Senate Burger

wood grilled angus burger, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, caramelized onions, brioche bun, housemade pickles     $11

Cooking Style/Temp: medium rare, grilled

Additions/Subtractions: as listed

Burger: 3

the meat was fresh and tasty enough, and it had the nice smoky flavor from the grill but it lacked the sear from super high temps

Bun: 2

untoasted and wierd tasting, a major disappointment, too much bun to burger ratio

Toppings: 3 

the toppings by themselves were good, but together they were all overwhelming

Accoutrements: 5 

senate has a fantastic menu, almost entirely gourmet appetizer-centric, the truffle fries were crunchy on the outside and fluffy, almost mashed potato-like inside. get the poutine, as it is addictively good. the house made pickles on the side were tasty, if cut too thick to actually use on the burger. excellent beer selection, too.

Atmosphere: 3.5

Senate is relatively new, but it already has tremendous buzz and has been busy every time i’ve been there. It’s a cool urban shotgun space with an open kitchen. It will be even nicer when the weather gets warm and the whole front window opens entirely. Service has been a disappointment both times i’ve been there, the first time the waitress was swamped and kind of absent-minded, and the second time the waiter was rushed and kind of awkward, and made even getting water refills a tense affair.

Overall: 3.3 

Senate’s score is boosted by the menu and restaurant itself, the burger for me was a pretty big disappointment, especially for the high hopes and to a lesser extent, the price. It’s a case of a burger being less than the sum of its parts. It’s like they took the blueprint of a fancypants burger and just schlepped it all together without much attention to detail on how to actually make a killer burger. And to some degree, you could say that about Senate the restaurant as a whole. It’s pretty good, but could be so much better.