I am a burger guy. I will be the person to order burgers in the most random locations. We could be dining at a seafood restaurant, classy Spanish restaurant, or even a place with hundreds of items to choose from, such as The Cheesecake Factory, and I will still proceed to order a cheeseburger and fries. No, I don’t get tired of burgers and fries. I am an American and this is what I live for: a juicy burger with fries, lots of ketchup, and mayonnaise!

I read about BurgerMonger when it first opened. A considerable amount of buzz swept the internet about it on food sites, such as Yelp, Urbanspoon, Chowhound, and even local newspapers. They had quite a viral marketing campaign. BurgerMonger uses 100% All natural Akaushi Kobe Beef and Kobe Beef quality is top notch. I put it on my list of places to try, but somehow it took me almost a year after adding it to my list to finally get to try it. I was a little nervous…would the buzz match the actual product?

I entered the restaurant on a Friday night, it was quite empty. Odd because BurgerMonger smelled heavenly inside. I decided to go with The BurgerMonger Akaushi 6 oz. burger for $6.99. I don’t think I have ever seen so many toppings before. It took me a few minutes to decide, but I went with provolone cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, grilled onions, ketchup, mayonnaise, and their special monger sauce. I also got Monger fries ($1.99), a 1/2 lb. portion of fries, as well as a fountain soda.

I sat in a booth near a USF Bulls sign. I admit I love a business that supports my team, the USF Bulls. More local Tampa businesses should jump off the Gator bandwagon and support their local sports team more.

My fountain drink tasted pretty good. The drinks actually tasted carbonated and not full of seltzer.

The BurgerMonger logo doesn’t scream delicious to me, but gets the job done.

The food arrived in a few minutes…

The fries were not very impressive. They looked and tasted similar to Five Guys fries (which I hate), but actually tasted worse and given the choice I would choose the Five Guy fries over these. I decided that future visits will have to be burger-only ventures (assuming I enjoyed the burger) because these fries simply weren’t worth $1.99.

My burger arrived and looked quite appetizing. It was hard to not dive right into it while I took some photographs. The smell of the burger was fantastic.

All the ingredients were neatly stacked. The vegetables looked fresh. Once I finally took into the burger it was like my mouth had gone straight to heaven. I momentarily blacked out from the rush of that burger and when I came to the entire burger was gone and I was full. Worth the drive from Riverview? Yes. A burger experience like none before it? Yes. This burger could make a bad day better and a good day perfect. The meat was easy to eat and packed full of flavor. Every bite was succulent and scrumptious. I immediately started text messaging my family. Must-have.

I found out at the end of my visit that they now have a BurgerMonger Monday special where you can get the same burger I had for $5 instead of $6.99. Sweet! Time to clear out my Monday evenings.

Restaurant Name: BurgerMonger

Cuisine: American

Address: 10412 N. Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa 33618

Neighborhood: Carrollwood

Phone Number: 813-968-6860

Website: http://www.burgermonger.com/