Huxtaburger

I have supped here many, many times since Huxtaburger opened. Make no mistake, the burgers are pretty close to what you might experience in any US burger joint, in terms of flavor. Given the current obsession in this neighborhood with American cuisine, there are far more noteworthy establishments serving up authentic fare. Huxtaburger has slipped, with poor food quality, service, sloppy presentation, and serves up lashings of attitude. Eat elsewhere.

Delicious burgers! I got the simple cheeseburger, chips and shake. Perfect for me. The Bun is so soft and the meat /​patty and cheese basically melt in your mouth. Highly recommend this joint

Very small shop so there really isn’t any place to sit in store but there are seating outside and a dining area next door which is also theirs. Ordering system is ordering over the counter with a name and they’ll bring it out calling your name. They don’t have a big menu so it makes things easier for us to decide. I’ve tried all the burgers on the menu and they all come in the same soft sweet bun which is melt in the mouth goodness. Patties are juicy and the lettuce and tomato in the burgers makes it refreshing so you don’t feel so bad eating it. The burger comes out on a silver tray and a basket for your chips/​fries which is very takeaway like. Real fastfood stuff. I do recommend trying this place out but it’s not one i’ll always return to.

For all the praise this place gets, this was probably the worst burger I’ve eaten in a very long time. The meat patty was tough and dry and the cheese did not help at all.
Was really disappointed and as much as I’d like to be able to say something positive, the best I can say is that the hit chips were fine…

Good burger and chips!
So I haven’t tried many others, but who cares. This is as good as I can remember.
My choice was the spicy lady — Denise, and boy was she good. Let’s break that down — I thought the hamburger bun they used was superb. Remember, the first thing you bite into is the bread and not the meat. The bread was like cotton candy, so soft and fluffy and on the sweeter side. Genius to focus on the bread as much as the meat.
Next up was the dressing — sriracha mayo– southwest /​chipotle variant for the uninitiated. The mixture of mayo and sriracha means the mix is tingly rather than spicy.
Now to the meat of the affair, and it was good. Juicy (not so lean?) and tasty. Cheese was cheddar I think.
Salads included tomato and lettuce. Pretty standard so far. Wait for it — jalapeños that’s what did it for me, it added the right level of spice to the sweet and tingly burger. I thought I even tasted some pickles in the mix.
And chips were crinkle cut and thick and hot.

This review will be controversial as I know many a people who swear by Huxtaburger. I on the other hand think it’s completely overhyped. The burger is ok not horrible but not memorable enough that I’m ever aching for one. Maybe this is a decent burger for Melbourne but on any global measurement it’s lacking… Shake Shack, In & Out, or even London’s Burger and Lobster it is not.
The service was also hipster indifferent/​rude. They did not serve customers in the order they arrived and on a not so busy day it took nearly 30 min for my burger as the staff forgot that we ordered and paid.
This is a generous 3 stars.

For real? Did I go to the wrong place? All those good reviews??? The burger was boring, watery, untasty (Huxtaburger) and the fries was nothing spectacular at all. Nah, Ill leave my food not even half eaten and head to McDonalds instead.

Not the best value … I find the burgers here tiny in comparison to others. it is all about the bun and the sauce not the patty. I compare this to the maccas cheeseburger plus more sauce and other condiments plus higher price tag… the fries??? hmmm try it once and can give it a miss if you come back to try the other burgers. I’ve been here twice over the years. only because the competition had not caught uo yet. but now that there are so many around… I feel Hux’s burgers are not with the changing burger landscape and influence. my opinion only.

****This review was written by a visiting American** I start with that caveat because I am assuming my burger palate is somewhat «different» than the average Australian, so take that into account when reading my review. I’ll give the props for vibe, aesthetics, and cool/​friendly hipster Aussie staff. Furthermore I also enjoyed the «American» IPA bottle I had with my burger. Sadly, it is the eponymous burger where it all fell apart here. Yes, it looked pretty much like an acceptable facsimile as a somewhat elevated Burger in the American Fast Food mold; Sturdy seeded bun, correct proportion of tomato lettuce and ketchup (oh yeah they call it tomato sauce over here, so no you don’t have to fear receiving spaghetti sauce on top of your burger, when you don’t double check). Unfortunaly, when it comes to the beef, arguably the most important aspect of the sandwich, things went very very wrong. I was basically transported back to the horrors of my middle school cafeteria when biting into the somewhat slimy, grayish mushy meat, which we all know is horrible place to be transported back to. I’m not going to go so far as to say that its not possible to get decent burger in this country, but I will diplomatically leave it that this locally lauded and growing establishment is not helping the case at this time.

Just amazing burgers. This is Australia’s answer to ‘In and Out’ .
The range is great and caters for all tastes, from beef, lamb, pork and fish. These places are becoming institutions.

FOR: Excellent, well-​cooked burger. Also, crinkle-​cut chips!
AGAINST: Staff are too busy talking to each other & looking cool to worry about giving particularly good service (To the point that they managed to miss the chips from our order), and whatever that deafening «music» was, it made me want to wait outside in the cold rather than be subjected to it any longer than necessary.
Almost excellent, but let down by an overdose of attitude.

No point being contrary to the crowd just for the sake of it; add me to the epic list of Huxtaburger fans. I can be pretty full from dinner elsewhere and if we drive/​tram past I’ll desperately try to convince myself I can still fit a burger in. Only downside is spilling out of a cool Smith St bar only to see the lights flicker off — why, oh why can’t they be 24 hrs?!
As a massive In-​N-​Out fan (if I’m honest with myself I’ve probably stopped over in San Fran so many times just to make sure I get a few burgers whenever I’m stateside) Huxtaburger seems to have a similar ethos of keeping things simple, streamlined, fresh, and delicious.
Denise wasn’t my favourite Cosby kid, but sure is my favourite burger here, although look forward to trying any new ones as they get slowly added to the menu.

These burgers taste like home to me. While they still don’t compare to Shake Shack in any way shape or form (if one were to open here I would cry), they’re a step in the right direction at least. The fries are nothing to write home about (the chipotle fries are especially terrible) but as far as the burger goes, I appreciate the sweet brioche bun, the good bun-​to-​patty ratio (what is with the bun-​heavy burgers in this city? Get it together, Melbourne!) and I like that they add pickles. It’s pricey for what it is, but whenever I’m feeling homesick, I make a bee line for Huxtaburger.
Pro-​tip: it takes about 10 – 20 minutes to make most orders so call ahead if you’re doing takeaway so you don’t have to wait in the cramped space.

I am new to this review business. But this may be the easiest review to do. I am a small fan of Huxtaburger, and I thought the best way to review it would be to paint a picture of the burgers you will receive (you may be able to tell eventually I have been there a few times).
You start by making a choice from four or five burgers. My personal favourite is the Theo (your stock-​standard double beef and bacon) — gotta keep it simple. After ordering, two fresh beef patties and some bacon are slapped onto their grill, with a ripper chilli/​cayenne seasoning sprinkled on top. With that is the sweet brioche buns, which are nice and crispy on the inside, and soft and warm on the outside.
(Now this is the part worth explaining. I find with most people this is the biggest bone of contention. They are different to most burger buns, being that they are very sweet! It got me the first time, but once you are resigned to the fact they are a little different, hopefully they are much easier to enjoy!)
They are put together very simply. Add the beef and bacon with small slithers of pickles, a single lettuce leaf and tomato slice, your quintessential American mustard and ketchup, and you have a very simple, affordable ($ 12.50 for the Theo, the standard Huxtabuger is $ 9!), tasty and filling burger.
There ain’t much space at the Brunswick store, but turnover is pretty quick so you can generally always get a seat to sit down, or as a personal favourite grab one on the way to the MCG for a good pre-​footy warm-​up!

I had such high hopes that some of the love for good burgers would spill over to the vegetarian burger too. Sadly, the uninspired square of tofu on a bun was possibly the most disappointing veggi burger I’ve eaten (and I’ve eaten a lot.)
However, my U.S. dining companions rated their meaty burgers as the best they’ve had in Australia and easily within their top 5 world wide.
With only 5 burgers on the menu, including the veggie, I thought that a little more care would have gone into the vegetarian option. But in Huxtaburger’s case, I would have rather had no veggie option on the menu, than the option to purchase something substandard.

Walking up and down the street we couldn’t find anything suitable for a quick and easy bite until we stumbled upon Huxtaburger before we had to attend an event.
Not realising where we were until we ordered «The Huxtaburger», we were very excited to give it a go. Though the venue is small, the price of the food was worthwhile!
We shared a Huxtaburger and large fries between the two of us and all I could think of after finishing my half was when I could try all the other burgers!
Will def come back as they have monthly beer specials and crinkle cut chips!

It may be unfair for me to judge a burger place on the merits of its veggie burger… but, I do think if you’re a restaurant in Fitzroy, you should have a solid veggie option on your menu.
The burger was really just a slab of tofu which had been fried. There was some mayo-​ey substance which was good, but I found the tofu itself very bland and it gave the burger a really soggy, wet taste and feel. Blegh! Disappointing, since I’ve heard a lot about this place. If you’re a meat eater, it’s probably a fine place, but if you’re a vego there are much better places to go for a quick bite. I probably won’t be back here any time soon.

Dear Huxtaburger,
I just can’t keep my hands off Denise. You made me wish I was born with a bigger mouth so I can put her in my mouth all at once. Your chipotle fries have made me choked back tears at times, and your buns are so so soft and sweet.
There was once I ordered the burger with the double patty, and I thought that I was going to die from all that grease. Looking back, I don’t regret it. Even if I had died that very day, it would have been worth it.

It’s just so damn good.
At first I was convinced it was the brioche bun — not too bready and soft, but light and fluffy on the outside, crisp and crunchy on the inside.
Then I thought it was the beef. Meat that actually tastes like meat — slightly gamey, moist and tender with a full flavour that comes out even when it’s not cooked medium rare.
Then I thought it was the perfect blend of traditional condiments. Mayo, American mustard and tomato sauce that splotches out of your burger in a perfect Jackson Pollock (that you finger-​paint with when your burger is long gone). It’s at least a 4-​napkin burger, and that’s something special right there.
It could also be the classic burger joint vibe of the venue, the subtle entrance to Bill’s Bar next door, or simply the enjoyment of sitting outside watching the Collingwood masses pound by on their way to a venue much cooler than the one you’re at… but it’ll be far less delicious my friends, far less delicious. You can be smug in that fact while finger painting with your leftover condiments.

I love Denise. I want to make out with her EVERY SINGLE DAY.
She’s a saucy minx with her siracha mayo and juicy juicy pickles… her soft sweet bun, her meaty patties. If she were more than a burger, I’d seriously be taking her home to meet my parents.