428 Burger at Kitchen 428

Restaurant Info

See for Yourself

Burger Breakdown

The Visit

I visited Kitchen428 Restaurant & Mojo's Lounge for dinner. It is a perfect time to enjoy such a fantastic restaurant.

Kitchen428 is a sit-down restaurant with table service. The hostess graciously seats you and the attentive waiters take it from there.

This is a popular restaurant. of the time of day and the time of year, I heartily recommend reservations. If you don't, you could be waiting a bit to enjoy dinner.

Since I had reservations, no wait time at all. There were a few empty tables when I arrived. So, there was a chance I could have been seated without a reservation. No sense taking that chance though.

The waiter gave us a bit of time to look through the menu before checking in with us.

Kitchen428 is a nice restaurant in an older building. Built in 1891, this building boasts an extremely beautiful wood exterior with brick wall interior. Eclectic decorations make the dining experience quite enjoyable.

So...tell me about your burgers.

Unfortunately, there is only one burger choice on the Kitchen428 menu. However, it is a cheeseburger with a lot of potential.

The 428 Burger comes with a whopping 1/2 lb Wagyu beef patty, pepperjack cheese, hardwood smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato, and onion all on a burger bun. 

Sides include a choice between steak fries, sweet potato fries, and mixed greens. All are pleasant opitons.

At the time of this review, it cost $17.50. Upgrades include an egg for $3 and avocado for $2.50.

Let's See What We Have Here

The cheeseburger from Kitchen428 arrived at the table looking good! It was presented open-faced with the lettuce, tomato and onions on the top bun and the bacon, cheese, and burger patty on the bottom bun. It came with a portion of french fries and a small container of ketchup. Plus, it came with a nice dill pickle spear. The meal looked quite appetizing. I couldn't wait to dive in.

Have you tried the bread?

The bun for the 428 Burger was pretty good. It was a nice soft bun with a good toast on it. You could tell that it was toasted on the grill which is perfectly fine with me because it gave it a nice smoky crunch. It probably would have been a little bit better if they added some butter before they toasted the bun; a little buttery flavor.

Let's look under the hood of this baby.

This burger was served open faced. Some assembly was required. But, not much. I simply had to flip the top over onto the bottom and I was ready good to go.

There was a drawback. The burger came with no sauce. Now, that's really not a problem. But, as you'll see later on, this cheeseburger sandwich needed a bit of sauce to bring it forward. We'll get into that later.

The produce was nice and fresh. The tomato slices were sweet even though tomatoes aren't in season. The lettuce was nice and crispy and not wilted from the heat since it is served open face and wasn't resting on the burger getting all wilted. The red onion was nice thin slices broken up into rings. The pepper jack cheese was nice and melty. They did quite well with the toppings.

The burger patty was cooked perfectly. I ordered it medium well and it arrived medium well so they certainly knew what they were doing in the kitchen. The cheeseburger was cooked on a grill rather than a flat top. The patty could have used a bit more salt to bring out a little bit more of the beefy flavor. I have to say though, for a wagyu beef cheeseburger it was a little dry. If this cheeseburger had arrived at the table cooked past medium, I think it would have been a bit tough. I'm not sure if it was the beef they used or the lean to fat ratio. It certainly wasn't a “juice running down your arms” type of cheeseburger.

While I was tasting the individual components of this cheeseburger. I did notice that the patty was a touch dry. The cheeseburger definitely needed some sauce. I asked for some additional mustard and used some of the ketchup that was provided for dipping french fries. I added ketchup and mustard to my Wagyu beef cheeseburger. Not sure how I feel about that.

So, who are your your friends here?

The 428 Burger came with a decent portion of steak fries. I found them to be a bit soggy and a bit cold. I could tell they weren't cooked to order. They had that “soggy cool holding oven texture.” I really would have enjoyed “fresh out of the fryer” french fries with this cheeseburger.

It's a Wrap

Overall, this was a good burger. It would have been nice if the beef blend was a little bit better and a little more juicy. I also wish it would have come with a nice sauce rather than having to add ketchup and mustard to it. If they created a sauce that complemented the Wagyu beef, this would be a phenomenal cheeseburger.

Final words...

If they only made two small tweaks to this cheeseburger, it would make for a remarkable meal. A custom sauce that enhances the flavor of the burger and the wagyu beef and a burger patty blend that was a little more juicy. They can also improve their french fry holding or french fry cooking process to make those fries nice and crispy when they arrive at the table. Because you know people always grab a french fry first as they plan their attack on the cheeseburger.

Definitely give Kitchen 428 and Mojo's Lounge a try. I think you'll enjoy the burger and the ambience of the restaurant.