Romer's Burger Bar (River District): Good concept but not worth the price

I am not a burger person; the only reason that I have developed a small appreciation for burgers was that there were always free BBQs for engineering students at UBC. Also, when I was a poor student, the $1.39 burgers at McDonalds were too attractive. I was sort of tricked by my boyfriend to go with him to Romer’s Burger Bar in the River District. There are three locations and the one at River District is located by the Fraser River on Kerr St. If you like trendy food, drinking out of mason jars, and organic/locally grown food then this may be a spot for you, but expect to pay more than your average McDonalds burger.

The Romer’s Burger Bar I went to is at River District; a community at Southeast Vancouver and by the Fraser River. If you sit by the window and it’s a nice day, I’d say the view would be really nice. I went on a super rainy day and still enjoyed the misty view.

There was a Dine Out option for $18 per person, but I didn’t feel like eating a three course meal (and the dessert was donuts.) My boyfriend had the Port & Stilton Burger ($10.95). In the burger there are: port-braised sweet onions, sharp Stilton cheese, thyme leaves, olive oil mayo. Stilton cheese is a type of blue cheese…hence it reminded me of skunk. For those who do like blue cheese, you would enjoy it as much as my boyfriend did. I’m sure if they used another cheese I’d like the taste a LOT better. To each and their own. (Oh, our burgers were cut in half so we could try each other’s burgers; but a bite of the Port & Stilton was sufficient.)

I should mention- the beef at Romer’s Burger Bar are 100% certified organic beef; the cattles that were raised had no antibiotics, steroids, and hormones.

I had The Chorizoder ($12.95). Goodness, that’s expensive for a burger. It also came with no sides so I was expecting it to be the best burger I’ve had to date with this high of a price tag. Unfortunately, that’s not how it went.

The Chorizoder is packed with chorizo-spiced pork and beef patty, cheddar, pepper jack, Boursin, vine-ripened tomato, sweet onion, avocado, and Diablo sauce. First of all, one one half of the burger, a large portion of the patty was pretty burnt and fell out of the bun already. It came to me like that…as if the people who burnt the patty had no care. Let’s just serve this person overcooked food…

I didn’t really taste any chorizo-ness in the burger; it looked more like a chorizo combo patty than tasted like one; it needed more kick! It seems like there’s so much flavour in this burger, it canceled each other out. The concept of this bun was good, but the taste didn’t linger and if I ever go back, I probably will opt for fish tacos. I was most intrigued by the (slightly dry) brioche bun; not the typical hamburger bun I usually see in other restaurants.

The highlight of the meal is the Fresh Chopped Garlic & Sea Salt Fries ($5.95 for share-able size,) with house made bacon mayo ($0.75) on the side. The fries were golden, crispy on the outside,and soft on the inside. I didn’t really taste a lot of salt, but I love the garlic tossed on it. You will absolutely get potent garlic breath when you eat it; but totally worth the stinky breath for a few hours! The bacon mayo was super tasty too and gave it more salty flavour to the fries. Though, for $5.95 you aren’t getting a whole lot of fries even if it’s share-able; I can picture many men treating this as an individual side at any other restaurant.

Overall, I wish I got the regular burger instead of something fancy, since I didn’t feel like I got what it was worth. For two people, it came to around $37 after tax and tips. I’ve read reviews that the Kitsilano branch is better; but for now I don’t see Romer’s Burger Bar as a frequent burger joint for me. Perhaps a fry joint if I have money to spare. Do you have a favourite burger joint?