The BEST burger?

As planned after seeing Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, Part II, we went with our movie mates, Susan & Rich, to 25 Burgers in Bound Brook. Touted as a heavy favorite as a potential contender for the title of best (fast food style) burger, we were excited to give this a go. This one is located on Route 28 in the aforementioned Bound Brook and I've now been educated that this is in fact a chain. There's one is Wesfield, Linden and three more opening in Brick, Branchburg and HELLO, Matawan!!

Ok - so in we go. It's a little place with a dozen booths / tables for sit down dining and the music is all 50s and 60s. You order at the counter - the menu is well marked on the walls and on their web site if you checked ahead of time. They give you one of those beepers like you get at Cheesecake Factory. The crowd was nothing near the insanity that you experience at CCF, but I like the beeper nonetheless. When it finally goes off, such excitement!! Our wait was less than ten minutes for the burgers, fries and onion rings.

I did not try anyone else's burger - they'll have to comment themselves, but I can tell you what everyone ordered. Susan went with the special nacho burger. From what I can tell it was a burger with pico de gallo, jalapenos and tortilla chips. Alan and Rich both ordered the bacon cheeseburger royal - so it came with all that and a fried egg. I stuck with the classic cheeseburger for the sake of pure comparison. Although this one did have sauted onion, lettuce, tomato and mayo on it - plus the ketchup and mustard I added. All of that is standard for me save the onion that was a nice extra.

My impression - REALLY GREAT BURGER. It was big (6oz), very well cooked, just grilled to this side of medium and served on a nice, fresh bun. It was a messy burger - but that's to be expected. Every bite was flavorful and juicy - and although I thought it was going to fall completely apart on me, having the paper wrapper there to keep it all snug made the difference.

The fries were good...not as fabulous as Five Guys, but much better than most fries. I didn't try the onion rings which were huge and served with a "special sauce" that seems to be barbecue mixed with mayo.

All in all, excellent. I'd love to try the one that opens in Matawan. Is it worthy of the BEST BURGER title? I'm not sure. I'm thinking it's top three right now with Five Guys and Big D's in Napa. It does beat Shake Shack, for me at least. We might have to do a side by side tasting of Five Guys and 25 Burgers to know for sure.

Until then - love to hear if anyone thinks they've got a burger joint that can rival this one.
http://www.25gourmetburgers.com/