Monzo Burger — Restaurant in Vancouver

This place just opened up - Grand Opening Sept 9th. Seems like they already have a strong reputation and PR team, so here's an unbiased and unsponsored review:

Summary: 6/10 food 9/10 service 8/10 vibes

Initial thoughts when I walked in: I loved the bright orange ambience and modern diner decor. I was greet by two friendly staff members, and taken to a booth seat. I originally thought it was going to be more of an order at the counter, then grab a seat sort of thing, but I was pleasantly surprised by the hospitable service. To be fair, I went a day after grand opening so everyone was at peak performance. Great service and welcoming so far.

Food: King Monzo ($18) substitute lettuce wrap (+$2): I wanted less carbs, so I opted for the lettuce wrap. King Monzo comes with a double patty, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles and signature burger sauce. Pretty normal burger, nothing outstanding, but nothing bad.

The Wrangler ($18): Definitely the first thing I noticed was how small this burger was, as the most expensive burger on the menu. It comes with house BBQ sauce, aioli, onions, swiss cheese and spicy pickled jalapenos. BBQ was pretty good, not too heavy and on the sweeter side. The saviour was the jalapenos. Bacon was pretty bad, sort of tastes like pre-cooked bacon (chewy texture, not very flavourful). Soft bun. Overall was decent, but also on the underwhelming side given the higher price point and size.

Beef Fat Fries ($5): Thin cut fries were oily, but crispy and flavourful.

Vanilla Milkshake ($8): It's basically a cup of cold milk, with creamy vanilla icecream on top. I personally prefer a chunkier milkshake with more texture, so I wasn't a huge fan of the softserve. I won't penalize it since that's more of a personal preference.

Overall, I'd say the food was average but the vibes and service were good. It's on the pricier end, so I guess it depends on what you're looking for. If you want a more comfortable burger/diner experience, I could recommend this place, but I have to say I wasn't super impressed or blown away by the food itself. It's also on the pricier side for this type of food. I think it would be a disappointingly expensive experience if I got this as a take-out meal. The staff and fun interior definitely...

1.) An absolute rip off on price. As the other reviews have mentioned, there are many better places you can go to for way less for a better portioned, less greasy, and more fulfilling meal. Heads up a combo (burger, fries, drink) will set you back $30+ per person after tax and tip

2.) Tip start at 18% (unless you purposely edit the tip), which is ridiculous especially since everything served is in a disposable burger box like Macdonald's and there literally isn't anything the servers need to clean up or set up except maybe the cup of water they give you. I understand it is located downtown and that people usually expect higher tips there, but baristas do more work than the servers here. The servers were kind and were able to attend to customers in a somewhat timely manner. 3 stars for basic satisfactory service. They took my order in 2 sentences and passed me my food from the kitchen. However definitely in no way worth 18-25% in tips as suggested by the card machine.

3.) Burger bun was cold and kinda soggy. Burger was quite greasy. No veggies in the standard menu burgers unless you put add ons which range $2+ per add on (the burger which was the size of a mcdouble was $18 already) the taste was sweet, not bad, but not much in it, just one flavour profile. Was edible. You can get the same quality at any fast food place.

4.) Washroom stalls had no toilet paper or soap, I had to go to 3 washrooms to find one with both available.

5.) Very trendy decorations and set up but the seats were not very comfortable. At least the restaurant is clean.

6.) If you order pop/soda it's basically a canned drink poured into a cup and that is worth $4 for some reason.

7.) Came here for lunch on an empty stomach then my stomach started to hurt around an hour later which caused me to leave work early and lose pay.

Can't wait to get a copy and paste response from management. I really wanted to like this place and I was so excited to try it, but unfortunately there were so many things that were not...

Great vibe. Walked in and it is a modern take on an old school diner. Bright colors, nice lines, and clean as a whislte. I mean immaculate. A shelf of liquor, an ice cream machine for milkshakes, and booths and a old school counter with stools. Really a fun atmosphere. Four stars on atmosphere.

Service is fine. I'm there at 2:30 pm. It is post lunch and pre dinner. Polite, prompt, but you're not going to stand out in that setting. So hard to rate. But I have to so three stars on service.

Food? It's fine. A double burger and a diet coke. It is smash burger style. Simple. Two patties, a little cheese, a sandwich pickle, and sause on a kind of moistish bun. A tad salty, but not out of range. Coke comes with a lime wedge. It's fine. I like a smash burger. I make them all the time on my grill. Thought the bun was a tad soggyish - sort of like Chik-fil-a's. If you’ve had one, you'll know what I am talking about. Check out YouTube on it. That's not a criticism, it's a description.

I have to admit the fries were tempting. They are cooked in beef tallow apparently. But hey, it's 2:45 now and I have to eat dinner at 6:00.

But ... that cost me $14 for the burger, $6.00 for the coke - yes, $6.00 (comes with a lime wedge and it is a big serving though). $18 for that is expensive - $20 with a 15% tip. It wasn't $18 worthy IMHO. I can go to Homer Street Cafe and get a hand ground burger, cooked safely to medium, and double cooked fries that are from heaven for $22. A 10 minute walk away.

I look at the happy hour menu. A Peroni is $12 and it says for three ounces. That must be a misprint, right?

My take? That's too expensive for what I got. Loved the atmosphere, the convenience (a three minute walk), food was fine, no complaints about the service, but too expensive.

If I were you, I'd pass. Sorry to the owner for this. I love supporting business & hate...