Sunil A.
Yelp
"The world is changed.
I feel it in the water.
I feel it in the Earth.
I smell it in the air."
It is a strange day, a strange time when I'm out here dishing 5* to a chain restaurant. It is no madness my friends. There used to be two constants in this universe I could always count on:
1] I despise chain restaurants
2] My love of burgers is not matched by any other person I know
Now it looks like I'm down to one.
For the record, this is a review of the bonsai burger and onion ring tower. The foundation of any great burger is of course the patty. You can decorate and top and add all kinds of this, that and others but without a great seasoned patty as a foundation, this is all for naught. Red Robin has done a fantastic job from the get go. The beef is rich, juicy and flavorful. Most importantly, not inundated with salt. There is nothing worst than a dry burger loaded with the NaCl.
After the patty, the bun is next. There are so many options nowadays, brioche, pretzel, challah but as far as I can tell this is a solid, traditional white bread bun. It is perfectly toasted, and sturdy enough to hold together under the duress of the toppings.
And that finally leads us to the toppings. Bonsai comes with teriyaki sauce, mayo, lettuce. The sweet and the fat adds so much flavor to this burger that it makes me want to eat 3-5 at a time.
Not to be left out, I think they do a wonderful job with the onion rings. They are perfectly batters and dense to bite into without falling apart. It's obvious they are frozen and then shipped out to each location, they are too uniform not to be, but without a doubt its good enough.
If anyone has any room left in their belly after all this, I would suggest one of their milkshakes. Voluminous and delicious. Nothing out of the norm but perfectly done.
Seriously, bonsai burger is the bomb.
Hit it and hit it hard!