Hamburgerseria: Joliet's Best Burger Spot? Ferak Food Column

JOLIET, IL — You can't go wrong with a burger. I love hamburgers as much as anybody and we are fortunate in the Joliet area to have several restaurants that can dish up a quality burger for lunch or dinner. But who's the best?

Obviously, a question like that is sure to spark heated debate and probably some disagreements. And that's OK. I'm not shy about offering my opinion, and I will go on record as saying that when it comes to pizza, the best in Joliet in my opinion is Cemeno's Pizza.

When it comes to hamburgers, another top-flight Essington Road restaurant is ahead of the competition.

I'm talking about Hamburgersia, 1015 Essington Road.

I drove to Hamburgerseria over the lunch hour Wednesday to place a takeout order.

The thing about Hamburgerseria is that there ARE SO MANY gourmet burgers on the menu to choose from, how could you go wrong?

There are 20 — yes 20 — different burgers on the menu. Some of the great sounding names include: Peanut Butter Burger, North Beach Burger, O'Hare Burger, Salmon Burger and the Black Bean Burger.

I found my liking in the middle of the menu page. I went with the Blue Burger.

The Blue Burger features blue cheese, bacon, avocado and a burger sauce. Since I hadn't done a restaurant review for a couple weeks, I spent a little more than I usually do.

I went with a 1/2 pound burger and ordered the hand-cut potatoes. My meal was $13.00 before sales tax.

Again, you get what you pay for. I had no regrets about spending $13 on this meal because it was an amazing hamburger. When the restaurant host asked me how I wanted my burger, I told him medium. I thought about going medium rare, but medium was the right choice.

I chose not to call in my order ahead of time because I wanted to watch the staff in action. The host who took my order told me that my order would be ready in 10 to 15 minutes. Hamburgerseria was also busy with other takeout orders. Two other men stopped inside to pick up their carryout bags while I was waiting. There were several customers eating inside at their respective booths including one table of five police officers wearing camo.

However, all the Hamburgerseria staff were wearing face masks and I noticed plenty of hand sanitizer available.

Exactly 10 minutes after I placed my order, the host approached me with a white paper bag that had my Blue Burger and fries inside. I drove home to Shorewood and my Blue Burger was delicious. At one point, my wife looked at me and remarked, "You're eating an avocado?"

Yep, and it and tasted really good.

The front of the menu reads: "Hamburgerseria wants to recover the tradition of the Gourmet Burger in Joliet with their delicious sandwiches and, at the same time, be a haven for snacks with hot coffee or tea and a choice of homemade desserts."

When you think of landmark local restaurants, Crest Hill's Merichka's comes to everyone's attention. However, I think the corridor of Essington Road is becoming another magnet for great Joliet restaurants and Hamburgerseria is definitely one of them.

Hamburgerseria has an impressive 1,342 Google reviews and a 4.6 rating out of 5 stars.

If you haven't been to Hamburgerseria lately, you should give it a try. And if you aren't sure where to start on the gourmet burger menu, I'd urge you to go blue. Order the Blue Burger.

Hamburgerseria is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, according to its current website.

The restaurant phone is 815-725-2883.

To look over the entire menu, go here.