Cheesecake Factory

Venue/Restaurant: Cheesecake Factory
Website: www.thecheesecakefactory.com
Location: Valley Fair Mall, San Jose, California
Our Menu Choices:
1x Smokehouse B.B.Q Burger, reg fries
1x Mushroom Burger, sweet potato fries

This is a pretty big burger... you will struggle to get your mouth round it! It needs a good squish to make it a good size for getting in your mouth!! 
The BBQ sauce for this burger came on the side and even after putting the majority of the sauce on the burger I couldn't really taste it! Once again, American bacon (personally I do not think that it is anywhere near as good as English bacon, sorry!), cheese, lettuce and onion rings. The onion rings are more like onion strings, lots of really nice thin bits of onion in a light coating, delicious! The burger patty was small (by American standards!) but thick so the burger had this 'tower' look to it. Fries are nothing to write home about, normal medium cut, skin on.
I have had a double version of this burger once before at Cheesecake Factory, and thankfully remembered to just have a single one this time! The big one was a bit over the top and way too difficult to eat (in terms of size of burger vs size of my mouth more than anything!). Below is a photo of the double one...

The Mrs had a Mushroom Burger (no photo unfortunately as we hadn't thought about doing this blog at the time of eating here!) and wasn't overly impressed with it. There was plenty of flavour, but that came mainly from the herbs that the mushrooms had been seasoned in. The burger patty was slightly on the dry side, but the cheese and mushrooms gave it a bit of moisture! As usual, she opted for the sweet potato fries and has said that they are the best ones she has had on our trip.

Bennett's Burger-O-Meter Rating: 3.5/5

COPYRIGHT Bennett's Burger Blog, 2012-present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Gary and Bennett's Burger Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. 

Carl's Jr

Venue/Restaurant: Carl's Jr

Website: www.carlsjr.com

Location: Oakridge Mall, San Jose, California

Our Menu Choices:

1x Western Bacon Cheeseburger Combo (fries & drink)

1x Bacon Swiss Chicken Tender Sandwich Combo (sweet potato fries & drink)

OK, so before I upload any photos, can I just say that neither of the photos of the above burgers does either of them any justice...

Carl's Jr is always a winner and is a place I look forward to going to whenever I am in San Jose. This time I opted for a Western Bacon Cheeseburger - single burger, 2 strips of bacon, onion rings, bbq sauce and cheese. A very tasty burger, I don't actually think I tasted the BBQ sauce very much, could do with a stronger sauce. Think it could also maybe do with a bit of lettuce, it comes with no salad as standard - not sure if you can add any to it? The bun was squishy but went flat way too quickly (as you can see in the photo), this did not effect the taste of the burger whatsoever though! The onion rings are breaded, full of flavour (as onion always is!) but is the type of onion ring that with the first bite, you remove the whole ring of onion from its crispy breaded shell (god that annoys me!)

This burger is let down by the crappy American bacon they put inside it (don't know if I am the only person who thinks the bacon in America is no where near as good as English bacon!). 

Carl's Jr kind of reminds me of Burger King's burgers back in the UK, but a better version! 

Fries here are really tasty, the Mrs said that if her sweet potato fries were slightly warmer they would have been awesome! 

The Mrs opted for a Bacon Swiss Chicken Tender Sandwich and was really happy with it, said that it was perfect, the chicken was tasty, nice squishy bun, ranch sauce was slightly on the mild side, but all in all a very yummy sandwich! 

Bennett Burger-O-Meter Rating: 4/5

COPYRIGHT Bennett's Burger Blog, 2012-present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Gary and Bennett's Burger Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. 

In N Out Burger

Venue/Restaurant: In N Out Burger
Website: www.in-n-out.com
Location: Santa Clara, California, USA
Menu Choices:
2 x Double Double, Animal Style, one with no lettuce or tomato
1 x Double Double
2 x reg fries
1 x Animal Style fries

L-R burgers: Double Double Animal Style, Double Double Animal Style no lettuce or tomato, reg Double Double

Double Double means 2 burgers and 2 slices of cheese, Animal Style is when the burger patties are cooked in mustard and includes extra pickle, extra spread and grilled onions. Animal Style fries have 2 slices of cheese, spread  and grilled onions.

In N Out Burger is always a winner, good burgers, nicely cooked and very tasty. I usually have a regular Double Double but decided to go for it cooked Animal Style on this occasion. You can really taste the difference from the burger being cooked in mustard, the mustard taste isn't too overwhelming, but I would suggest steering clear if you do not like mustard. Grilled onions are really nice in this burger, but the regular onion in normal Double Doubles is also very good. Burger nice and cheesy and buns soft. Animal Style burgers seem to be a bit more greasy than regular ones, but nothing to major! 

In N Out fries get a very mixed review from people online, my Mrs loves them, I think they are alright, not the best ones in the world! Animal Style fries are different..... A whole portion to myself would be way too much! The AS fries are tasty and the onions on them are lovely, definitely worth a try!
PS. It is advised to mix the fries up as soon as possible after getting your order before the cheese sets! 

Bennett Burger-O-Meter Rating: 4/5



COPYRIGHT Bennett's Burger Blog, 2012-present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Gary and Bennett's Burger Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. 

Came up with this genius idea...

So whilst out at lunch today munching on a Carls Jnr burger, I decided that due to the amount of burgers I eat, it would be a cool idea to set up a burger blog! My name is Gary, I live in the UK and when I travel abroad, I tend to only eat burgers... yep, sounds like it can get boring, but I like to stick to what I know and also, other countries do some pretty good ones! 

Planning on posting the name and location that the burger is from, photos, reviews and ratings of burgers I try! Hopefully other people will get involved and send me photos and reviews of burgers they try too, contact me via bennettsburgerblog@gbdents.com if you have tried a burger that deserves a shout out!

First review will be up very soon, keep your eyes peeled! :o)