BrGr - A long way to go...
So after enjoying a quick lunch with co-workers this week at BrGr, the new "burger bar" associated with Spoon, Heather and I decided to try it for dinner tonight. If this had been my first experience, I would never be going back, but based on the good lunch experience I had, I figure we'll give it another shot, once they've had a month or two to figure things out.
We arrive and are told that it would be a 45 minute wait for a party of two. There are a bunch of open tables, including a two-top, but that's fine. I'm not the host - I don't know who's ahead of us. We go to the bar, where we are blatantly ignored by the bartender for 20 minutes, at which point she acknowledges me just enough to inform me that she knows I'm "thirsty" but she has a stack of table tickets to make first. After another 5 minutes, the hostess tells us that our table is ready. Since we never got to order drinks, we give up and sit down. It's the same two-top that has been open since we got there.
After being seated, we wait 5 minutes before anyone visits our table at all, at which point a manager-looking guy asks if we've been helped. I tell him we haven't, and he sends over our waitress. We order drinks. Fifteen minutes pass. We've now been here for 45 minutes and still don't have drinks. I stand up and walk over to the podium to find the manager, but before I can find him, I see that our waitress now has our drinks and is headed in our direction. 48 minutes total from arrival to first sip. We are not off to a good start.
When I was there for lunch earlier in the week, I got their garden burger, which is effectively a falafel burger. It was great. Definitely worth it, and inspiring enough to get me to go back so soon. I figured tonight I'd go for the real namesake fare and get their standard burger, the "Average Joe." I'm informed by our waitress that this can only be prepared one of two ways, "Pink" or "Not Pink." I elect pink. A couple seated next to us later succeeds in ordering and receiving a rare burger, so apparently this policy isn't all that mandatory. Heather orders the Salmon Burger.
Our burgers arrive comparatively quickly. Mine is a disappointment. It's clearly a pre-formed, frozen burger patty. If you're going to name your restaurant "BrGr," and charge fancypants prices, (for a burger joint, that is -- dinner for two was approximately $50,) the least you can do is make the patty from scratch. I thought they all looked hand made when we went for lunch. This was a real disappointment. On top of that, it's more "grey" than "pink" - usually a pretty good sign that it's been frozen. That said, for what it is, it's at least edible. The bun and accoutrements are almost tasty enough to make up for the frozen-foods-section burger patty. I had a bite of Heather's salmon burger. It was delicious. Heather's is clearly the better of the two.
Based on our experience getting our first drinks, I'm too nervous to order a second round, but we go out on a limb and order one of their milkshakes for dessert. It's lovely. When I was there for lunch we split the "Dude Abides" shake 4 ways and it was fantastic. Heather and I split the "Cuppajoe" shake, and it was similarly fantastic. Ice cream, milk and liquor -- how can you go wrong?
All in all, this place has a long way to go. Clearly, being their first week, they have a lot to learn. This is a bit surprising, because being tied to Spoon, one might have thought that they'd have this whole 'running a restaurant' thing figured out. Sadly, it was not the case. I overheard another waitress explain that they have a second floor with more tables but that they had to close it because they couldn't even stay ahead of one floor's worth of tables. We'll give it one more try in a month or two, but if they're still serving pre-formed burger patties and keeping customers drinkless for 45 minutes, it'll be the last time.
UPDATE: Through a somewhat circuitous path, I understand that the BrGr folks had a chance to read this review, and through the same roundabout path came word of a response to these concerns, indicating that unlike the specialty burgers, the patties for the standard Angus burgers are pre-formed by the meat vendor they buy from and are fresh (which I take to mean not frozen.) Indications were that they may reconsider the use of pre-formed patties. Here's hoping they do!
In addition, I realized that what I wrote here was a somewhat critical "review," but didn't proffer any suggestions for improvement, so in the interest of positivity and progress, I'm expanding this entry. First some related backstory: In my opinion, the current 'King of Burgers' in Pittsburgh is, without hesitation, Tessaro's in Bloomfield. They grind their meat on the premises every morning, and each burger is obviously hand-formed. The thought that their meat had ever seen a press or a freezer never enters your mind. They'll cook it however you ask for it. It's a thing to behold. Sadly, that's where the joy ends at Tessaro's. The atmosphere is dim and dingy, with western barbecue elements, dressed up with plasticky gingham tablecloths. Their bar can make a decent martini, but their beer selection is always pitiful, and when they're getting crushed (as they often are) the waitstaff can get surly. Lastly, I'll never understand it, but they have something personal against french fries - they don't serve them. That said, they don't have to get all that other stuff perfect, because they serve the best burgers in the city.
What gives me great hope is that BrGr has all the tools at their disposal to unseat Tessaro's. The atmosphere is urbane. When we finally got our drinks, the cocktail was tasty and well balanced, and their draught selection certainly has enough variety to keep most folks busy. The fries were great (although, puzzlingly, different between my two visits - semi-skin-on w/ salt and pepper the first time, twice-fried and sea-salted, much like D's fries, the second time.) The boozy milkshakes were to die for - total perfection! The staff, although clearly struggling during our visit, was cordial and polite throughout.
My unsolicited suggestions to BrGr are as follows:
We arrive and are told that it would be a 45 minute wait for a party of two. There are a bunch of open tables, including a two-top, but that's fine. I'm not the host - I don't know who's ahead of us. We go to the bar, where we are blatantly ignored by the bartender for 20 minutes, at which point she acknowledges me just enough to inform me that she knows I'm "thirsty" but she has a stack of table tickets to make first. After another 5 minutes, the hostess tells us that our table is ready. Since we never got to order drinks, we give up and sit down. It's the same two-top that has been open since we got there.
After being seated, we wait 5 minutes before anyone visits our table at all, at which point a manager-looking guy asks if we've been helped. I tell him we haven't, and he sends over our waitress. We order drinks. Fifteen minutes pass. We've now been here for 45 minutes and still don't have drinks. I stand up and walk over to the podium to find the manager, but before I can find him, I see that our waitress now has our drinks and is headed in our direction. 48 minutes total from arrival to first sip. We are not off to a good start.
When I was there for lunch earlier in the week, I got their garden burger, which is effectively a falafel burger. It was great. Definitely worth it, and inspiring enough to get me to go back so soon. I figured tonight I'd go for the real namesake fare and get their standard burger, the "Average Joe." I'm informed by our waitress that this can only be prepared one of two ways, "Pink" or "Not Pink." I elect pink. A couple seated next to us later succeeds in ordering and receiving a rare burger, so apparently this policy isn't all that mandatory. Heather orders the Salmon Burger.
Our burgers arrive comparatively quickly. Mine is a disappointment. It's clearly a pre-formed, frozen burger patty. If you're going to name your restaurant "BrGr," and charge fancypants prices, (for a burger joint, that is -- dinner for two was approximately $50,) the least you can do is make the patty from scratch. I thought they all looked hand made when we went for lunch. This was a real disappointment. On top of that, it's more "grey" than "pink" - usually a pretty good sign that it's been frozen. That said, for what it is, it's at least edible. The bun and accoutrements are almost tasty enough to make up for the frozen-foods-section burger patty. I had a bite of Heather's salmon burger. It was delicious. Heather's is clearly the better of the two.
Based on our experience getting our first drinks, I'm too nervous to order a second round, but we go out on a limb and order one of their milkshakes for dessert. It's lovely. When I was there for lunch we split the "Dude Abides" shake 4 ways and it was fantastic. Heather and I split the "Cuppajoe" shake, and it was similarly fantastic. Ice cream, milk and liquor -- how can you go wrong?
All in all, this place has a long way to go. Clearly, being their first week, they have a lot to learn. This is a bit surprising, because being tied to Spoon, one might have thought that they'd have this whole 'running a restaurant' thing figured out. Sadly, it was not the case. I overheard another waitress explain that they have a second floor with more tables but that they had to close it because they couldn't even stay ahead of one floor's worth of tables. We'll give it one more try in a month or two, but if they're still serving pre-formed burger patties and keeping customers drinkless for 45 minutes, it'll be the last time.
UPDATE: Through a somewhat circuitous path, I understand that the BrGr folks had a chance to read this review, and through the same roundabout path came word of a response to these concerns, indicating that unlike the specialty burgers, the patties for the standard Angus burgers are pre-formed by the meat vendor they buy from and are fresh (which I take to mean not frozen.) Indications were that they may reconsider the use of pre-formed patties. Here's hoping they do!
In addition, I realized that what I wrote here was a somewhat critical "review," but didn't proffer any suggestions for improvement, so in the interest of positivity and progress, I'm expanding this entry. First some related backstory: In my opinion, the current 'King of Burgers' in Pittsburgh is, without hesitation, Tessaro's in Bloomfield. They grind their meat on the premises every morning, and each burger is obviously hand-formed. The thought that their meat had ever seen a press or a freezer never enters your mind. They'll cook it however you ask for it. It's a thing to behold. Sadly, that's where the joy ends at Tessaro's. The atmosphere is dim and dingy, with western barbecue elements, dressed up with plasticky gingham tablecloths. Their bar can make a decent martini, but their beer selection is always pitiful, and when they're getting crushed (as they often are) the waitstaff can get surly. Lastly, I'll never understand it, but they have something personal against french fries - they don't serve them. That said, they don't have to get all that other stuff perfect, because they serve the best burgers in the city.
What gives me great hope is that BrGr has all the tools at their disposal to unseat Tessaro's. The atmosphere is urbane. When we finally got our drinks, the cocktail was tasty and well balanced, and their draught selection certainly has enough variety to keep most folks busy. The fries were great (although, puzzlingly, different between my two visits - semi-skin-on w/ salt and pepper the first time, twice-fried and sea-salted, much like D's fries, the second time.) The boozy milkshakes were to die for - total perfection! The staff, although clearly struggling during our visit, was cordial and polite throughout.
My unsolicited suggestions to BrGr are as follows:
- Grind the beef on-site daily. Hand-form all patties as they're ordered. Be confident enough in the quality of the beef to serve a rare burger to a customer who asks for it - do away with this "pink or not-pink" rubric.
- Sort out the bar situation. People already seated at tables will wait for drinks; People who are standing, empty-handed and thirsty get pissy and leave. I'll stand around for two+ hours waiting for a table at Point Brugge on a Friday night because I know they'll serve me yummy beer promptly throughout my wait. Any place that has a wait, and fails at this, generally speaking, I won't frequent.
- If BrGr is going to be totally crushed 3+ nights a week (which they almost certainly will be if they handle #1 & 2, and get a good review in the P-G), it would be good to open up more space on the first floor for people waiting for tables and drinking. The couch areas look nice, but appear to take up a TON of square footage for how few patrons they accommodate. A half dozen non-host-seated highboy tables and more open space in the vicinity of the bar would help in this department.