Restaurant Review - 8 oz Burger Bar
Summertime and the livin’ is easy...What could be easier than hamburgers cooked by someone else? So, a couple of weekends ago a group of friends and I went to Miami Beach’s 8 oz. Burger Bar on the corner of Alton Road and 11th street. We made reservations for 6:30 p.m. which turned out to be a good thing, because at around 7 p.m. it started getting crowded with a line at the door.
The place is very nice with an easy, casual vibe and the wait staff is for the most part South Beach young and pretty. Our server while very nice was a little flighty…but hey, she’s young and pretty and it was Sunday so we rolled with it.
A big plus with my friends was the beer selection, particularly the specialty beers - both on tap and by the bottle. I’m not a beer drinker so I was pleased to see that they had an Irish hard cider. They also offer wines by the glass for $8 - 8 reds and 8 whites - are you seeing a trend here? They also have a nice list of cocktails at $8 a pop, but none of us had one.
For appetizers we ordered from the Small Snacks menu, and we had a nice sampling of most of what was offered. There were seven of us and one order of each was enough for all to get a taste.
We had the Fried Olives Stuffed with Chorizo which were a delicious taste blend of smoky chorizo and tangy olive - this was the favorite among the appetizers. We also had Fried Green Tomatoes which I liked but everyone agreed were lacking flavor; next we had the Truffled Potato Skins with Parmesan Cheese, again I thought they were very good, but everyone else thought they weren’t truffled enough and found them rather plain - one of the guys actually said he could’ve gotten better potato skins at TGI Fridays (gasp!). The Deviled Eggs were good but they were deviled eggs…deviled eggs are always good.
For entrees there were salads (Yeah, right - like that’s gonna happen!) and other stuff, but we were there for burgers, so we really didn’t focus too much on the other choices. In addition to several pre-designed burgers there’s a “Build Your Own” option. All of us went with one of the menu burgers, sometimes adding or changing toppings a bit. There's also a good variety of side dishes.
Two of us had the Grass-Fed Beef burger which consists of an 8 oz. patty, heirloom tomatoes, garlic aioli sauce, grilled onions, pickles and charred spinach. I had mine with white cheddar cheese and my friend had it with American. I loved my burger - probably because they made the burger the way I like it: bloody rare! It is difficult to find restaurants that will do that anymore, so I was in red meat heaven! For my side dish I had the Fried Pickles with purple mustard which were fantastic! My friend ordered Sweet Potato Fries to split, but they were out of them so she ordered the Kennebec French Fries (fancy fries) - and they were good French fries.
Three others had the Melrose Burger which comes with baby arugula, garlic roasted tomatoes and a fantastic red onion marmalade. Two of them didn’t add cheese and the third had it with Bel Paese cheese which is mild and semi-soft. All three of them liked them very much. For their sides one of them shared half of the Kennebec fries, and the others ordered Stout Battered Onion Rings and Roasted Baby Broccoli. Both of them loved their sides, but of the two I liked the broccoli a lot, but frankly I found the onion rings to be regular old onion rings.
The two guys in the group decided to go old school and just ordered the 8 oz. Burger - straight up lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle with the restaurant’s special sauce, which is like a ketchupy, mayonnaisey thing which tastes much better than it sounds; neither of them added cheese. One of them had the fries and the other had the onion rings - they rated the burgers good to excellent. In fact in an unscientific poll - everyone rated their burgers good, very good or excellent. We also ordered a side of off-the-menu macaroni and cheese which was not of the yellow-orange variety, it was a lighter creamier version, very good but too mild for some.
Sadly, dessert was a bust. They offer a small variety to begin with and they were out of most of what they offer! So a couple of us (one of which was me) had to settle for splitting a Chocolate Malt. Of all the chocolate malts I've ever had, this was definitely one of them - there are much better chocolate malts out there.
All in all though, everyone was happy, the prices were reasonable for South Beach and most said they would return. That’s a good thing…
The place is very nice with an easy, casual vibe and the wait staff is for the most part South Beach young and pretty. Our server while very nice was a little flighty…but hey, she’s young and pretty and it was Sunday so we rolled with it.
A big plus with my friends was the beer selection, particularly the specialty beers - both on tap and by the bottle. I’m not a beer drinker so I was pleased to see that they had an Irish hard cider. They also offer wines by the glass for $8 - 8 reds and 8 whites - are you seeing a trend here? They also have a nice list of cocktails at $8 a pop, but none of us had one.
For appetizers we ordered from the Small Snacks menu, and we had a nice sampling of most of what was offered. There were seven of us and one order of each was enough for all to get a taste.
We had the Fried Olives Stuffed with Chorizo which were a delicious taste blend of smoky chorizo and tangy olive - this was the favorite among the appetizers. We also had Fried Green Tomatoes which I liked but everyone agreed were lacking flavor; next we had the Truffled Potato Skins with Parmesan Cheese, again I thought they were very good, but everyone else thought they weren’t truffled enough and found them rather plain - one of the guys actually said he could’ve gotten better potato skins at TGI Fridays (gasp!). The Deviled Eggs were good but they were deviled eggs…deviled eggs are always good.
For entrees there were salads (Yeah, right - like that’s gonna happen!) and other stuff, but we were there for burgers, so we really didn’t focus too much on the other choices. In addition to several pre-designed burgers there’s a “Build Your Own” option. All of us went with one of the menu burgers, sometimes adding or changing toppings a bit. There's also a good variety of side dishes.
Two of us had the Grass-Fed Beef burger which consists of an 8 oz. patty, heirloom tomatoes, garlic aioli sauce, grilled onions, pickles and charred spinach. I had mine with white cheddar cheese and my friend had it with American. I loved my burger - probably because they made the burger the way I like it: bloody rare! It is difficult to find restaurants that will do that anymore, so I was in red meat heaven! For my side dish I had the Fried Pickles with purple mustard which were fantastic! My friend ordered Sweet Potato Fries to split, but they were out of them so she ordered the Kennebec French Fries (fancy fries) - and they were good French fries.
Three others had the Melrose Burger which comes with baby arugula, garlic roasted tomatoes and a fantastic red onion marmalade. Two of them didn’t add cheese and the third had it with Bel Paese cheese which is mild and semi-soft. All three of them liked them very much. For their sides one of them shared half of the Kennebec fries, and the others ordered Stout Battered Onion Rings and Roasted Baby Broccoli. Both of them loved their sides, but of the two I liked the broccoli a lot, but frankly I found the onion rings to be regular old onion rings.
The two guys in the group decided to go old school and just ordered the 8 oz. Burger - straight up lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle with the restaurant’s special sauce, which is like a ketchupy, mayonnaisey thing which tastes much better than it sounds; neither of them added cheese. One of them had the fries and the other had the onion rings - they rated the burgers good to excellent. In fact in an unscientific poll - everyone rated their burgers good, very good or excellent. We also ordered a side of off-the-menu macaroni and cheese which was not of the yellow-orange variety, it was a lighter creamier version, very good but too mild for some.
Sadly, dessert was a bust. They offer a small variety to begin with and they were out of most of what they offer! So a couple of us (one of which was me) had to settle for splitting a Chocolate Malt. Of all the chocolate malts I've ever had, this was definitely one of them - there are much better chocolate malts out there.
All in all though, everyone was happy, the prices were reasonable for South Beach and most said they would return. That’s a good thing…
Labels: 8oz Burger Bar, restaurant reviews, South Beach
posted by Hilda at
7/07/2009
4 Comments:
I ate there two weeks ago and had it again the next day. Amazing burgers! Whether you're having the normal 8 oz, or the Melrose, I found everything there amazing. Hope this place manages to stick around.
I've seen some unfavorable reviews of this place on Yelp, so I was surprised that yours was so favorable. This is just down the street from my BF's house, so we'll probably try it out at some point. Thank you!
I've been to 8 oz. twice and both times the burgers and fries were excellent! Will continue to frequent when on the beach and in the mood for a fun place with good burgers.
I went to 8oz a couple of weeks ago not expecting very much...I am not a big burger eater. Well, I have been back 2 more times since. I absolutely love the veggie burger, it melts in your mouth. It is unlike anything I have had before. The only problem was they ran out on a Saturday night and the waitress tried to tell me the two boca burgers they had given me were the new recipe. I was so upset since I had come back for their recipe, I asked the manager and he told me the truth, that the had run out. I had the turkey burger instead and it was delicious, too. I plan to go back for the veggie burger again sometime this week...after the gym, lol.
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