I love burgers. Well, I love beef. I was so excited when I read the reviews to this place because I live 5 minutes away. Can you imagine, amazing burgers just around the corner?! I was stoked to check this place out.

There are 2 parts to this story….

PART 1 

I showed up at around 1pm and I ordered the Master burger with no onions or tomatoes. This burger consisted of a beef patty, portabello mushroom cheese patty, cheddar, lettuce, aioli, tomatoes, pickles and onions. I made my order a combo and got a can of ginger ale (no fountain drinks available) and a small gelato (reg. price $3.95 for 2 scoops).

While I waited for the order, several people were standing around, and I felt like I was in the way. Do I sit down? Will they bring my order to me? Will they call out my name and I go pick it up? When do I get my gelato? Do I tell them that I want ketchup and mayo now or will they ask me what I want on my burger after?

How frustrating!

So what I learned. They will come searching for you if you sit down; you have to remind them about your gelato; you have to tell them in advance whether you want mayo/ketchup or any other condiment on your burger; you have to ask for cutlery and napkins (they give you a couple but you run out of them quickly. Specially when the gelato starts to melt seconds after receiving it).

Gelato: Too sweet. Too much sugar is a huge no-no for me when it comes to gelato. The peanut butter and jelly gelato was pretty good. I enjoyed it. The salted caramel had no salty element to it. Some sea salt sprinkled on top would have been a good touch. Well, in this case, any salt would have been a good addition to the SALTED caramel.

Burger: So disappointing! Yes, I have high standards for burgers, but I also believe myself to be fair. The beef patty was thin and almost crispy. The mushroom could almost be mistaken for the beef patty and vice versa. I could not taste any cheese in the burger. I totally forgot that the mushroom had any cheese until I read the menu again. You can’t taste the mushroom, beef or cheese. I had to ask for ketchup and mayo in order to give the burger some flavor. I also disliked the bread. The texture of the bread was off for a burger. It kept falling apart and almost disintegrated. I pretty much ended up eating the burger with only the bottom half of the bun because the top part of the bun fell apart.

On a bad note, all my hopes and dreams of a good burger joint in my area were shattered. On a good note, I will not be tempted to eat a burger every day since I have yet to find a worthy burger establishment.

PART 2:

I was contacted by Capitano’s and asked to give them another shot. So several months later, I brought 6 friends with me to see if maybe I am the one with the issue–maybe my expectations really are unreasonable.

The Good:

1. They take reservations.

2. Most menu items are under $10.

3. Some of the gelatos are tasty.

4. The gelato sandwich is actually quite good. I did not think the bread would work, but it did (I generally only have ice cream sandwiches on a brioche bun).

5. Most of my guests were okay with their burgers.

6. Good service in that they contacted me and offered me a free meal just to give them another chance.

The Bad:

1. I still don’t care for the burgers.

2. We were the first customers of the day, yet they only had 4 gelatos to choose from. It was so embarrassing on my end since I hyped the gelato options to my friends. The poor girl at the counter kept apologizing, “I am so sorry about this. We normally have many options!”

3. Though I liked that the bread for the ice cream sandwich was warm, I was stuck with eating a gooey melted mess. And because the bread is not a brioche (thick), the bread provided could not absorb the ice cream (bread was too thin).

4. Still not sold on this place and have no plans of returning.