Bridge Street Burger Shack — Restaurant in Rockford

A true smash burger that is worth more than you pay!

Dish: Quad Burger with American Cheese, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, and mayo - $7.50. It doesn’t look like much in the picture, but I am telling you, this burger is amazing for the price. The patties are somewhere around 1/8 pound. Usually 4 patties will make it fall apart in a hurry, but this one stayed together really well.

It is a true smash burger. I have had many “smash burgers” that are huge balls of beef smashed like a smash burger, but end up losing the meaning because they are too thick and don’t cook like they are designed. These are thin like they are supposed to be and thus cook right. The seared outside was perfect and the inside still had some juicy tasty goodness to it.

The toppings were decent quality and right proportions. The bun was about standard, but maybe a notch above that.

I enjoyed every bite of this one especially knowing the price and what is out there right now.

Service: You can see the order on the bag. They wrote it on the bag while taking my order so they got it right. Looks like there is a time stamp, too, for making sure they know where they are on their orders. They pay attention and that says a lot!

Atmosphere: It has an old 50’s small town feel with plenty of memorabilia. I get the vibe the owner was USMC which is cool. It is a small joint with a few tables, but you’ll probably want to eat at the Rockford Dam (like we did) or get it to go.

Conclusion: HIGHLY recommended for the value. This restaurant came recommended to me and it did not disappoint! If you read this far in my review, you should be ashamed and go buy their burger. HA HA!

Visited...

I’ll keep this short and not-so-sweet. Everything was bad. We ordered 4 burgers and a bag of fries as we are working in the area and this spot looked like they’d make a simple but tasty smash burger. Unfortunately, even with a small menu (which is normally a good thing) they are making burgers that aren’t edible.

There is zero chance that they clean their flattop grill. The burgers have a decent char but taste like old ash and charcoal, not that delicious Maillard reaction char you want with a smash burger. All the toppings were wet and flaccid making it taste even worse.

The fries are just pure sogginess. They weren’t salty enough which is fine if there was any crisp, but there wasn’t. The oil tasted old as well. If you’re going to give me soft fries, at least make them healthier, these fries were so soggy with oil that our takeout bag blew out before we got to our car right out front.

See photos and video for evidence. This place has good reviews so hopefully our experience is just a fluke, but we literally got home, tried to eat a few bites and ended up throwing away $30 of food and I’m still sitting here tasting old burned food in my mouth.

(Okay maybe...

I went in today and had some lunch with some coworkers after craving a giant burger I ordered the impossible burger, which I later found out it was vegan based . Not too fond of the flavor of vegan burgers I realized, and quickly asked them if they had made it already they did. They served it to me along with my fries after taking about three bites thoroughly not enjoying it the young girl there says. We are throwing another burger on for you!About two minutes later they gave me a double burger with the same toppings I asked for. For absolutely free they turn down my money, and even turn down the tip that I offered great place with great service. Great burgers too! Will be my go to burger joint...