bgr the burger joint / point loma – san diego, ca

BGR Burger Joint is a new burger place that just opened up in town a few weeks ago. It’s an east coast chain that’s making it’s debut on the west coast with their first location here in San Diego. I was invited to come in the restaurant and try out some of their burgers and get a feel for their restaurant.

One of the partners was there to greet us and talk to us about the restaurant. After a warm greeting and asking about some of their specialties, Jake and I made our decisions on what to order. We got some burgers, a sampling of their side dishes, some shakes and drinks.

I actually at first thought that this would be like a fancy burger joint. I have no idea why. I was surprised to find that it was a walk-up place with fairly reasonable prices for some high quality burgers. The burgers are made with prime aged beef that’s all natural, hormone-free and grain-fed beef. The partner, Justin, told about the high quality beef that they use for their burgers and suggested we order the burgers to be cooked the same way that we would want our steaks. Because of that, we both ended up ordering the burger medium-rare and that turned out to be really, really tasty. Don’t be afraid of pink meat!

[Crazy Drink Machine!]

That have one of those crazy drink machines. You know, the ones that have over 100 combinations of different drinks available. They had flavors I didn’t even know existed – like peach flavored mellow yellow, diet pibb extra and tons of various flavors of powerade and dasani water. It’s got a computerized screen and you touch for the various flavors, which lead you into sub-menu’s. Jake and I were a little astounded by the number of choices and was happy to see a bunch of diet soda options as well. Crazy.

[The Wellington Burger – Roasted mushrooms, caramelized onions, garlic with a touch of mustard seed and blue cheese. Served on a toasted brioche bun with mojo sauce. – $8.99]

I order the Wellington Burger which is piled high with a smother of mushrooms and blue cheese. You can see it above surrounded by all of the side dishes they offer.

Side Dishes: Onions Rings, Yukon Gold french fries, Sweet Potato Fries and Asparagus “Fries”.

The asparagus fries aren’t really fries, they’re grilled asparagus spears with Parmesan cheese. They’re prepared very simply and they’re the “good-for-you” item on the menu you feel better about eating a beautiful, juicy burger. Jake ate them first to “get them over with” since he doesn’t like asparagus at all. I liked them. They had a nice grilled char on the outside and the Parmesan cheese on top gave them a little saltiness that made them quite tasty.

Jake really liked the Yukon Gold french fries – he thought they were nicely crisp on the outside and creamy inside. I think I took too long to eat mine since they weren’t perfectly crisp, but they were still good.

My favorite of the bunch was the sweet potato fries – they were done very well. Good outer crisp and they were just plain, with no weird seasonings to detract from the flavor of the fries. Very tasty!

The onion rings were also good, but not outstanding. They were the big beer battered type and they use Vidalia onions here so they do have that extra sweetness from the onion.

[The Wellington – side view]

This is definitely a burger for a mushroom lover – and a blue cheese lover! The mushrooms on top are actually a combination of mushrooms, caramelized onions and garlic. It looks more like a mushroom sauce on your burger since it’s kind of creamy-like. There was an insane amount of blue cheese on my burger, so much that I actually ended up taking most of it all to finish up the burger because the flavor got a little bit intense for me.

[The Wellington – inside view]

I loved how fresh and juicy the burger was. I was really happy to be able to even order a burger done medium rare since that’s almost unheard of in most places. The meat was super tender and flavorful and just made for a really good sandwich. The combination of flavors with the high quality beef really made a difference.

I also really liked the bun they use here. While it’s not quite my favorite pretzel bun, it was nicely toasted on a fresh bun. The crispy edge from the toasting is always something that makes me giddy and happy and this was not a disappointment.

My only gripe was that there was too much blue cheese on this and I kinda wish I had gotten bacon on it…

[The Cuban Burger – Burger topped with roasted pork, ham, sweet pickles, dijon mustard and swiss cheese, serve on a toasted brioche bun and grill pressed – $9.99]

Jake got the Cuban Burger, also done medium rare. He’s a copy cat!

This is an open faced photos just so you can see what’s stuffed inside – roasted pork and ham! That’s a lot of meat for one little burger.

[Cuban burger – side view]

Jake loved this burger and ate up every little bite. I had a bite and I liked it, though the pickles distracted me (boo on pickles). The pork was done well, it wasn’t dried out and added a nice flavor profile to the burger. I think it’d be too much for me, but maybe it won’t be for you? Or maybe you’ll share with a loved one?

Jake and I had some fun with the onion rings!

[Milkshakes – Coffee & Donuts / Strawberry]

We didn’t really need milkshakes, but oh man, I liked mine.

Jake ordered the “Milkshake of the Month” which was a “Coffee & Donuts” milkshake. Surprisingly enough, it really did taste like a cup of coffee with some old fashioned donuts. The flavor was really spot on, but it didn’t really do it for me. A little too much coffee for me, maybe?

I loved my Strawberry shake though, I could taste the real bits of strawberry in the mix. It was a nice, thick shake. Their menu states that they use Giffords or Breyers ice cream for their shakes. I really liked what I got. Every month they feature a new kind of shake!

All in all Jake and I really enjoyed our experience here at The Burger Joint. The place has a pretty rockin’ vibe, too, with record albums on the walls and old music videos playing while you eat. They’ve got a number of great sounding burgers to try in addition to the ones we sampled and their high quality, all natural beef really makes a difference in making a stellar burger. The crazy drink machine will thrill the kiddies as they refill for more, trying as many drinks (and combinations) as they can. It’s a fun place and a good atmosphere – you can bet that Jake and I will be back with the kiddies in tow!

BGR The Burger Joint
3960 West Point Loma Blvd.
San Diego, CA  92110
Phone: 619-222-7300

Disclaimer: This meal was complimentary and provided to us by the restaurant. I was not compensated for the review and all opinions are my own. Thank you to Hall Company for providing me with this opportunity to try out this new restaurant!