State & Main Kitchen & Bar Burger Review – Hamilton, ON
State & Main Kitchen & Bar Burger Review – Hamilton, ON
Hamilton has burger places galore, and on this stop in Steel City I found three of them packed into one little plaza. After hitting the burger joint next door, I walked a few steps over to State & Main Kitchen & Bar. The Gold Medal Burger here scored a 7.7, #64 out of 140 burgers on my rankings.
My order
Lettuce, onion and pickle only, as always. The price was $18.65, which by my math is about triple what I'd just paid next door. My take: if it costs triple, it had better score triple. Robyn pointed out that the State & Main logo looks a lot like the "EG" my brother Ernie Gonzalez uses, and that turned into a running joke for the rest of the review.
It came in a Swiss Chalet style container. Inside: super shredded lettuce, one great big vertically sliced pickle, a double patty and what almost looked like a whole wheat bun, maybe lightly toasted.
First bite
One bite, everybody knows the rules. The ingredients tasted fresh. The last double patty burger I had didn't do it for me, and this one was better. The flavours were good and the bun tasted like it was baked that day. The problem was size. The bun was a little big and threw the ratio off, though a triple patty might be too much.
By the numbers
- Bun: Fresh and good quality, my favourite part, but a little big.
- Patty: Double patty with good flavour.
- Toppings: Very finely shredded lettuce and a single big vertical pickle slice.
- Value: $18.65, the weak spot.
Same quality, different price
I kept coming back to the comparison. The quality was on par with next door, but next door charged about a third of the price. I'd rather have three burgers over there than one here. Put the price aside for a moment, though, and there's nothing wrong with this burger. It's a good, fresh burger.
My verdict
State & Main gets a 7.7 from me, Ray Bourque. A quality burger with a great fresh bun, held back by a bun-heavy ratio and a price that's hard to justify when you can walk three feet and get something similar for a lot less.
Find State & Main Kitchen & Bar
Hamilton, ON
