Marcel Gourmet Burger — Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

After being in Vietnam for 1.5 week, I recalled not having a VN burger yet. Found this place as it was near my hotel and it has good reviews. I arrived at 9pm, so there was some time before closing. The place looks and feels a bit like the typical American diner with some Halloween decorations. Staff is friendly and can communicate in English just fine. I ordered the Marcel burger combo. The server asked how I wanted the burger cooked, I opt for medium and if I wanted the thin or thick handcut fries. Didn't know that was possible and I wanted to try the thick handcut fries. After that I added the home made bacon. Then the staff also asked if I wanted the burger cut in half, but I rejected that idea for picture purposes and I know the reason for the question. Onto the food that arrived around 10 minutes later and pictures taken. I cut the burger in half, this is done because medium and below thick burgers tend to not hold their structure and their juices would spill out if you eat it with your hands. The burger was at the point of 99% well done with a few specks of red. I informed the staff of the mistake made by the kitchen. The staff offered to prepare a new burger, which I rejected. I explained that I was ok with it and it would be a bother and waste to do this with closing time approaching. Just inform the kitchen of the mistake and all is well. The patty had a nice rich flavor that you can only get from good quality beef. One can only imagine how good it would have been with juices. The onion ring didnt add much to the burger as it was only a small one and thus forgettable. The brioche buns were also not toasted long enough. Another explanation could be that the buns were toasted way too early and with the lettuce sitting on top steamed/softened the bun. You can also see that the remaining juices from patty went into the bun. My burger didnt have the gherkin relish and is also not seen in the picture. So it misses the acidity to cut of the rich beef flavor. The home made bacon though, excellent. Cooked perfectly for the crisp and smoke flavor was on point. Thick cut fries were not crispy/crunchy and texture wise comes over as single fried instead of twice. Also the fries were very brown, this indicates that there was still a lot of starch in the potato before frying. This is simply solved by washing it thoroughly after cutting it. There could be another explanation for this, but that is not the case here. Their home made ketchup is not to my liking. This is probably a flavor liked by the locals. For me, it reminded me of basil flavored tomato sauce (pizza/pasta). There was a bottle of shiracha mayo on the table and that had a nice subtle spice creamy flavor.

The kitchen could have had a long and busy day. With some focus and perhaps some tweaks, the food could go from alright to great or even better.

The staff gave me a discount on the bill for the mistake and offered their apologies. Their kind gesture is well received and props for their hospitality. I will try this place and give them another visit...

I went here as I saw this place supposedly is one of the best burger places in town.. some commenters even say they have the best burgers in Asia. Well I had to try that.

So I came in and they was this big group of spanish speakers at one table having a very loud conversation. They had clearly already finished but they just stayed there the whole time, not eating, not drinking. Just talking very loud and walking around the place, sometimes standing just next to me for like minutes, at some point three of them were just standing next to my table, talking. Like 15cm from me and my food... sorry but that alone takes away one star for atmosphere (4*). I'd expect the staff to tell them to not be so loud and for sure to tell them not to just stand for minutes next to another guest trying to eat in peace.

Anyway, I ordered the Fish+Tartar Burger plus their Classic Burger (Medium Well). Unfortunately I'm not impressed. The patty (classic) was quite thin so its probably hard to get a medium well out of it but it was more well than medium and the flavour was just not there. Even the provided "hot stuff" chilli sauce didnt really change that cause it also didnt taste like much. On the fish one the thick fish was great but there was almost no tartar sauce on the burger and the bit that was, was very sweet. So I just ate the fish and didnt bother with the rest. Food - 3*

The good things: great thick cut fries (but you get only like 10..), delicious lemonade, great service (5*), fast service, not too expensive.

Personally I can recommend Mad Roosta for thick, juicy meat patties and much more flavor - the only place in town to get these kinds of burgers it seems and unfortunately what I am looking for in a burger. Im sure Marcel is great if you want a smash burger though (also not sure why a french burger place doesnt use mustard or even has it as one of the sauce options - I would change that).

So overall not too bad, just not my taste and an overall score of 4*

To all the ones crying best burgers in Asia - Go to Shanghai, Bangkok or Tokyo - All of those places have tons of amazing...

A facepalm experience. The longer we stayed, the worse got our opinion. Don’t waste your money and time. Don’t come here if you expect a delicious, juicy, mouthwatering burger. Extremely overpriced and totally not worth it. This is not what you’d expect from a place that is said to be in top 10 restaurants in Saigon. To begin with, we came at almost 9pm and ordered two combos, nuggets and a milkshake. A waiter asked if we wanted nuggets separately from combo or in a combo but that was a kids menu combo as they can’t add nuggets as a part of standard combo (although the price is the same as for other side options)… the first confusion but ok, happens, we were expecting the food to come. First were served a rosemary lemonade and the milkshake which was weird because milkshake melted before we could even smell the main course. After like 10 min waiting we got the food, everything looked yummy. We had been asked about the degree of roasting the meat and ordered medium well. The Bamboo burger had a well done meat layer (not the one we asked for) that tasted dry, black hard bun that smelled unwell and the thin-cut fries tasted as if they were prepped the day before and were just warmed a bit up. The oil seemed old, too. My fishburger smelled unwell and the fish was so hot even after my long waiting that i burnt my mouth. The thick-cut fries were probably the best of what we had. The nuggets were fine but those were pieces of chicken meat (dark parts) not the ordinary nuggets you usually have at other places. The apex of that all was another waitress coming by and asking us if everything was ok. We said: “No, it’s not.” after what she just laughed and disappeared. The most careless staff I have ever seen. The milkshake — no distinct peanut butter taste, two pieces of dry brownie put on top and tasted like plain chocolate milk. Rosemary lemonade was pretty good though, too much sugar but...