bacon. The bun was fresh and the onion toppings were in ample supply. I love onions but I did remove some of the topping to suite my taste and to not drown out the flavor of the rest of the ingredients. I truly enjoyed this burger. The fries were perfectly cooked and served hot. The chili was very good as well. I ordered mine with beans, while my counterpart prefers his without. Ketchup makes a batch of each so take your pick. The chili comes topped with shredded cheddar cheese and sliced onions (I think diced would be better so they mix in easier). Between the huge burger, mound of French fries, and the chili I couldn't finish everything, so I took my chili home to enjoy the next day. I don't think anyone goes home hungry after eating at Ketchup.

I rated my Avery burger as follows: 3 points for the fresh-ground black angus and bacon patty, 2 points for the bun, 3 points for the generous toppings, plus a well-deserved "wow factor" point for such a massive, tasty burger. My overall individual rating: 9. I will definately go back to try some of the other creative burger combinations. I also want to try the housemade hotdogs and deserts. Ketchup is the real deal.

The Burgernator

BurgerFi 3.5 out of 10

Our latest burger review brings us to BurgerFi at the St. John's Town Center. According to their website these are gourmet burgers. The pictures looked impressive. Needless to say our expectations were high. Afterwards, my thoughts are..Fee Fi, Ho Hum.

I ordered the BurgerFi cheeseburger, a double natural Angus patty double american cheese with lettuce, tomato and BurgerFi sauce. On the side I got the double fry; half French fries, half onion rings. I thought the onion rings were good but the fries were soggy. As you can see in the picture the fries and onion rings dwarfed my burger. I was expecting something that looked like the photos. Flavor of the patty was OK, kind of plain. The bun had the BurgerFi logo branded into it (nice touch) but more effort should have been out into using a better bun, this one was ordinary. Overall the burger was not "bad", just mediocre. I didn't even detect the BurgerFi sauce. Size wise I would say it was between a Five Guys double cheeseburger and a Steak & Shake double cheese burger. If I had ordered a burger with a single patty I would have been left hungry. I feel I'm being generous giving this one 5 stars.

The Burgernator

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Here we are at the new place in town.  

Well I wish I would have not found it.  You can imagine where this is going.  I was not impressed at all with the burger. First the size of the burger was pretty small compared to the title of it.  I ordered the Supreme burger and doubled it.  As my partner in crime mentioned, we had high hopes for this, but personally I was very disappointed.  All over the restaurant and on the main menu screen you see those great pictures of those huge burgers.  Well, as you can see from the Burgernator picture and mine, this was far from what we saw on the pictures. 

The first impression I had was that the burger wasn't really hot, kinda warm but far from hot and I picked it up the sec I was called to do so.

For this to be a Supreme Burger and me putting a double everything on it, it was pretty small.  Now we were not asked how they should be cooked, so I thought, sure, they are trying to cook them all the way.  For sure they did.  They weren't burned, but for sure all the way cooked through.  I added a picture so you can see what I'm talking about.  Sorry to say I was not impressed about the taste at all. For them going on about being all Angus and stuff and this will change your view on Burgers, well it did.  I thought that the taste was below average.  Nothing special about it.  The cheese was alright, the bacon was alright, the bun was alright but I personally thought for a fresh made bun it looked like someone pushed it.  Hmm really, why?  They claim everything is freshly made and never frozen.  

Well sorry, if I take some frozen Angus patties and throw them in the pan, I will have this and probably better because my burgers rock or I wouldn't be so picky on my reviews.  I'm a bit more harsh then my partner but in my humble opinion this burger was nothing special and now to add to this experience were the onion rings and fries.  Man oh man, talk about adding to the entire picture.  To me the onions rings looked good, but that was about it.  I thought they were way to greasy and the fries.  Well the pictures showed some of them  I thought they were way to soggy and they felt like rubber and some were way overcooked almost to a burn as you can see looking at the really brown one. Really?  How difficult is it to make fries that are good and properly cooked.  I love my fries well cooked and crispy, man were they far from it. As with all my reviews they are my opinion on the food and might be different from everybody's experience, but I try to say how I see it.  To me the burger was ok but the fries and onion rings were way shyte in my views.  So on we go to more burger reviews to come. My rating is a 2 out of 10.
The BurgerMeister

Johnny Angel's 6.5 out of 10

For our next review it brought us to Johnny Angel's.  We received a few suggestions from people to check this place and their burger.  Before we go into the burger just let me tell you that this is a place to see.  I felt like going back into a time warp into the 'Back to the Future' and showing up into the 50's.  I love that.  The entire atmosphere in there was very entertaining.  But enough of the hype going into the real reason why we were there.  They have a nice selection of burgers, from your James Dean to your Atomic burger.  I picked the Heavy Chevy which comes with chili which is also a challenge by itself for restaurants to make enjoyable to eat.  Anyway, here is what was served as the Heavy Chevy as the presentation.  Before I get into the specifics let me just mention that we also ordered the onion rings which I'm a huge fan off, if they are done correctly. Believe me, there are many restaurants that can't make onion rings or even french fries correctly and in other words are shyte.  I have to say, they probably made the best onion rings I have had so far.

They were awesome, huge, perfectly cooked, tasty, so worth getting.  But enough of that, lets look at the burger.  The burger was perfectly cooked how I ordered it.  The chili on top was by the best alright. I spent many years in Texas and got spoiled for having awesome chili.  So in this case,  wish it would have been better. Actually I have to say that the burger was good, but not where I would go, out of the ordinary.  I felt that it lacked a lot of seasonings in the meat.  Even the chili was kinda of blahhh.  Was OK, not bad, but was missing something, if you know what I mean.  Same for the burger, it was OK.  Now, if you take this burger with the combination of the atmosphere, the fries and the onion rings.  Sure, I would order it again.  Great place to hang out and enjoy the surroundings.  But because we are doing a burger review here.  Would I come here just for this burger, sadly I would have to say no.  I know my partner in crime has a bit of a different view on his burger that he received and his review is coming next.
BurgerMeister

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Poe's Tavern review 8 out of 10

Today it took us to Poe's Tavern in the. Jacksonville beach area.  Thank you Nicole for giving us the recommendation.  When we ordered the hamburger of course the first question was how do you want it cooked. Of course right away I thought to myself I wonder if they actually going to cook it this way.  I ordered mine medium rare.  Here goes there first plus point because, guess what,  I got my hamburger medium rare.  As you can see from the picture the burger looked already awesome. It was a good sized hamburger everything looked delicious . Let's see if looks can be deceiving. I took a cut through the hamburgers to see if it was cooked just as I ordered it and it looked perfect .

Now I took my first bite . The juices were flowing from the meat and it tasted oh so good . While I am continuing to eat the hamburger I'm starting to taste some spices, the lettuce, the pickles and the chili that I ordered to be on top of it and not to forget the cheese  to finish it all off.  After I took a few more bites I started to compare in my mind the burger to other reviews that we've done.  The hamburger tasted great but it didn't taste as good as it looked.  To me the  lettuce and pickles just had an ordinary taste nothing special like the place we reviewed before where you thought everything was just picked out of a garden just for your burger.  Don't get me wrong this was a very good burger and that is why I gave it a score of 8.  What was missing here was the extra touch the wow factor.  Would I come here just for a hamburger, I think I would just for the atmosphere and how great Poe's looks, it is an experience.  The waiter staff was attentive and we didn't have to wait long to get the service. Because I'm looking also at the rest of the meal like the french fries and the onion rings, I do have to mention that I was not impressed with those items . They were very greasy and did not compliment the burger . In my opinion this is one of the good hamburgers in Jacksonville but is it the best?  No it's not, so the hunt continues..........

BurgerMeister

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