Northcote Road - The Burger Wars!!! Post Reply

[Eclo]

Just can't understand why we have so many burger joints around... Did we really need Byron when we already had GBK (my favourite) + all the pubs, Cattle Grid and Draft House?
In addition to that, Marzano had very decent pizzas and a very child friendly atmosphere (no equivalent on Northcote Road now).

[nikolaus_braun]

http://cheesenbiscuits.blogspot.com/201 ... edium.html

Drafthouse has the best burgers. Best buns and best meat. Also very child friendly.

[ans]

Haven't been to Northcote road Byron, it's a shame the reviews are bad. The Byron in soho is very good. It seems to be lacking in the chain restaurants.

[secondtimer]

I agree with ecio... I miss manzarnos!

I don't want to feed my kids burgers and whilst we get the GBK ones to takeout occasionally (yummy!) it feels like Byron has wasted such a prime plot by offering only burgers. I would rather have had pizza express!

[juliantenniscoach]

I guess part of my original post was asking that very question:- is there the demand for so many (expensive) burgers cafes? to be honest I thought the trend was away from red meat and especially processed. A burger and fries isn't exactly the healthiest meal in the High Street, irrespective of the quality of the meat.

As you can read I'm not averse to the occasional burger but I'm surprised to see such a big floor space as Byron's open when times aren't that great.

Judging from the posts my opinion that Byron's isn't worth the money seems about right. It'll be interesting to see how it does over the winter but unless I hear the food has picked up, my money goes elsewhere.

[supergirl]

Maybe Juliantenniscoach you should now open a new post for us to bet on how long Byron will stay open?

[dudette]

We went to GBK on Saturday. We were aiming for Byron but there was a queue snaking up Northcote Road. I usually like GBK but was really disappointed this time. The new skinny fries were revolting - so skinny that there was no potato in them. Just sticks of grease. I had a bean burger that arrived luke warm and then fell apart in the bun so I had to eat it with a knife and fork. As a veggie, I was disappointed that Marzano (not that it was that great) turned into Byron - their non-meat offerings look pretty meagre judging from the menu. Our best bet for a good meal and service is Buona Sera - they certainly love kids in there. We also quite like Delicat - the French/Austrian bistro.

[townieatheart]

Did anyone notice GBK were giving away free burgers on Tuesday evening, cooked fresh to order outside the restaurant.
They were very simple, just burger and a sauce, but we added salad leaves and cheese at home and it was delicious!
They also had 2 GBK camper vans parked almost in front of Byron; very funny!

[nell65]

Went to Byron last night and the noise was unbelievable - I mean we couldn't even hear each other, it was terrible. The other night I went in early with my 6-yr-old daughter about 6 and we had a really nice time, they are good with kids, give you colouring sheet and crayons (GBK don't). And it wasn't noisy.
The space is lovely, I'm a veggie and the portobello mushroom burger is very nice. But me and my friend wouldn't go again if it is going to be so noisy - I think it will only be good for groups of young people if it's like it was last night - it was so noisy it was unpleasant.
The trouble with GBK is that their restaurants are so small, being crammed up against someone isn't that nice although their menu is better for Veggies.
Anyway Byron must be doing something well because all their restaurants are rammed with waiting queues everytime I go.

[juliantenniscoach]

I've emailed Byron and GBK customer service as the quality of Byron's burgers and GBK's fries seem to be the biggest complaint. I'll post any replies I receive.

[juliantenniscoach]

Well I have to say that that Byron's replied at 6am this morning, and a very comprehensive reply it was too. Can't fault that response. When GBK respond I'll post that too. See below:-

On 28 Oct 2011, at 06:08, "Mailbox ByronHamburgers" <Mailbox@byronhamburgers.com> wrote:



Hi Julian

Many thanks for your note below.

Being the new boys “in the hood” it’s great to get local feedback, and obviously I’m surprised and really disappointed by many of the posts on your thread.

We started Byron to do a simple thing, and do it properly (www.byronhamburgers.com/story) and despite our success and the many positive reviews and comments we get at Northcote Road, it’s really our response when things don’t go to plan that matters most.

I’m proud of the ingredients that go into a Byron experience, which include sourcing the beef from small farms in Scotland, making our hamburgers fresh every day, cooking the beef medium for maximum flavour and succulence, recruiting and developing smiley personable staff, and designing our restaurants individually rather than making them all look identical.

But great ingredients mean nothing without flawless execution – and it seems from some of the specific feedback on your thread that’s where we’ve fallen down on Northcote Road

I’ll be taking this up with the team who I know will be determined to address the various points raised and ‘up’ their game to ensure we serve ‘ proper’ hamburgers every single time.

In the meantime, please feel free to post my email address on your thread ( tomb@byronhamburgers.com ) – I’d like to apologise to those who had a bad experience and invite them back to Byron as my guests so we can demonstrate how we can (and usually do) operate.

That offer applies to you too, obviously!

Thanks again for getting in touch

Best

Tom
MD

[Batsneedfriends]

Can I just speak up for Byron's fabulous red wines? Hic!

[NorthcoteLuvvie]

What a great way to deal with neagative comments. Well done Byron

[juliantenniscoach]

Following Byron's email I went back yesterday and in short the 'byron burger' - the one with bacon, was way better. Cooked correctly and plumper rather than the 'birds eye' replica I was served before. All credit to them for listening to our points.

All hail the power of NappyValleyNet.com

[mrs_t]

We loved the Byron Burger in Soho and were really pleased to see one open up here. I have to confess that we get a takeaway from there every week ('Treat night': staying in with two kids - one of 17 months and the other 3 months - perhaps we're easily pleased!...)

Anyway, last week, the lady who served my husband told me that she works in another branch as did all of the other staff working that night because the boss of the Northcote road branch had taken all of the Northcote staff out to say 'thank you' for working so hard during such a busy time. Don't know if it's true but if it is - I like 'em even more.

Also got told that if you ask for the Macaroni Cheese as take away - you will probably get it - dunno if that's true either but Treat night could be cranking it up a notch!