Habit Burger & Grill — Restaurant in Issaquah

I've been walking past Habit for some time now. Its conveniently situated next to where I work out. LOL. The temptation each time is dangerous. Well...today I gave in. And wow, I am glad I did.

We have so many burger options that you have to be picky about selecting a 5 star worthy burger. In my opinion a good burger starts with high quality meat and proportionally balanced lean to fat ratio. Some prefer 80/20, others will go as low as 70/30. When I say high quality meat, I mean ground chuck and sirloin not the left over cuts ground into what we see at the grocery store. A good burger uses high quality cheese not American. A good burger flows fat and juices down your forearms as you take a bite. A good burger uses high quality bread...but sometimes a soft sesame seed topped bun works just as well.

That being said I'll get off my soap box. A good burger standard for me is the east coast's and coming soon to Seattle....Shake shack. That is the golden standard for fast food burgers to me. Grass fed ground chuck and sirloin with a soft sesame seedless bun. Its so simple... but yet so effective. The right fat content the right chew the right flavors. I dont know what makes it to special but sometimes less is more.

And thus brings me to Habit. While not what I consider 5 star worthy, a very close 4. My wife and I pigged out on a single char and for me a double char. With the works including the American cheese. Very juicy...juice and fat dripping down my forearms. Sauteed onions with mayo and mustard. A good burger does not require ketchup and this one didn't. It's your basic backyard bbq burger done right. It was very good. And the tempura fried green beans were so good. Big green beans, not the bottom of the bin beans. Great bite and crunchy tempura batter.

So 4 stars and not 5. For starters, I find America cheese blah. It's not real cheese and I get that its wholesale cost is a fraction of real cheddar. It's a business decision. And I dont read anywhere that Habit uses high quality meat...meaning grass fed or the types of cut used in their ground beef mixture.

But dont get me wrong...I would come back. I find Habit burgers better than 5 guys, Red Robin, etc. I personally dont get why 5 guys...

If you have allergies, beware! Just placed an order to go and I am FURIOUS! My son has a life threatening sesame seed allergy. Any time we order burgers I am sure to tell the staff this so they can take extra precautions, which is usually as simple as changing gloves. I called twice to tell the location this only to get a main call center that takes all orders and they could not reach the restaurant either time. My husband texted them the allergy alert once he got there and asked the girl who brought the food out about the precautions. No one seemed to take this very seriously. We got it home, opened the burger and double checked, just in case, and we found a sesame seed right on top of his bun. Thank goodness we saw it and it wasn't buried in the melted cheese or somewhere less obvious. I know it is a risk we take eating out at burger places, but McDonald's takes better precautions for goodness sake!! I will NOT be eating here again. Total lack of care. When I called the customer service line back to talk to them about it, they told me there is no way to contact the restaurant without me physically going there and to basically pound salt and if I really felt like it, I could go to the contact us page on the website. I am feeling all kinds of things right now, but mostly very, very...

This place runs hot and cold. Sometimes it's absolutely fantastic, sometimes it is borderline awful. I find that when they're busier they have better food quality but make mistakes on what's in an order whereas when they are not busy, particularly when it's late, the food quality suffers dramatically. I've left there after they read off a ticket indicating that everything was in the bag for take-out only to find when I got home there was something missing or something incorrect or something that made it not a great customer service experience. When they're on, these are great burgers and sandwiches. The salad is kind of weird because they use shredded lettuce on it just like they use on the burgers. They've got good milkshakes, they're not spectacular but they hit the spot. We take our chances when we go there and when we are dining in we simply take stuff back when it's not correct. When I'm doing take out I do not leave there without emptying the bag out and checking it against my receipt on my phone. I unwrap sandwiches to make sure that they're not burned, which has happened before, and I check to make sure that I actually got tempura green beans instead of onion rings. I recommend it but also recommend that you are...