Restaurant Review #1: Max Burger - West Hartford, Connecticut

"I can't remember exactly when I ate at Max Burger on LaSalle Rd in West Hartford Center; it had to be sometime in June though because I know I hadn't yet moved to the school's campus here in Hartford and I know that I went with my good friend and former classmate who still had a car at the time.

Needless to say I'm sure the weather was fine as we walked down the sidewalk toward a building that had already housed at least two other restaurants in the last ten or fifteen years. The most recent tenant that rented the space prior to Max Burger was a restaurant called Simmer which changed owners while still operating under the same name. Previously the building had been occupied by a great Argentinian restaurant called Azul which one of my chef instructors had opened back in the mid-late nineties. However it's life was short-lived and the space sat vacant for a year or more before the original owner/operator of Simmer decided to set up shop. In this review and all subsequent restaurant reviews you will the same formula used throughout to rate the various restaurants I will be writing about. Location will be the first issue, second will be the decor, third will be the service and lastly and most importantly will be the food.

Currently Max Burger sits at this corner of the street and quite honestly if he -Rich Rosenthal- can't make it in this delicate part of West Hartford Center then no one can. The problem with the location is that although it has decent foot traffic up near the corners of Farmington Avenue once you move down toward the opposite end of the street you find there to be less and less of it. Primarily you see vehicular traffic and unless it was already a destination business you will unforunately see it fail. Over the last ten plus years I have seen numerous clothiers, florists, framers, and other specialty stores open and then close their doors quite soon. Some of this has more recently been a direct result of the national and even local economy however we all have heard of over-saturation and quite frankly West Hartford Center is just about at it's limit. The selection of restaurants is varied enough at this point now however, the reason the other restaurants failed in that building is still a mystery to me. Maybe the community wasn't ready for Argentinian food as wonderful as it is or maybe Simmer was over-priced. Regardless though you have to look at the location of the building as a significant detriment to their success, (or contribution to failure.) However, Mr. Rosenthal has what I feel to be the right formula for opening, operating, and maintaining his restaurants at the level his customers have come to expect. And that I feel will be the key to his success in this particular spot where other's have ultimately failed.

Moving on to the decor of the building... From the outside you can clearly tell that he spared no expense in wanting to give the exterior a facelift and a personality all it's own. All of the Max Group restaurants have distinguishing elements that make them unique and the exterior of Max Burger is without exception. The lines are clean and sophisticated with dark matte black trim that asserts itself due to the wide framing of the windows and the overall exterior of the building is covered in a similar fashion. As you pass through the entrance you have a continuing theme throughout the dining room space. Basic, clean and yet still hinting at what you will be getting. This is not your grandparents steak, chop and burger restaurant. It is casually hip with nice white linens and big booths that allow you and your guest to feel comfortable. It is not overly elegant yet our server was a young lady who was ever-attentive and seemed excited when I asked for gruyere cheese on my kube beef burger. The atmosphere again wasn't stuffy, but it still seemed like the kind of place you could take people on a business lunch or a dinner meeting. Definitely someplace I would go with a group of friends but certainly not someplace I would take a date. On the walls you were able to see various pictoral diagrams of beef and their various cuts, origins, the types of cattle and other such novelties considering the type of restaurant that you were in. There also were the bleached skulls of the animals in question hanging around so that lended a nice dramatic effect.

Our waitress again was a polite and spunky young lady and if I remember correctly she had dirty blonde hair with the usual blonde highlights of some sort. She was friendly but not overly courteous which was good. Not the kind of person who makes your teeth hurt and leaves you wondering if it is possible to be that sickly sweet. She had an air of aloofness which is important yet she made an effort to connect. The service was basic however. And rightly so for the type of restaurant we were at. This is first and foremost a burger joint. Though money was spent on the decor and the interior design was clearly meant to reflect that as well, ultimately it breaks down to how will the service reflect on the type of food being served and vice versa. Our silverware wasn't changed between courses because we didn't have anything more than an entree for me and a salad for my friend and quite frankly at a burger restaurant I wouldn't want my silverware changed. My water glass of course was always full and the waitress was busy yet still had it in the back of her mind to come over and check on us every so often. Our meal was short due to a movie we were trying to catch so there wasn't the feeling as though they needed to turn over our table quickly which I enjoyed. All in all I'm sure we left her at least a 15% tip though for the most part I usually leave anywhere from 20-25% being that I am in the business myself.

Which brings me ultimately to the food. When I open my restaurant (whenever that happens) I of course would like to assume that it will not and should not be successful unless the food is great. And of the Max restaurants that I've been to the food was all very very good, and very well prepared so it would be natural to assume that the food here would be just as delicious. Now comes the hard part. Other than the fact that I remembered ordering a kube beef burger with gruyere cheese on it I can't really recall what else was on my plate. I imagine I had french fries that were hopefully freshly cut in house either to order or at least earlier in the morning. Beyond that I remember my friend ordered a Cobb salad of all things. She didn't really feel like eating so I can understand why she didn't touch much of it. I remember eating the entire burger there was no way with the money I had spent ($20+) on this type of beef burger that I wasn't going to eat the whole thing; I don't believe in taking food home unless you are at a chain restaurant. But I have to say that for what I paid and the fact that it is kube beef, I couldn't have really told you that it was. I ordered it mid-rare and I know it came out that way but realistically how am I the consumer (especially one who is educated in the culinary field) supposed to distinguish between a ground angus burger and a ground kube burger? The answer is it was next to impossible for me. Yes I'm sure there was a bit more delicate texture to the fat and the meat was probably juicier and a bit more "beefy" but ultimately I'd rather see that all their burgers are certified locally grown beef whether it is angus or not. Instead of trying to have a "novelty item" like kube beef on the menu all the time, maybe run it as a special during the summertime. All in all the food was delicious and my burger was cooked perfectly. The topping choices I'm sure were not over-done as a burger shouldn't have bells and whistles on it let alone lettuce and tomato.

Ultimately my feelings can be summed up as this: my salad should be separate from my hamburger. Thankfully their burgers do not come topped with the obligatory shredded iceburg or chopped romaine, tomato slice, pickle etc... Now comes the scoring. We have each category given a maximum rating of 10 out of 10 or a minimum rating of 0 out of 10, 10 being the best possible rating, above and beyond my own expecations and 0 meaning the were far inferior and extremely below my personal standards.


Location: 5

Although I know it is no fault of his own I give the restaurant a 5 for location just due to where it is. The bottomline is that Rich could have picked a better spot, but I think it works all in all.

Decor: 6

For the type of restaurant we are dealing with I think the decor was actually a bit overdone. I understand Mr. Rosenthal's desire to create a somewhat consistant theme that is upscale "fine" dining at all of his restaurants but I think he could even have relaxed it a bit more. It still to me felt like a place I needed to dress more nicely than usual.

Service: 6

Again, the service goes hand in hand with the decor and the food being served. It wasn't overdone but it could have been a bit more relaxed. Our waitress was not a flake but she wasn't overly attentive either.

Food: 6

I hate to say this but the food was a bit lacking compared to what I expected it to be. And even then I would have to say that my expectations weren't completely off the mark. If Rich wants to serve great food at all of his restaurants that is fine but do not try to dress something up that didn't start out that way. And for the price of what I am paying I should be getting a bigger burger or at least with more love put into it."



Location: 5
Decor: 6
Service: 6
Food: 6
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Total: 57.49%