Burger Fi – Latham, NY

BurgerFi opened during the time I took a hiatus from writing here. Although I had heard rumblings about various media tastings when they opened, I wasn’t invited. I wouldn’t have taken them up on it because of the hiatus.

Truth be told, as far as the mission of BurgerFi, aside from being a franchised partnership between The Mazzones (i.e. 677, Tala, et. al) and The Lia’s (Lia Auto Group, Vent Fitness), it’s probably the most aligned with my personal ethics compared to the many other burger restaurants that have popped up over the last few years. I’m a big proponent for grass fed beef, and BurgerFi is dedicated to using it. The prices do reflect this, and the first couple of visits I made were wholly unfulfilling. Putting a 4 oz grass fed beef patty on a Martin’s Potato Roll with American cheese for $6 doesn’t cut it for me.

A friend told me a larger burger being was offered, so I stopped in one day to try it.

For just under $10, The CEO comes topped with 2 Wagyu and brisket patties, candied bacon-tomato jam, truffle aioli, and aged swiss cheese.

My love for truffle aioli is marginal at best, but I thought it was the star player on the burger. On this visit, the bun and patties were both very dry. The aioli and swiss cheese were necessary. The bacon-tomato jam was almost non-existent, which was frustrating. The line was busy when I noticed, so I didn’t go back to ask for more like I should have. This burger was definitely larger than what I’ve sampled previously, but I don’t think it merits the $10 price tag, even with fancy words like wagyu, truffle, and aged.

Cassie and I shared a “Cry + Fry” (onion rings and hand cut fries) for $5.47. The fries are very good and are in the same vein as 5 Guys. On every visit, the onion rings at BurgerFi are comedically big. On this visit, they were the smallest I had ever seen them.

We heard a lot of great things about their concretes, so we thought trying those would be productive.

This was a pretty tasty concoction and definitely delivered on the chocolate. For $5.57 (a bizarre price), the size of the cup more or less met my expectations. Everything inside was dense, so it was a decent value. The chocolate custard was a little more firm than I had expected, and each of the fillings was exactly what you’d expect them to be.

We ordered pretty big, but not outstandingly so for a burger joint. Our bill ended up over $40, which even when you factor in $12 for ice cream seems like a lot for what is essentially burgers and fries. I guess I wouldn’t mind if it didn’t fall short as consistently as it does for me, but, what can you do?