Barney's Cheeseburger at Barney's Gourmet Hamburgers, Berkeley CA

Barney's Gourmet Hamburgers is a local Bay are joint with 10 locations. Barney's has often been named as Bay Area's best burger joint. I lost my count how many awards they have won, but you can check them all from their website. They started in Oakland in 1978 and since then they have spread around the Bay area. And the word 'gourmet' stands for one million different burger options from Russian Burger with sour cream to Maui Waui Burger with pineapple and teriyaki sauce.

I ordered a Barney's Cheeseburger, medium rare with a side of curly fries. Burger was served with lettuce, tomato, red onion, house sauce and slice of orange. Their sauce was just the basic pink-colored sauce. A basic recipe with 50% mayo, 50% ketchup and a little relish to give taste. This one was pretty tasteless. I didn't even taste it in my burger.

There really isn't anything gourmet in Barney's. The burger was big but size does not matter if the slap has lost all it juices before you get to take a bite. I found all the bloody juices on my plate and partly soaked to my bun. End result was tastless and dry slap of meat. And the bun, just the basic bun, barely grilled - I could call it just blah.

On the other hand curly fries were really excellent, and I can believe that with some special burger the whole experience might be something else.

I don't know about their 'gourmet' burgers with this, that and little bit something else, but as for standard burger/cheeseburger they have totally lost it. There might awards, and good reviews in forums but the fact is that all that is a result of their variety of choices on their menu. If you grave a tasty standard type burger, go some place else.