Review: Better Burger, Britomart

When we first visited Better Burger a year and a half ago, we were not that impressed. The staff took forever to get the orders out, and the thin beef patty in the burger was dry. It was dark at night, with loud music intruding from the Britomart Country Club next door. There was no way it could be compared with Burger Burger, which opened in Ponsonby Central around the same time (and is now about to open a Newmarket branch).

While we would hesitate to call Better Burger better (they make a different style of burger, so not really comparable anyway), we have come to enjoy eating at this downtown venue, which uses quality ingredients and offers tasty food at very reasonable prices indeed. It's even better than its main rival in some ways, because it is central (not far from the Britomart train station), and the cheeseburgers have the processed cheese you expect from American burgers!

Double cheese burger.

Due to the thinness of the patties, they can only really be a medium doneness rather than medium-rare, but we now always order the double cheeseburger and they have managed to maintain the juiciness of the meat (though the cooking level can be variable depending on who you get).

Better Burger also has a superior vegetarian burger, which is filled with a crumbed portabello mushroom, along with the usual lettuce, tomato, red onion and cheese.

Crumbed portabello mushroom in vegetarian burger with upsized fries.

There isn't much else you can get with your burgers. You can have a combo with hand-cut fries and a soft drink, or upgrade to a shake (or order an alcoholic beverage from the BCC next door). There's no side of vegetables, potatoes in different shapes, a weekly special, or anything particularly "gourmet", but there is beauty in the simplity here. Oh, and the paper wrap sporting their attractive logo conveniently catches the drips which threaten to ruin your dining experience. What more could you ask for?

Picture perfect fast food meal.

Panda Recommends

There isn't much to choose from, so you hardly need our advice, but the double cheeseburger ($7) will satisfy your craving. The fries ($4) are good too, and you can upsize for an extra dollar ($5).

Vegie Pandas
You have one option, the mushroom burger ($6.50), but it's a great one. If you are after greens though, you are out of luck, unless you count the lettuce in your burger.

Short menu.

Restaurant Details

[Added 2 May 2015: Better Burger now has a second branch in Vulcan Lane.]

Better Burger
31 Galway Street, Britomart, Auckland Central
(09) 303 2541

Opening hours:
Sundays to Tuesdays 12pm - 10pm
Wednesdays to Saturdays 12pm till late

Better Burger can be found next to the Britomart Country Club.

(This is where I would normally embed a map showing where the place is, but Google's updated My Maps does not have an easy way for me to centre it on one placemark...)