The best burger in the bay area
publish Using My food rating system to set ratings. All burgers are cooked medium rare where possible.
Related to Warren’s long burgers.
Reviews
| Restaurant | Overall Rating | Unusualness Factor | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miller and Lux | 8.5/10 | 2.5 | $26 |
| Gott’s Roadside | 6.5/10 | 2 | $15 |
| The Grove | 5/10 | 1 | $18 |
| 4505 Burgers & BBQ | 9/10 | 0.25 | $16 |
| Super Duper Burgers | 6/10 | 0 | $11 |
| Causwell’s | 3/10 | 0 | $19 |
| Bazille | 6.25/10 | 0 | $16 |
| Bacon Bacon | 6.25/10 | 0 | $16 |
| Amy’s Drive Thru | 6.5/10 | 5 | $10 |
| Local Kitchen & Wine Merchant | 8.75/10 | 1 | $22 |
| Hobee’s | 4.5/10 | 1 | $15 |
| Spruce | 9/10 | 2.75 | $32 |
| Kitchen Story | 7/10 | 1.25 | $23 |
| True Food Kitchen | 10/10 | 1.75 | $19.5 |
| Son and Garden | 2.5/10 | 5 | $32 |
| Marlowe | 6/10 | 1.5 | $25 |
| W6 Cafe | 2/10 | 0 | $0 |
| SPRO Coffee Lab | 7.5/10 | 1.75 | $13 |
| The Fly Trap | 3/10 | 0 | $19 |
| Chez Maman | 7.25/10 | 1 | $22 |
| Arbor | 5/10 | 0.25 | $17 |
| Cafe Reveille | 5/10 | 0 | $17 |
| Hazie’s | 6.5/10 | 0.5 | $24 |
| Balboa Cafe | 6.75/10 | 1.5 | $23 |
| RT Bistro | 7/10 | 2 | $30 |
Philosophy behind these ratings
It’s hard to rate a burger definitively “X/10” because upscale restaurants prepare their burgers so differently. You’re often comparing apples to oranges.
To mitigate ingredient variance as best as possible, the “X/10” rating in this list simply indicates how much I personally liked the burger. Points aren’t docked for ingredients, nor price point, nor whether the burger came with fries — however because it’s still good to surface these things I include a second “unusualness factor” score in each review roughly denoting how far the burger deviates from staple ingredients. Also, while not noted in the table, I mention in each review whether the burger comes with fries.
My guidelines for for unusualness ratings:
- +5 is the default unusualness factor for plant-based burgers since by forgoing meat, a restaurant is already pushing the definition of a burger.
- Unusual but not unheard of toppings like fried egg or arugula earn a +1 unusualness factor each (exceptions made for tiny variations like a noticeably seeded bun, pickles, caramelized onions, or mushrooms: +0.5 instead).
- Very unusual toppings like Brie cheese earn a minimum +1.5 unusualness factor each.
- Strange lack of default toppings like cheese earns somewhere between +0-0.5 unusualness.
Example rating from the Spruce review:
2.75/10 unusualness due to:
- Taleggio (+1.5)
- English muffin bun (+1)
- Pickled onion (+0.25 as onions are staple but it’s unusual to pickle them)
Appendix
Found 2023-04-30: The best SF burgers, according to /r/AskSF
2024-09-30: https://sfstandard.com/2024/09/30/best-burgers-san-francisco/ has a neat bucket list
2024-12-15: New list to visit: https://www.theinfatuation.com/san-francisco/guides/best-burgers-san-francisco