Steakhouse Burger at Mankas Grill

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Restaurant Info

See for Yourself

Burger Breakdown

The Visit

We visited Mankas Grill for lunch. Nice country-side restaurant near Fairfield, CA. Open for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday. Open for brunch and dinner on Sunday. Closed Monday. Has an upscale dining room and a very nice patio. Patio seating is limited so if you want outdoor seating, come early. This place can get busy so get a reservation.

Mankas Grill is a proper restaurant with table service. We had a wonderful waitress helping us with our meal. We were seated on the patio and they arranged the seating to accomodate our party.

We didn't have to wait to be seated. We arrived before the lunch rush and did not have any problem being seated.

Service was prompt. Our waitress got our drink order as soon as we were seated and then gave us a bit of time to review the menu before getting our meal order.

So...tell me about your burgers.

Mankas Grill has only one cheeseburger on the menu. This is their Steakhouse Burger. So, being a cheeseburger afficionado, I had to go with the Steakhouse Burger - medium well. 

The Steakhouse Burger comes with bacon jam, lettuce, tomato, onion, cheddar cheese all on a brioche bun.

The Steakhouse Burger at Mankas Grill comes with your choice of french fries, sweet potato fries, or house chips. There is no additional cost for the side. French fries were the side of choice for today's meal.

The meal combo is affordable. It is priced at $18. Not bad for a gourmet burger with your choice of side dish. You can add avocado, a fried egg, or both for $3 each. The add-ons are a bit pricey for me. I think $1.50 each would be more reasonable.

Let's See What We Have Here

Some assembly required. The Steakhouse Burger came to the table open-faced. Not much to do to get this cheeseburger ready to eat. Basically, flip the top onto the bottom and your are ready to go.

Overall presentation was nice. As I mentioned, the burger came open-faced with the lettuce, tomato, and onion on the top bun and the burger patty, bacon jam, and the cheddar cheese on the bottom bun.

Aside from the bacon jam, there was no sauce on this cheeseburger. I was a bit worried as I couldn't find the bacon jam. Upon a more detailed  inspection, I found the bacon jam hidden beneath the melty cheddar cheese.  Glad it was there. It tasted great!

Have you tried the bread?

Nice and fresh brioche roll. Toasted on the inside. Quality approach to a cheeseburger.

Let's look under the hood of this baby.

Some assembly was required for this cheeseburger. Essentially, flip the top bun and condiments over onto the bottom bun, burger and cheese.

The only sauce that came with the Steakhouse Burger at Mankas Grill was the bacon jam. No ketchup, mustard, mayo or other special sauce. While eating this hamburger sandwich, I would have enjoyed another layer of flavor. A lite application of mayonnaise or other specialty sauce would have been a nice addition. Not that the cheeseburger was dry, it would have been a nice addition.

Produce was nice and fresh. Lettuce and onion were cool and crisp. Tomato was both firm and juicy. The onion was served as a thick slab. Not a fan of a whole slab of onions on a cheeseburger. Onion has a tendency to over-power the flavor of the cheeseburger and also leave a strong onion flavor in the mouth. To improve the balance between the onion and the rest of the sandwich, I broke the onion up into individual rings and only return a few of the rings for eating. All the other toppings were in proportion with the burger patty and the bun.

Cheddar cheese was used on this hamburger sandwich. It was melted just right. Enough heat to get the cheese to drape over the top of the patty yet the cheese wasn't breaking with the fats separating.

Bacon jam was delicious. I would have liked a bit more, but that is just me. Maybe a bit more apple cider vinegar to give it a bit more kick.

I ordered te burger patty cooked to medium-well and the chef did a fantastic job by bringing it in at medium-well. Almost all the pink was gone and the patty was still perfectly juicy. It was a nice and fatty blend that held it's moisture well.

The burger patty appeared to be cooked on an open grill. Guessing it was a gas grill as I didn't get any smokey charcoal flavor. Plus, I didn't notice any wood fire smoke around the restaurant.

Extremely juicy cheeseburger. This thing was dripping down my hands and covering my face. It should have come with a towel to help with cleanup. The napkin that was provided couldn't handle the job. Had to go and wash my hands and face.

Nice grind on the beef. Tender. Meaty.

Maybe it is just me, but this needed a bit more salt. Lots of fat in this cheeseburger with the bacon jam, cheese and patty. A bit more salt would have brought the beefy flavor of the patty out a bit more.

So, who are your your friends here?

I ordered the french fries with my Steakhouse Burger at Mankas Grill. Fries were nice and crispy. Salted just right. They came in a small basket that fit on the plate along with the cheeseburger. Nice presentation and I think it helped keep the fries from steaming and softening. 

It's a Wrap

Everything on this cheeseburger came together into a delicious sandwich. Soft bun, crispy and fresh veg, melty cheese, tasty bacon jam, and a nice meaty patty on a brioche roll. I actually powered through this sandwich as I didn't want to set it down because it was so juicy.

Final words...

For $18 the Steakhouse Burger from Mankas Grill was a good value. Delicous cheeseburger at a pleasant restaurant made for a wonderful lunch. Would definitely stop at Mankas Grill again for this sandwich.