The Worst Hamburger in DC DelMarVa

[iamthestretch]

Can I add yet another caveat?

Worst burgers that I nonetheless regularly return for: Tune Inn.

I guess the ambience makes it all worth while. Or something.

[My Confusing Horoscope]

Does anybody remember Little Taverns? Maybe not the worst.

What is the idea of serving a hamburger that has not been seasoned or changed in any way at all from a meat patty? I put a lot of stuff in my burgers before I shape them into patties and they're great!

[mnebergall]

Can I add yet another caveat?

Worst burgers that I nonetheless regularly return for: Tune Inn.

I guess the ambience makes it all worth while. Or something.

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I kind of like the Tune Inn's burgers. A nice double cheese. You bite into it and the juice runs down your chin.

[Busboy]

Does anybody remember Little Taverns? Maybe not the worst.

What is the idea of serving a hamburger that has not been seasoned or changed in any way at all from a meat patty? I put a lot of stuff in my burgers before I shape them into patties and they're great!

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As a former employee of the Little Tavern on the corner of Wisconsin and N, I can assure that Little Tavern Burgers were slightly easoned with salt, pepper and reconstituted dehydrated onions. The fact that you ate there at all suggests that you were too impaired to be able to make a reliable report at this late date.

[DCMark]

Does anybody remember Little Taverns? Maybe not the worst.

What is the idea of serving a hamburger that has not been seasoned or changed in any way at all from a meat patty? I put a lot of stuff in my burgers before I shape them into patties and they're great!

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DO NOT SPEAK ILL OF LITTLE TAVERN!

May it rest in peace. I MISS YOU DARLING.....

[tomdc]

another vote for Front Page as worst burger...and...Front Page for absolutely abysmal Brunch. I'd rather be mugged and have $ 20.00 stolen from me than to give it to the Front Page.

I sooo miss the Little Tavern. Late night drunk central. Loved it!!!

[JPW]

Candidate #2 - Bottom Line on I b/n 14th and 15th

[halland]

I got sucked into this thread because I feared someone might speak poorly of Little Tavern, and was not about to let that happen. Thankfully others were here to leap to the Institution's defense.

I think there is still a Little Tavern operating in Laurel, MD on Route 1.

Its on my list to check the next time I'm back at my parents.

Hal

[wilewil]

For all the RR bashing, I think they have hamburgers (and roast beef too) which is a cut above the norm for fast food places. And the fixing bar's do it yourself helps too. That said, Wendy's is also an OK burger. Too bad we don't have Krystal or White Castle around this area, that would really disturb some folks.

Have $5 burgers gone downhill due to the mad cow-salmonella-e-coli scares? No body wants to do medium anymore, much less rare! (They are not $5 anymore either).

[BobL]

"remember Little Taverns"

Ah! Death Balls, buy 'em by the bag. One of the best cure for a hangover EBER.

[eunny jang]

Oh, I'd forgotten that I ordered a burger once at The Diner in Adams Morgan at, like, 4 in the morning, and discovered that the square wax paper separating frozen patties had been left stuck to the meat. On both sides. How, I ask you, could that have possibly happened?

[radioactivedeer]

[fast food, schools, hospitals, stadiums, office cafeterias, jails (yuck!), bowling alleys (yuck!) and rent-a-cut-in-half-trashcan fraternity cookouts don't count!]

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Does the Birchmere count? Their burgers are the consistency of ground beef that has been liquified in a blender, mixed with gelatin and shaped into disks. I felt like I could drink it with a straw if only it didn't taste like sweatsocks.

Woo! My first post after lurking for over a year.

[mnebergall]

Does the Birchmere count?  Their burgers are the consistency of ground beef that has been liquified in a blender, mixed with gelatin and shaped into disks.  I felt like I could drink it with a straw if only it didn't taste like sweatsocks. 

Woo!  My first post after lurking for over a year. 

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Welcome to eGullet radioactivedeer. Glad to have you aboard.

[Malawry]

Their burgers are the consistency of ground beef that has been liquified in a blender, mixed with gelatin and shaped into disks. 

Wow. What a description.

Welcome.

[cakewench]

Once upon a time, I liked Roy Rogers. The bacon cheeseburger was my favorite fast food item. Of course, I got over that by the time I reached high school, or something.

(don't read on if you're feeling squeamish)

I have only had one Five Guys burger ever, something with lots of bacon and cheese. It tasted alright going down... but er, not so good when it came up less than an hour later. It was the greasiest burger I've ever eaten, and that might have been the problem.

[eunny jang]

Re: Roys - I miss it. A lot. Frisco sandwiches and those little oil-balloon hash brown nuggets in the morning - I ate a lot of those in high school.

Re: Five Guys - what's the big deal about this place? It's a big sloppy burger that tastes fine, and it's not McDevil's or Burger King of Darkness. But really, it's a fast food burger, greasy fries and dried-out peanuts for $8.00. Not exactly a good or unusual deal.

[Al_Dente]

Re: Roys - I miss it.  A lot.  Frisco sandwiches and those little oil-balloon hash brown nuggets in the morning - I ate a lot of those in high school.

Re: Five Guys - what's the big deal about this place?  It's a big sloppy burger that tastes fine, and it's not McDevil's or Burger King of Darkness.  But really, it's a fast food burger, greasy fries and dried-out peanuts for $8.00.  Not exactly a good or unusual deal.

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I forgot all about that Frisco sandwich-- that was pretty good!

I think Five Guys makes a mean burger. I like a big sloppy burger.

Does this make me a bad person?

[eunny jang]

Certainly not. But me, I always feel like a bit of a sucker when I buy one.

[JennyUptown]

I completely agree with eunny jang. Five Guys is a step or two up from, say, McDonald's...but that's not saying much. I'm not sure the burger merits the price.

[iamthestretch]

A new nominee after lunch today. If not the very worst burger, then at least the worst served in a place that actually claims to specialize in them: Hamburger Hamlet. Granted, we only ever eat here on the way to one of my least favorite places on Earth -- EXPO Design Center (May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your 437 varieties of ceramic tiling! Yeah, and thy $300 faucets, also.) -- so general moodiness may be involved. But on the flip side, I actually really want to like it because Julia Phillips made the one on Hollywood sound so good in "You'll Never Eat Lunch In This Town Again." (She also strongly recommended cooking up your own freebase, so maybe that says something about her palate.) Anyway, I had a plain burger today to see if they could do the basics and it was pretty sad. Overcooked, tasteless and served on a stale bun. Bah. Not wanting to waste a good sulk, I crossed over Democracy Blvd and bought an extremely overpriced bottle of wine from Sutton Place just to rub it in. Humbug.

Edited October 3, 2004 by iamthestretch (log)

[Chef Shogun]

HEY! You leave Hamburger Hamlet alone! There's nothing wrong with $2 mini burger pairs (A whole array of $2 apps, but the burgers are the question here!) and $4 large beers after work! That said, we've had stale bun problems with them before.

Edited to recall: Oh yeah, we're probably not talking $2 happy hour mini burgers, but an $8 normal burger, which has a different set of rules and expectations attached. Never had their normal burger...boss did once, and it looked alright. Well, whatever...their happy hour is still pretty good on its own!

Edited October 3, 2004 by Chef Shogun (log)