LUXE BURGERS NINGYOCHO — Restaurant in Tokyo

Two words. Tourist trap. I almost didn’t write this but I think other should be warned before they go. Overall, underwhelming for very overpriced burgers. Please read the 1 start reviews before you get tricked by all the 5 star reviews. Not sure how this place has so many positive reviews? Either the tourists that come here have no clue what a good burger is or they are campaigning everyone they know to flood with reviews.

When you’re in Japan and walk into a restaurant with a French theme, all foreigner customers, non-Japanese staff, no Japanese customers all English menu, a minimum drink order, those were the red flags we should’ve walked out.

Service was fine, server was welcoming and explained the min drink requirement. All it is a way to tax foreigners who already sat down and are hungry with no choice. The burgers had an up charge of 800 and 1500. I understand the meat is halal which is why the beef might be a bit more expensive but it doesn’t really justify the cost. Removed 1 star for that. They also charged 800 for like 5 onion rings that were super greasy. As soon as i saw the batter and oil dripping I had a bad feeling.

When we asked about how the burger was cooked we were told med rare which was fine but my partner wanted med well, but told us they only can do well done or med rare. If you’re charging 2500 yen for a burger plus extra 300 for 4 tiny pieces of mushroom how hard is it to cook a burger between the two limited options? If you’re paying that much you should be able to have it cooked to your liking. My partner also had a very bad stomach ache later, we’ve never had any stomach issues this whole trip until now, 1 star removed.

Burgers were small and beef wasn’t that great tasting but wasn’t bad. If I was back home this would be equivalent to a burger you’d get at a decent bar.

After reading more reviews, there’s a lot of low reviews with the same feedback. I don’t think the restaurant will do anything to change since the 4.8 and 5k reviews will keep them propped up on your burger algo search.

We paid over 7k yen for two burgers, 2 drinks and onion rings, and we didn’t even get Wagyu beef. Removed 1 star for that. This is more expensive than US prices. I haven’t felt this ripped off since the my first visit to...

Definitely one of the best gourmet burgers I've ever had. Having taste all the gourmet burgers in Bangladesh, I crowned the late SMLXL restaurant as the king. However ever since it closed down, I've always searched for something similar. Who knew I would find that in Tokyo, Japan. Luxe definitely knows the intricacies of a burger and this can be seen through their meticulous plating to the presentation of the food itself by the staff. The environment is cozy with warm lighting. Also the staff is super friendly which makes the experience even better. Now onto the contents of that meticulous plate: It had a side salad consisting of lettuce, ribbon carrots and a nicely cut daikon. It also had a portion of fries that had a seasoning to die for. A lot of thought went into that seasoning because not only did it smell or taste nice, but it also activated my taste buds and made me feel hungrier. There's surely some food science going on there. It also came with their house made yogurt sauce with they're really proud of and honestly, they should be. The sauce was creamy but light. Now the main star, the burger. They got a LOT of options so there's something for everybody. I got the beef cheese with salsa and mozzarella. The beef patty was a quarter pounder and was very simple. It was soft and properly seasoned. The cheese on top complimented the patty very nicely. The bun was soft and sweet and soaked the burger juices perfectly. The salsa added with the yogurt sauce was a like a cherry on top. The salsa tasted just like Bangladeshi salad as it was spicy and had a good amount of mustard oil. It reminded me of the salad which is usually mixed with chanachur or jhalmuri. I wonder how a super spicy naga burger would taste with that patty and bun?

To add on top, everything was halal! How often do you come across a gourmet place like this in Japan which is halal?

Also, the prices are a bit steep but honestly worth it. I have spend way more money in Japan on food and the taste was mediocre! But Luxe definitely came close to SMLXL. Overall, I would highly recommend this place to any burger enthusiast or anyone looking for...

Coming from America and the land of In-and-Out:

Is it a well-made burger with quality ingredients? Sure. Does it satisfy a deep American burger craving? Not really, here why:

The focus of this show is the high quality halal meat - it's cooked super moist, juicy, tender, and fatty in wonderful ways. Then it goes downhill from there.

There is no deep, lovely maillard reaction carmelization to this meat because it's not grilled hot enough, so while it's plenty tender, it lacks any satisfying meaty texture nor beefy depth of flavor you would expect. No onions, no tomatoes, no ketchup, no mustard. I get it, it wants to be a grown-up fancy burger, but these things provide important textures and help cut the ultra heavy umami flavors of the meat. Without it, I'm eating a mushy sloppy joe. The sauce is off. Yes, there's a lovely wine reduction gravy on the burger that's likely from the leftover bits of the patty, but the wine profile is quite strong and so sweet it tastes like they added sugar, which is just weird. Yes, you wanted to be fancy, but this is distracting, not subtle. The cheese. The cheddar cheese in Japan tastes different than in America and has a different texture - something you just gotta accept unless you really go hunting for imported cheese. That said, even the top restaurants in the US will not shy away from the benefits of good-old fashioned Kraft American cheese. The jalapenos. Aren't spicy at all. I used all of them and tasted none of them. They might as well have been mushrooms.

So again, a fancy burger. But, don't go in thinking you're going to Ratatouille yourself back into America.

Three stars. Not so much for the flavor profile, but because it puts "tender, juicy meat" on a pedestal and ignores all balance in textures and shy's away from fully extracting the key flavors of the meat. Also, this is a pretty expensive burger for what you get -...