The Great Burger Quest: Week 4

I’m feeling in the mood to ruffle a few feathers this morning. Against my better judgment, I decided to listen to countless readers that insisted that I eat at Bartley’s Burger Cottage in Harvard Square. I realize Harvard Square is outside the city limits, but by the same token, this is my contest and I’ll do what I like.

Bartley’s is not only widely known for having one of, if not, the best burgers in the Boston area, but in the entire continental United States! It was also voted 'Best of Boston' by Boston Magazine this year. It is for these reasons that I was planning on holding off on eating here for at least a few more weeks, but for whatever reason I decided to dine there last night. I was accompanied this time by my good friends Catherina and Natro.

Let’s discuss shall we?

For starters, Bartley’s was packed to the brim at 8:30pm on Thursday night. They must be doing something right. I came with a larger group than I have on my previous burger tastings, but luckily we were able to find a table rather quickly. The first thing I noticed about the menu? No booze. Not a great start. So I can’t wash my burger down with a beer… that’s fine, I’ll live. The next thing I noticed was that their menu was roughly 3 times as long as the one I had found on their official website yesterday afternoon. Every burger was a political reference or at the very least had something to do with Boston. I know I said that I would not be getting fancy with my burger choices, but I decided to throw some bacon on this time. My contest!

My first impression was somewhat disappointing. Perhaps this place had been hyped up so much that my taste buds had been prepared for ground beef nirvana. There was nothing wrong with this burger by any means… there just wasn’t anything extraordinary about it. It was cooked to perfection, the bun was nicely toasted, the veggies were fresh, and the fries were crunchy. My first thought was that this burger may have not surpassed my burger from Audubon Circle. I was taken back when I first bit into that burger, but I didn’t have the same reaction at Bartley's. However, in terms of overall burger presentation, toppings, and fries, I have to say that Bartley’s was the better meal. But it was close a close call. Closer than I’m sure many people would agree with. I’d like to return and be a little more adventurous with my menu selections.

On the Jon Defreest scale of Unreasonably High Expectations and Somewhat Underwhelming Deliciosity, I give the Bartley Burger a rather controversial 8 out of 10. Narrowly beating out Audubon Circle and thus becoming the best burger I have encountered to date.