Comstock Saloon – San Francisco – 6/29/19

Burger crew meeting called to order on Saturday, June 29, 2019 at 8:30pm.

Members in attendance: Angela d., Sumana S., Trevor Y. (me), Wayne T., Dennis K., and Innie C.

Guests: Isabel G., Christian Y., Todd W., Cindy W.

I. Ordering

There was only one burger on the menu: ($16) The Comstock Burger – secret sauce, fontiamerican, pickle, shallot, malt vinegar chips. You can have extra add-ons $5 Double (3/4lb) + $3 Seared Pork Belly + $3 Head to Tail Pork Jus

II. The burger

I admit I had to look up “Comstock” in the dictionary and it has something to do with a reformist (as in person who makes changes to something in order to make it better). I hope that means this burger will get better because it has a lot of areas to improve. Based on the collective feedback, the burger was deemed very meaty with a good sear with lots of juices. That would imply that it’s a good burger, HOWEVER we found that even though it looked to be cooked properly the meat was found to be CHEWY to the point one burger felt like it had tendons in it. The pickles were deemed too thin and ranged from noticeable to the only saving grace of the burger. Along with the chewiness came crunchiness from the chips…. sometimes. Some of the chips got soggy which gave a very inconsistent bite to bite experience. Some bites had a good crunch and others led to a messy plate since everything fell out. Two burgers were ordered as doubles and had the pork belly option. The consensus was one patty is enough and don’t bother with the pork belly. It didn’t taste like much and was more ham-like than the eye-rolling pork belly we come to expect.

Bottom line, the burger needs to be less chewy and more flavorful. The burger feels like it’s trying to hard. I really really wanted to like this burger but it just didn’t live up to any hype.

Comstock Burger with pork belly. (Michter’s Sazerzc on the left and Dickel Sazerac on the right)

III. The Sides and Drinks

What lacked in the burger was probably made up in the delicious sides and drinks. As a saloon they make some top notch cocktails. We had sazeracs made with Dickel, Rittenhouse, and Michters and all were excellent! It’s pretty rare to find a bar that can make a decent sazerac. I also sampled the manhattan which was also excellent. And if rye whisky isn’t you’re thing, all the other cocktails ordered were yummy as well.

ORDER the TATER TOTS and WHITE CHEDDAR CHEXX. You will not disappointed if you enjoy fried potatoes and or cheese.

IV. Miscellaneous 

Live Jazz music played upstairs. It was pretty loud so it made having conversations somewhat challenging. They played typical 40s jazz that I would expect to hear at a jazz concert. However I don’t think that played well in this environment. I would have preferred either a more mellow background or upbeat big band. The jazz played is jazz to be experienced actively. I wasn’t there to listen to jazz. I was there to hangout with friends and eat delicious burgers. At one point in the night someone from the Jazz band came downstair asking for tips so have your small bills ready.

The bar itself felt pretty intimate with the small nook type spaces and darker settings. It’s definitely not ideal for large groups and the fact they were able to fit 10 of us in the restaurant was very impressive.

V. Value

The members would pay between $8 and $10.50 so the $16 price tag on the burger before add-ons makes this a low value burger.

VI. The verdict

On a scale from 1-5 the burger averaged 2.8 with a high of 3.3 and a low of 1.8. Come for the drinks and sides and perhaps stay for the company but don’t get the burger.

Next Burger Crew stop: Wes Burger ‘N’ More