Jeffrey's in Menlo Park - now open

[Pinkster]

Jeffrey's on El Camino just south of Ravenwood opened last weekend. It's a great addition to the Menlo Park dining scene and has a much better chance of succeeding than its predecessors in that somewhat cursed location.

Hubby and I went for a late lunch on Friday and it was quite busy. You walk up to the counter to place your order and you get a number - they have 3 registers, so when busy, they were able to be pretty flexible and added more staff to take orders. Then you grab a table, and your food is delivered to your table when it's ready. The menu covers many permutations of burgers, hot dogs, grilled sandwiches (like grilled cheese, tuna melt etc) and fish & chips. Plus french fries, onion rings and even more heart-stopping items like chili cheese fries. Drinks include beer, soda, shakes and floats. There's a self-service double condiment table with lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, onions etc.

The mushroom burger I had was excellent and hubby's patty melt was also good. Garlic fries were nice (but inadvisable if you expect to interact with non-garlic-fries eaters in the near future). In terms of "gourmet" factor, I'd place this in between Taxi's and Counter Burger - with easier parking than both.

We also drove past at 6 pm on Saturday and the ordering line was out the door (so probably 20+ people in line).

[rworange]

link

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Jeffrey's Hamburgers
888 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, CA 94025

[bbulkow]

I seem to remain the one person on CH to prefers the Creamery.

#1 is atmosphere - it's never crowded, and it's an actual restaurant. I can talk there. Service is good too.

The burgers are fine. I'd prefer smoke and grill char, but at least they're thick, hand-formed, and always properly medium-rare pink. I enjoy the pepper pot topping. The fries are always average, and there are options (they do a nice calamari).

I wish there was a burger I actually liked in PA, instead of the one I dislike least, but there you go. Jefferey's is too fast food in atmosphere and the burgers are too thin. The Counter is loud and very pricey (1.5x the cost of the Creamery), so much so that I can't remember the quality of the burger.

For an alternative, I love the marinated skirt steak sandwich at Nola, the one with the onion ring under the bun.

But hey, leave the Creamery alone. Leave me in peace to a nice neighborhood joint where I never have to wait, and get an honest meal for an honest price served promptly.

[P. Punko]

That skirt steak sandwich at NOLA is indeed amazing. I think they changed from onion strings to onion rings and from focaccia to ciabatta but still yummy.

[Munching Mark]

No mentions of The Oasis in MP for a burger?

That's where I'd go...crude but effective.

[P. Punko]

MM-

This thread has the gamut of the burgers in the area-

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/469623

[Munching Mark]

That's excellent, thanks PP!

[Pinkster]

I'd also like to add that they do a really nice salad, much better than your usual green salad. It's pretty fancy for a burger place and they can put grilled chicken on top - hard to believe, but I like it almost as much as the burgers!

[Humbucker]

I saw their salads and they do look great! I wonder how their other sandwiches are.

[Humbucker]

I was really disappointed by Jeffrey's. I got a patty melt and the onions were soaked in grease. The bread was too fragile and the meat was rather bland, too.

[P. Punko]

Extensive Palo Alto Burger thread, with other Jeffrey's opinions-

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/469623

I love Jeffrey's, N=5 visits, meat could be seasoned more but beefy taste comes through.

[P. Punko]

The burgers are really good and they come how you order. I ordered mine medium well and it was all the way cooked but still juicy. Wife ordered hers medium and it was medium. Fries are meh, onion rings are about as good as the big fat breaded style get (VERY crispy) and the chocolate shake was PERFECT (I like the shake to be drinkable and spoonable- the sweet spot of shakes) Actually the portion in the glass is more drinkable and the other have you get in the metal mixer is a little thicker (because they poured half of one into the other). Really nice chocolate flavor without being overpowering.

To compare to Kirks, I would say less charcoal flavor, but more straight ahead clean taste and slightly looser texture on the patties. I feel bad for Brix up the road, which is just OK, Jeffrey's may put them out of business.

Only downside at Jeffrey's is that when they are busy it is really loud. The prices aren't bad and if they just upscaled their fries they'd be a solid triple.

[sgwood415]

I agree with you about that chocolate shake. They do a good job with that. Sounds like they're a little hit & miss with the cooking temps. Flavors are good though, so it's a good option if you're looking for a fast food burger.

[Luthien]

Now that Brix is closed, I suspect it is going to get a higher amount of people going.

Just went there today. The garlic fries were rather good (though I did ask for more garlic on them). Had a bite of husband's burger and that was also rather good and done medium perfectly.

I haven't been to Kirks, but I'm happy to have a good burger joint since the last time I went to Red Robin, it came out well done and cold even though I asked for medium.

[rednails]

I saw this yesterday as well. It's a branch of a very popular place in downtown San Mateo. If the quality is the same (excellent) then they will be successful.

[sgwood415]

Jefferey's is better than most fast food places, and certainly better than the McDonald's up the street and the char-grill place on that same side of El Camino. I've found that they don't always get the doneness right though. I ask for M. Rare and they always come out well. Other than that it is a decent burger in its class.

[P. Punko]

Hey, sg- we only went once and they were spot on- someone mentioned at yelp that they got their burgers done right at the new location but was more hit and miss at the original. I need to obviously go more times to get the lay of the land on that one.