Burger on Smith (CLOSED)

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Burgers Ordered: The Brunch Burger, the First Date, the Left Coast, the Trademark, the Double Slap, the Friday Night, and the Turk.

The Experience: As Burger Weekly continues to be relied upon to tell New Yorkers the best burgers available to them, more and more Guest Burgermeisters request to be a part of the Burger Weekly experience. It’s not always easy to find a place to feed a lot of hungry Burgermeisters at once. Enter Burger on Smith, a burger joint in Cobble Hill that was more than happy to accommodate 13 Burgermeisters this week. With seven Burgers to choose from, the Burgermeisters had a tome’s worth of opinions on Burger on Smith’s offerings.

The Taste: As is Burger Weekly tradition, we will start with the positives and move on to the negatives. Simon said of his lamb burger, known as the Turk, that the meat is slightly sweet. He loved the way the muffin complimented the patty. He said that the cucumbers give it a nice crunch and that the mint was a great undertone. It was a little greasy but not too much to handle. The yogurt rounded out the flavor for the true Mediterranean experience. He called it a great burger.

Laura and Arian both ordered the Double Slap, two thin beef patties on a regular bun with American cheese, tomato, lettuce, and onion. Laura said that her first bite was delicious, but the subsequent mess in her hands was not as fun. However, she powered through, and before she knew it the burger was gone. While it didn’t blow her out of the water, she was definitely content. Arian called it the best “tax dodging” burger he’d ever had (referring to the annoying “cash only” sign in the window, which flew in the face of online listings saying that the restaurant accepts credit cards). He said that the burger was perfectly messy, reminding him of homemade hamburgers.

The negatives begin with the temperature at which the burgers were served. Ben was the first to speak up about this common complaint though everyone who ordered a medium rare burger was served medium well burgers. This is common when big groups all order burgers, but it doesn’t make the meal any less disappointing. If Burger on Smith is going to boast about its high quality, grass-fed meat, they need to get the orders right. It’s hard to taste the difference in the meat when the burger is overdone.

Brad was left entirely under-whelmed by his Brunch Burger. Though the egg was tasty and runny, the overcooked patty was hard to overlook. The Rabbit Food actually cooled down the beef to a disturbing degree, and the speck was nothing special; no better than slightly above average bacon.

The Friday Night. Trademark, and Left Coast were sampled by a few of our Burgermeisters. Amy and Jenna were both disappointed that they couldn’t taste the truffle vinaigrette on the Friday Night Burger, and are fairly certain that there was none. Becca didn’t like the way the Rabbit Food slid off of the egg and, though she loves pickles, couldn’t stomach the one she was served here.

Ben liked the Portuguese bun on the Trademark as a change of pace and texture from your everyday burger, but wished it had been better toasted. Crissy was hoping the horseradish aioli (the reason she wanted the Trademark) would taste more like horseradish, and was disappointed when it didn’t.

The Left Coast Burger gets points for referencing a Gregory Brothers joke, but loses points for being less than the sum of its parts. Ben liked the garlic aioli on the burger but not much else. Ben, Jenna, Rebecca, and Amy all said that the copious toppings, especially the sliced avocado, made the burger difficult to eat. Rebecca said that she liked the tomato, but was disappointed by the lack of flavor in the gruyere cheese, which has to be considered a capital crime. How does one screw up gruyere cheese?!

Crissy and Clare said of the First Date Burger that the onion was overpowering about halfway through the burger. Clare felt that the toppings weren’t flavorful enough to justify the bad breath the garlic and onions gave her, and like everyone else she lamented the overcooked burger. She did get a kick out of the burger’s sarcastic name.

The saving grace for Burger on Smith was their milkshakes. Everyone loved the milkshakes. That’s quite the triumph, given that only ten of the thirteen Burgermeisters on this Burger Adventure cared for their burgers.

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The Verdict: Skip the burgers and go straight for the milkshakes. If you must try one of the burgers, make it the Turk or the Double Slap.

Burger on Smith is located at 209 Smith Street in Brooklyn, New York.

Article by Brad Garoon

I run this burger joint.

2 Comments


  1. I live right down the street and have also been under-whelmed by the burgers at this place. As a side note, they seem to have an identity crisis as a restaurant. Do they want to be a hipster haven? A place to watch sports? Just a good ol’ burger joint? They are some weird mix between the three and so are the burgers. If you are in the neighborhood again you should take a walk down to Two8Two Burger. I’d be interested to hear what you think.

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