GBK opinions on food and service - not on chain bars

[Guest]

Lets ignore the management / ownership side of the place and think about what us actually going on. Surely we should consider the quality of what we are actually paying for before we slate the place for going the way of the Strada.

The Gourmet Burger Kitchen......where do we start?

Well, you start by handing over around ?5 per head more cash than you initially thought reasonable. No food, no service, no seat, no ''well I thought we'd be done by 9'' time left in the day and certainly no pennies to go welcome the weekend with a tasty cocktail next-door.

Even before you have been left loitering like a lemon with around 40 other unsuspectings in and area no bigger than 1/2 a foot whilst constantly being offered 'a drink while you wait'. And before you have been abruptly sat at a table stickier than the worst student union, before you've spent another 15 minutes with fries but no burger and milkshake with hot glass. Note, for anyone sucked-in by a childish fancy of a milkshake - I've tasted better nesquiks made by five year-olds who their yellow tub of vanilla-flavoured additive for powder paint. And before you've dipped your first chip into your sauce and you've asked yourself ''am I turning into an enamel storage unit or did I just pay 2 pounds for half an inch of mayo?". And before you've twice reminded the (you'll have to) waiter and then found your burger a mountain of driest complexity, you're out of pocket and without the piece of mind that you can simply say ''I'm very sorry bit I just don't think this is up to the standard reflected in the tariff, can you fix this and pass my regards to the manager?''.

You pay before you eat at places like McDonalds, Dingos Pizza, or Millennium Special Fried Chicken Cottage Village, but this is because you're not paying much and you know what you?re getting. Or at least you know you?re probably getting something a little worse than what you think you are getting, but you know that already and besides, its only cheap. When you fork out the prices that the GBK are after, to fuel their colonisation of all semi-trendy parts of town, you do expect just a little more than what you get in this, the chain place which has been a building site for the last few months.

As you may tell, I find it hard to recommend the GBK, or EDGBK. You can't book a table, you can't do anything when you have tepid potatoes and a layer of bacon thats been over-fried so badly you can already see the frown on the face of King's College Hospital. Don't get me wrong, I?ll happily burn my reddies in Dulwich's many eateries and retailers, but the GBK really is taking the biscuit. The over-dunked biscuit which has since sunk to the bottom of the already cold cup of ?10 tea.

[blinder999]

Well the burger bar is getting a load of free publicity out of the intense debate stimulated on this board, as opposed to Jerk Rock (I think that's what it's called) which is a few doors up. After five years in the area, I finally decided to give this place a try - and having had to wait till its 2pm opening I was admittedly more than ready for my lunch.

We ordered takeaway jerk chicken and jerk pork meals, and both dishes were fantastic - meat that had been lovingly slow-cooked in some fantastic marinade, with generous and delicious portions of rice and peas. If anyone else on here had wondered about Jerk Rock as I had, get in there, it's great.

[Guest]

I too took a while to be convinced to try Jerk Rock and can only reiterate blinder999 - beautiful food

Anyon surprised GBK isn't all that - one thing I will say is that at least that site has got customers these days - 2 previous bars/restaurants there were poor AND empty

[tomM]

Yeh GBK is soo bad i'm going back for the third time this Wednesday (to try their new Xmas burger - turkey, stuffing, bacon and cranberry, yum!).

Just to counter your claims - I've always found the milkshakes yummy and the burgers have NEVER been dry.

Yes it's expensive but no more expensive than a regular resteruant (and its far more exciting!). Also yes waiting for a table is annoying but that's just cos it's popular - best to avoid going between 8pm-9pm, and hey Liquorice is next door - just grab a pint or two first.

[Quaywe]

Being a kiwi (and GBK originally being a joint set up by kiwis) I was excited to try GBK for the first time. I ordered takeaway as I wasn't up for going out.

The Kiwi Buger was the obvious choice and of course accompanied by the great kiwi classic; the lime milkshake. I have to say that it was pretty good and the lime milkshake was to die for. The burger a a classic kiwi burger and the shake just as good. The only let down was the price but hey I didn't mind paying for a bit of nostalgic kiwi grub.

The second time we ate in. We managed to get a table, then went up and ordered our burgers. I got the satay burger and fries with garlic mayo (and of course the lime milkshake). After a short wait we got the food. It was as it should be; hot and fresh. Overall the satay burger was overloaded with sauce and you couldn't really taste the factory prepared (but not too bad) burgers. The chips were not bad (at best) but the garlic mayo was absolutely overloaded with raw garlic. Basically I left feeling like I'd just downed a jar of peanut butter and eaten a whole clove of garlic. Luckily my lime milkshake helped to stem the overpowering flavours left in my mouth from the sauces. My wife still made me buy some PK on the way home though, and no wonder!

The third time - takeaways again - this time the Blue Cheese burger (and lime milkshake!); again overloaded with sauce and the wrong flavors. Someone at GBK has clearly decided that the "100% Aberdeen-Angus Scotch beef" isn't worth tasting and had drowned it in these flavors that should really just compliment the burger, not kill it!

The verdict: GBK is definitely overpriced for the service you are getting however the burgers are bigger than you'd get in a cheap fast food outlet so I guess somewhat justified. Personally I like the food, so long as it doesn't contain any of their overpowering sauces. A plain burger, cheese burger or the good old Kiwi Burger would be the picks. My favourite of the lot though had to be the great kiwi dessert: the Pavlova. Again it wasn't the best I've had (factory prepared) but a good dose of kiwi nostalgia none the less.

I don't think GBK is the kind of place I'd frequent too much now but it's not bad on the odd occasion, and as mentioned in a previous post a welcome change from the Dulwich Brasserie as it was so empty.

[Guest]

spot on Ed

the garlic mayo is so potent it almost burns you - I had to have a beer on the way home to take the taste away :)

my main gripe about the GBK is the chips - they arrive warm on the outside, but luke warm and dry in the middle. 2 mins later you are left with cold oven chips. It's such a shame that they can't be bothered (at that price even) to serve fresh fries with each order? Instead they leave the chips sitting under warmers to slowly dry out.....

[boomerang]

Hey

Went to ED GBK for the first time tonight, and the first time I've ever had a GBK burger - ordered the Kiwiburger - All I have to say is MY kitchen produces a much better, hotter, tastier burger!! And I never run out of BUNS!!

Who's ever heard of a burger joint running out of BUNS!!!

Tonights experience was laughable!!

[Guest]

It seems like everyone's taking turns at burger bashing(?) I found the food lovely but a bit overpriced and the service a bit erratic; overall it looks to me as if they're victims of their own success. Extend it and get more staff!

[Ant]

I had a GBK burger for the first time ever today. It was OK, but no better than that. And the chips were decidedly bland. Not really worth the money if you ask me. The milkshake was quite nice though.

[nutty]

I went the other week and agree the burgers are drowned in sauce and the garlic mayo is far too potent. Also I had to speak very slowly to the person behind the till before my order was understood which I just find frustrating (especially as they still brought out the wrong thing to start with!).

At the end of the day, I guess you get what you should expect from a chain restaurant where the staff only care about their weekly pay check. Go next door to Liquorice and have a top burger (organic meat from the fantastic butchers down the road) and be served by people who'll recognise you as a local/regular and say hello and be generally courteous.

I don't think I'll be visiting GBK again although I suspect it has a market and will remain.

[OldTimer]

I have been to GBK two times, and on both occasions, I received the same level of service from the staff ....NO SERVICE.

Call me old fashioned, but when I sit down to a meal, I like my drink out of a glass........so when the waitress takes my order for drinks, it is not beyond the bounds of common sense for her to ask whether I would like my beer in a glass, but no, on both visits, I had to request a glass, and on the second visit, I had a sense of deja vu, because the glass was warm and it was banged down on the table as the waitress was on the run !!! to take another order.

Now on to the food, expensive/not expensive/value for money ????, well if you compare a BigMacMeal burger,fries and drink for say four and a half/five quid then your GBKburger/chips/beer for about a tenner then it is no contest, I would rather spend the tenner....but I must say the chips are not so great value at ?2.35.........

Having been twice, once to try it out and second time for my son to assess the joint, I do not think that I will return in a hurry..........unforunately the great "British Reserve" stops the vast majority of people from complaining about bad/indifferent service, and another great English quality "knowing the price of everything, but the value of nothing" encourages business(es) in this country to overcharge for virtually everything without a whimper from the general population, ask yourself a question.....dump a GBK in the middle of New York or Paris or Rome......do you think it would survive as a business ???? if your answer is yes, please call the Maudsley urgently and ask them for a discount on a long stay :-)......