The Habit Burger Grill In Fair Lawn, Nj - The Double Charburger

Where:
The Habit Burger Grill, 3101 Promenade Blvd, Fair Lawn, NJ

http://www.habitburger.com/

What:
The Double Charburger

Build:
Approximately two 3 ounce burger patties, mayonnaise, pickle, fresh tomato, lettuce and caramelized onions on a toasted sesame seed bun.

What:
The Mushroom Swiss Charburger (I never made it to the Mushroom Swiss Charburger so I'll have to review it next time)

Build:
Approximately a 3 to 3.5 ounce burger, sautéed mushrooms, melted Swiss cheese, mayonnaise, pickle, fresh tomato and lettuce on a toasted bun.

Comments:

I would guess the weight of each burger patty to be 3 to 3.5 ounces. (The Double Charburger with toppings and bun weighed in at just a tad over 9 ounces). This, along with a side of tempura green beans had me so full I couldn't eat the Mushroom Swiss Charburger in this sitting.

If the food quality and (especially) the pricing remain aligned, The Habit folks will continue doing very good things in Fair Lawn New Jersey. If prices go up in a few months to a year, they'll be just another burger joint that I'll have to re-review a second time because pricing changes the overall value, and people will then take you or leave you because now their proximity to your location begins to be a factor when deciding where to eat and how much they want to spend. Increased pricing shortly after opening is never a good thing no matter how you slice it, but New Jerseyans have unfortunately become accustomed to it (ahem! 5 Guys, Smashburger, etc...).

I found this place to be spotless (which it should be since it's merk new), and the staff to be helpful and nice. The meat, toppings and bread are all extremely fresh, and the burgers are not overly greasy by any means. Like most new fast-casual burger joints, you don't get your choice of temperature, but all in all they’ll satisfy any burger lover’s appetite.

I was very impressed with this place – not only was my burger very good, it was (get this) a full two (2) dollars cheaper than a 5 Guys cheeseburger! Yes, you get a Double Charburger with cheese for only $4.80 – WOW! A mystery meat McDonald's quarter pounder will cost you almost that!

Take a look at my photos and you'll see the freshness of the tomato and lettuce and the perfectly toasted ring around the top of the bun. All the makings of a great burger.

This type of fast-casual restaurant will have fast-food establishments folding up the tents in no time. It seems that the more fast-casual restaurants come down with their prices, the easier it is for them to put a hurtin' on fast-food restaurants. Let's face it, better quality food always wins. On a side note, I predict Burger King will go down first simply because they have no game. McD's will go down second because the only thing still holding them up are those golden arches – yes, their merk is so well known it's still managing to hold them afloat and their breakfast sales are the better than many chains combined, but they'll never get rid of their "poor quality" reputation. Lastly, Wendy's might tread water…they still have a fresh, never-frozen patty and they are not yet out of control with their pricing. They aren’t cheap, but at least I can leave their restaurant feeling like I ate a decent quality burger at a decent value.

But I digress. The Habit Burger Grill is aptly named…from the mini hot pepper kafetaria to the crispy tempura green beans (which are great even if you're not a fan of green beans), this place is worth coming back to.

Cons:

No choice of meat temperature.
The sodium in the Double Charburger is 1500mgs which you can taste. I'd love for them to back off on the salt, the burger meat seemed like it would be tasty enough without all of that sodium.

Pet Peeve:

The toppings... again, they were great, but I've got a real masalah with their placement on the burger. They are "TOPPINGS" PEOPLE, HELLO! Why the hell are some burger joints doing this? Toppings on the bottom of the burger? Really? Bad enough some joints are substituting romaine and other green leafy lettuce for iceberg (kudos to Habit for staying with traditional iceberg). Furthermore, we've been eating burgers with toppings forever, so why the switch? Is it just to be different? To be trendy? Or is there a true culinary reason, like, "we want you to experience the meat flavor first, not the toppings." Who knows? Does anybody know? If you do, please let me know via a comment to this blog.

All in all, a very good burger and it gets a 9.5\10 on the BC rating scale.