Burger 21

Critic's Review

Everyone stop what you're doing and listen up: Another designer burger joint has opened. This one is Burger 21, located across University from the new BurgerFi and just down the road from Knucklehead Burgers and a Steak and Shake.

If you wonder why so many of these places are opening, it's because the franchise model is so lucrative. The franchisor gets ~$30-40K upfront and 5-6% of sales, so even if some dope wants to open a coffee house next to a Starbucks; it's only the Franchisee's money that is at risk.

This place has taken over the old Big City Dogs location; a place that survived longer than they should only because of faux awards granted by New Times; one of the worst Chicago dogs I can recall. When I heard that a Burger 21 was opening; I wondered what they were thinking.

A big difference with this place is the overall ambiance; they have some booths and a layout that first confused me; the register is to the right; if you turn left you'll find yourself standing in the middle of the room.

Contrary to what may be obvious; Burger 21 is not owned by the B hotel; they just share the love of B isms. Pretty lame if you ask me, but nobody has. This place is brought to us by the owners of The Melting Pot; a place where I've never been. No fondue on this menu.

The place strikes me as a sort of modernized malt shop, with a "burger bar" that is more central than the token counters that just don't work at quickly evaporating CG Burgers and Steak and Shake.

I gave my order to a blue-haired girl at the register; they let you order a burger "Medium Rare"; I ordered a "Cheesy" burger, sweet potato fries, and a "cup" of the Turkey Chili, which is really the only thing that fits my diet.

While waiting in a room with no customers at 2:45pm, I endured horrific music by Young Cannibals and Justin Bieber; they're clearly not going for a middle aged crowd here.

One of the many idle employees brought out my order on a big tray, which I initially thought meant that they didn't catch the "take out" in my order. But apparently they show the burger and the stuff to you before bagging it up. I guess they're not expecting big crowds here; while that seems like a novel idea, it seems that it would be difficult to pull off in a busy restaurant. Everything looked fine, so she bagged it up and off I went.

I tried a couple of fries on the ride home; sweet potato fries always sound like a good idea but they don't do much for me. To me, fries are supposed to be greasy and salty; taboo in today's silly world, and these had neither. Not bad, but not worth the calories either.

When I opened the chili, the consistency troubled me; chili should not be soupy. This was way too loose; it's chili soup.

Not terrible but not very good either. I wouldn't order this again.

Time for the Burger. First, they shouldn't name this "Cheesy" just because it has a slice of cheese on it. 1 thin slice doesn't fit "Cheesy" to me.

Visually, it was a burger. They don't make any size claims; I'd say it's about 1/3 pound. But unlike the tasteless, cheese-food laden burgers at BurgerFi, this burger was delicious. The soft fluffy bun was the star of the show; for once a bun that doesn't interfere with the burger. When I finished half of this, some sadness set in as I realized that my diet wouldn't allow me to eat the other half with the bun. Eating just the burger, lettuce and tomato from the other half; the burger was just a burger. There was just something about the whole sandwich that worked.

So overall we have a new Burger place with good burgers that's a nicer place to hang out than the other choices; the middle aged guy who owns the place would be well advised to play some better music for one simple reason: Young people like classic rock also, but middle aged people have more money and wont tolerate Justin Bieber.

The franchisor site for Burger 21 has a ridiculously weak "page" for the restaurant that still lists the place as "Opening Soon" ; I would have been on the phone on Monday morning. I had to call to confirm that they opened on the day they claimed. As we all know living here in Broward; most places don't open when they say they will.