Friends & Brgrs — Restaurant in Helsinki sub-region

Friends and Burgers is a burger restaurant in middle of Helsinki, right next to railway station. You enter the restaurant from ground level through quite steep stairs to find yourself in an open and light restaurant environment. Big windows give you a great view to the nearby railway station plaza. Inside the dining area you can see through glass windows 2 areas, one is the always busy kitchen and one is where they ground the meat. The orders are done through single checkout cashier and menus are available in Finnish, Swedish and English. After ordering you are handed out an electronic bleeper that will alert when your food is ready, which you will go and pick up from the kitchen's open window. After dining, the cleaning is done as self-service by taking the dishes to the drop-off point. You can also order the food as take-out.

As this is a burger joint, the menu is exclusively burgers and side dishes, mainly french fries. During ordering you can order one of the burgers as stand-alone or as part of menu. You are given an option to add condiments, such as caramelized onion to the portion or an extra patty. Helpfully, the extra patty is already a standardized as almost all burgers are offered as "double" versions. For no extra charge, the bun can be changed to a gluten-free option, which is a welcome addition. You can also order fries as stand alone or as extra dish if you so choose. The drinks included in the menu option are your typical Coca Cola and carbonated water, but for extra fee you can upgrade the drink to proprietary soda or to a special milk-shake. The drinks are self-served with the exception of the proprietary soda or milk-shake.

The burger menu consists of several different kind of burgers made out of beef and couple special burgers such as chicken burger and vegan and halloumi burgers, for clients preferring non-meat options. The fries are only made out of potato at the time of writing.

The size of the portions may look small from the outside, but it's more than enough for a grown adult. The food tastes great. The meat patties taste fresh and there is no trace that it would have been frozen at any point. The vegetables likewise retain their fresh crunch. The fries usually retain just the right amount of saltines and they actually have the good taste of potato.

The prices of burger menus vary between 11 and 17 euros depending on your options, which is more expensive than a fast food joint, but around the level of restaurants in Helsinki. As this is not a fast food joint, prepare for a wait. This restaurant is very popular, so it's almost always full. Finding seats can be difficult during busier hours and waiting for food can take around 20-25 minutes on average, but in my opinion the food is worth the wait.

The staff is able to serve customers in different languages and during my visits has always been extremely helpful and polite.

The toilets are freely usable, but unfortunately are not always in their best condition, sometimes even a bit messy.

To summarize I liked: Food Friendly Staff View

Neutral: Wait time Difficulty of finding a seat

I disliked: A bit messy bathrooms Lack of sweet potato fries

All in all, I recommend giving Friends & Brgrs a try if you're visiting Helsinki and want a good...

I had a good experience at Friends and Burgers.

Since I had read on the reviews that the place gets crowded, so went there at 11:00 when they open.

The place at Helsinki is located close to the central station and has a good view of the street. It was clean and the staff was very friendly when taking the order. She explained what the meal included and how we could use the buzzer to know when our order was ready.

The soft drinks have unlimited refill so we enjoyed those as we waited for our burgers.

It took about 10-15 minutes for our orders to be ready. And the cooking staff was friendly as well.

I had ordered a California Style Double Burger Meal that included the burger with double patties, fries, and soft drinks. I also bought the aioli mayo dip for the fries.

The burger was juicy and flavorful. I enjoyed the caramelized onions and the oven roasted tomatoes in the burger. If you are hungry definitely go for the double burger.

The fries were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I enjoyed them as well especially with the aioli mayo dip.

I was pretty happy with the taste of the burger and the fries, so can recommend them if you are looking to enjoy a handmade burger that is much fresher and tastier than the ones you get at fast food chains.

And the price is reasonable as well considering that the ingredients are fresh...

This busy Shake Shack-esque burger joint bakes their own buns on premises - that's one indication of how seriously they take the quality of their product. The buns are firm enough not to fall apart when you factor in the burgers and additional toppings that accompany them - it's impressive.

I tried the Umami Burger, which more than lived up to its name - incredibly tasty and not just salty. There is depth to the flavor of the well-cooked smashed burger meat, and the thoughtfully seasoned truffle sauce (not at all one note, unlike many other versions of this popular condiment). It may not be a giant burger, but it was very filling and satisfying.

The fries were fine - nothing to complain about, but they were not memorable. Bonus points, though, for triple frying them.

Their chicken fingers were tender and substantial and pair well with their dips.

I ate in the restaurant and it attracts a mix of families, friends and couples on dates. It's upstairs of several other eateries (and a few doors away from their competitor Bastard Burgers, which I also sampled) and has a casual, easy environment. The staff working here were impressively friendly - smiles, clear explanations and answers to questions, and an easygoing manner that really lives up to the establishment's name.

Overall, I had a good experience and would try...