Bistro Burger in San Francisco, California: A Restaurant Review

Bistro Burger is one of those "gourmet" burger joints in San Francisco that servs Niman Ranch beef. Well, I should say, they used to serve Niman Ranch, but apparently they recently switched to Estancia Beef. No worries Greenies, Estancia is apparently even more 100% all natural, grass fed, free range, organic and expensive than your standard burger patty.

The burger prices here actually turned out to be not quite as expensive as I was expecting. When I see "Niman Ranch" or "grass fed" or anything like that in the window of a burger joint, I automatically expect $10 to $12 burgers like those of Burgermeister or Burger Joint. This place only charges about half that, although for that price you'll get just the burger with no additional sides or accoutrements.

Most of the burgers here range from $5 to $7 with just a couple sneaking up to the just over $8 range. You have a choice of the regular Bistro Burger, a Cheeseburger Royale (which features a choice of eight cheeses including brie and gorgonzola), a BLT Burger, a Bacon Cheese Royale, a Pineapple Cheddar, a Southwest Burger, California Burger (avocado and sprouts), a Paris Burger (brie and mushrooms), a Mushroom Burger or a Western Burger.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Pineapple Cheddar. This is what I was hoping Carl's Jr.'s newish pineapple burger would be like. I can't say I get the California Burger, however - avocado is OK, but why sprouts? Why even pretend to be trying to eat healthy when you are having a burger? All you do is degrade the burger experience with such silliness. Also, the Paris Burger, which is the one that sneaks up to $8.20 in price. I don't know about Brie on a burger to begin with, but if you get the regular cheeseburger with brie, that's only $6.70. So you're paying $1.50 extra just for the mushrooms, but the difference between the mushroom burger and the regular burger is only about fifty cents, indicating the mushrooms aren't valued at more than that. So what are you paying so much for exactly? The fantasy of eating a burger named "Paris?"

You can get grilled chicken varieties of the above listed burgers, but they also add the options of Teriyaki and Cajun for these. If you go with a ground turkey patty, even more options open up. Now you can get a Ginger-Apple Chutney, a Turkey Reuben, a Mediterranean, or a Cranberry. All prices on these are about the same as the standard burger equivalents.

This place also finally just blows across the line and sells you the fabled Five Dollar Shake of Pulp Fiction lore. Well, technically it's only $4.95, but after tax it's well past five bucks. I didn't try it as I didn't see bourbon listed as an option, but apparently it uses Dreyer's ice cream ... for a five dollar shake you'd think they'd go local with Mitchell Brothers or Bi-Rite or something.

Sides include salads that seemed way overpriced, and fries, rings or "frings" for about $3 for a small order or $4.50 for a large. So a burger with a modest side and a drink is going to run you roughly $10 to $12 per person here. Some of the locations do seem to serve a limited breakfast menu, but not this one.

Be sure and check their website first if you plan to go, as they currently have a coupon up for a free small side or a drink with any burger. You can get a decent burger for about $7 by itself, so with the free drink, that's not too shabby to crave a burger fix while in the downtown area. They also have a "club card" where you get the tenth combo meal free.

I guess the burgers here aren't bad, but not something I'd go out of the way for. The fries are awful for what they are charging and I'd skip them entirely, if you need a side, grab a 99 cent bag of chips from somewhere else on the way out or something. One nice touch here is that they are open until nine or ten every night, when most eateries in the immediate area fold up earlier than that.