Stuffed Belly — Restaurant in Houston

This has been on my list of places to go for a while and finally got the chance to go today. I ordered the Belly Burger with tots and my wife got the Sichuan Chicken sandwich. Counter service with friendly reception, questions were asked and answered regarding the cookie selection, all was well. Food came out pretty quick (tots had already been cooked under warmer, but were still hot and crispy). My burger was massive, probably one of the larger smash burgers I have ever had. I am guessing that they used 2 either 3.5 or 4 ounce patties. There was one piece of cheese in the middle with a scattering of grilled onions along with their smash sauce and pickles. Bun at some point hit the grill because it was light and fluffy (wife fell in love with it). The heft of the burger was impressive and overall I loved the burger. Next time I would probably request another slice of cheese on top with xtra onions. While not the best smash burger I have ever had, it is up there with them while supplying a pretty heafty burger for the $$. Tots were tots, they were good and crispy with good potato flavor. As for the chicken, my wife was wanting a more spicy experience, but some of that is on her because she got the sauce on the side. I had several bites that I dipped in the sauce and found the sandwich to be really good (will probably get this the next time we go). I see someone here pointed out the color of the chicken made it look like it was fried in old oil, ignore that, there is seasoning in the batter that gives it the darkish red color, if it was fried in old oil, you would know that when you took your first bite. The chicken with the sauce has good flavor, it is light on the mala so don't go into it thinking your going to get your tongue numbed (which I would have liked). Overall, will be going back here soon because I didn't even get the egg salad, which I am a sucker for. Upon leaving we ended up passing on the cookie and getting the Cinnabelly dunkers. Man, worth driving there for these alone. It seems to be a think bread pudding made from their left over bread, with a health dose of apple pie spices and it comes served with 4 pieces (totalling the size of a piece of bread) along with a vanilla icing for dipping. ...

First let me say, if I could give this place an zero to half star I would. My wife decided that she wanted the family to try a new burger spot in Houston. So we loaded up in the truck and traveled from Humble,TX(1-hr plus Houston driving) to stuffed burger. She was excited about this place because she is a huge fan of the master chef owner. We I can say this was an horrible experience. As soon as my family entered the place, I knew it wouldn't go well. No one in the front, people huddled in or near the rear. So there was no greeting or acknowledgment when we all made eye contact. They didn't have but one car maybe in the the drive thru so they can't claim they were busy. We looked at the menu and started getting an idea of what we would order. Finally, someone came to the front and you can tell they hate their job(You Chose it) and still didn't greet or acknowledge we were there. My twin grandsons started to order, and all I heard was we're out of this and we don't have chicken today. I was like, wait! We all come into an empty restaurant, we all make eye contact with each other, you fail to acknowledge my family and I, then want to proceed to tell me we don't have this and that on the menu you have displayed. And I'm about to spend about 20.00 per person for a burger, fries, and drink. Nope! Let's Go! Service is Trash. Wish I could say the same about the food, but we didn't get that far. Oh and to think my wife and I were going to go to her restaurant that is right cross the parking lot from the burger spot. I will save my time, money, and gas. I definitely would not recommend this play....

Update: Tried again because of the rave reviews and in case I just had a bad batch last time.

Had the limited-time pepperoni pizza burger since it has the tomato confit. Also had the tator tots again.

The burger was dry. The bun was mushy. And the tator tots were bitter once again. Not sure what people are seeing in this place but I just see an overpriced mediocre burger. I’ve had better burgers at fast food joints.

Original: I was really looking forward to trying this place and followed along as they posted on their socials leading up to the soft opening. I finally went the second weekend after opening and given that the owner is a Master Chef winner, expectations were high. Stuffed Belly was touted as a gourmet burger place, but my experience was anything but.

I went through the drive thru since the line was pretty short. Ordered the belly burger and tator tots. Asked for some mayonnaise for the tots but they said they didn’t have any, which is fine.

Now on to the burger. It was such a huge disappointment! It tasted like any other fast food burger, in fact some fast food places have better burgers than this. It barely any sauce. The bun was chalky and stuck to your mouth.The patty was dry and flavorless. The onions were burnt and bitter. I can literally make a better burger myself at home.

And the tots were regular tots you can buy at the grocery store. So overall it was not what I would’ve expected from an award winning chef.

I’m curious about the grilled cheese with the tomato confetti but at this point i’m not in a hurry to go back. There are so many other good burger...