Warm buns fresh out the oven, crunchy lettuce, bright red tomatoes, fresh onions, ketchup, mayonnaise, and the perfectly seasoned burger patty — it’s a plate that not all restaurants can perfect.
We went in search of the perfect burger and visited two unique places that offered not just the ordinary beef patties. Bubba’s Texas Burger Shack is known for being “Home of the Buffalo Burger,” while Burger Palace is known as the home of “Houston’s Best Kobe Beef Burger.”
Bubba’s Texas Burger Shack, located on 5230 Westpark near the Galleria area, is literally a shack under Highway 59. You will have to cut through the street to get to it. The shack is super small, but there are tables outside for dining. Walking into the shack, we noticed an unappealing smell coming from the restrooms that pretty much went through the tiny shack. We recommend that you sit outside.
We went up to the counter to order our food and found out the service was A-plus A friendly smile met our hungry eyes as the server came towards us with our food. He treated us like royalty as he handed us our food and vigorously walked to get some more sauce.The friendly cashier told us that their most popular burger is the Vegas Burger. If you order it with a beef patty, it comes out to $9.50. Since Bubba’s is known for their buffalo patty, we got that instead, bringing our order up to $10.75 without tax. The Vegas Burger contains avocado, bacon, Monterrey Jack cheese, egg, and BJ’s habanero hot sauce. Bubba’s claims the Vegas Burger is ranked at the top of the World’s Best Burgers. It definitely lived up to its name.
The burgers came in charming little picnic baskets. The ingredients combined perfectly into a mouth-watering sensation, but the star was the BJ’s habanero sauce. The sauce wasn’t just a spoonful plopped onto the patty. Instead it spread evenly across the buns, patty, and the ingredients in the burger, giving it the perfect coverage. The server even told us the cooks make the sauce themselves, impressing us even more. It is what makes the Vegas Burger the Vegas Burger. The well-known buffalo patty, according to their menu, has 70% less fat, 50% fewer calories, 50% less cholesterol, and 30% more protein.
Bubba’s hospitality and amazing taste give this place a 9/10. What keeps it from having a 10 is the smell inside the shack.
The Burger Palace is also located in the Galleria area on 2800 Sage Road Suite A-1100. It is a much more casual restaurant setting where you sit and wait for a server. The place is located within a plaza, so you really have to search for it.
We ordered the Napa Valley, which includes white cheddar, Applewood smoked bacon, avocado, Napa Slaw, and Terragon Watercress Aioli. The price came out to $10.95. The presentation of the burger made it appealing. The perfect stack of ingredients helped the burger keep its balance. However the second we bit into the juicy sandwich, we realized the lack in flavor. With all those ingredients you’d think the combination would be perfect, but it just didn’t mesh well. It seemed as if they just threw the ingredients on without any execution.
The plate came with fries, so we ate those along with it just so we could enjoy the plate more. There was nothing surprising or special about it.
Burger Palace claims that the Akaushi (kobe) beef is juicy, tender, and flavorful, but after our experience, flavor was completely nonexistent. Not even the ingredients that combined in the burger could do it justice. To add on, the service took too long. We only ordered one burger but it took 45 minutes to come out. We give this place a 6/10.
If you’re ever craving a tasty burger, Bubba’s Texas Burger Shack is definitely the place to go.
