Bobby's Burgers by Bobby Flay: Review of the new celeb chef restaurant in Orem

Solid burgers, but I expected more from a celebrity chef shop

I love a good burger. So when I saw that celebrity chef Bobby Flay was opening a burger joint in Utah, I had to try it.

Only problem? I don’t know anything about Bobby Flay. (I don’t watch a lot of TV)

So I did my research:

Who is Bobby Flay?

Bobby Flay is one of America's most recognizable celebrity chefs, known for his Southwestern and Mediterranean cuisine and his presence on TV. He started working in restaurants as a teenager in New York, went to culinary school and started working at restaurants, eventually opening quite a few of his own.

He started appearing on food television where his intensity and skill made him a popular TV star.

He has won a bunch of awards

He won a Michelin Star for The Las Vegas Mesa Grill in 2008.

He is a four-time Daytime Emmy Award winner:

• Outstanding Service Show Host – Boy Meets Grill (2005)

• Best Culinary Program – Grill It! With Bobby Flay (2009)

• Outstanding Culinary Host – Bobby Flay's Barbecue Addiction (2014)

• Outstanding Culinary Host – Bobby Flay's Barbecue Addiction (2015)

And three-time James Beard Foundation Award winner:

• Rising Star Chef of the Year (1993)

• National Television Food Show Award – Bobby Flay Chef Mentor (2005)

• Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America (2007)

• Culinary Hall of Fame Induction (2015)

• Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame (2015)

Why is he making burgers?

In the literature it says Bobby likes to eat a burger after shooting for TV. Not sure how he decided to get into the burger game, but Bobby opened Bobby's Burger Palace in 2006.

The idea was an upscale fast casual hamburgers place.

He opened the first location opened in 2006 in Eatontown, New Jersey. They opened a bunch more, and by 2015, the chain had 19 locations in 10 states. However, most locations closed permanently during COVID. There are only 2 locations still open.

Bobby and his team took what was working and simplified the menu, going for smaller locations, and wrapped it into a fast food variation of the concept. They launched in 2021 as Bobby's Burgers.

Bobby's Burgers

Flay co-founded Bobby’s Burgers in 2021 as a variant to Bobby’s Burger Palace, which first opened in July 2008. Initially, it started in food courts and sports venues but has since begun expanding its operations to full-scale restaurants nationwide.

The menu definitely is inspired by Bobbys Southwester flair. It has the “Crunchburger,” which adds potato chips, and the “Nacho Burger,” complete with queso, jalapenos, and tortilla chips. Bobby’s sauce is quite spicy. The menu also includes chicken sandwiches, cheese fries, a pistachio-flavored milk shake, and several breakfast items.

They are in 9 states so far and they team announced they want to open 9 locations in Utah.

So how is the food at Bobby’s Burgers?

Let’s evaluate the main classes of important burger joint inputs:

1. burger

2. fries

3. shake

4. fry sauce

Burgers

We tried two burgers, the Crunchburger, and the Palace burger (with bacon).

It was close to our babies bedtime so we had to get the food to go. You can pick how well done you want your patty, I chose medium while my wife went with well done.

The Crunchburger was nice! I love the texture of the added potato chips. It held together, the bun was good. But the chips were what made it unique. I’ve added chips to sandwiches for a while, but this is the first burger place that I’ve seen add that unique ingredient.

The Palace burger was solid but didn’t knock our socks off. The bacon was nice and crispy to it broke when you bite it, instead of pulling out of the burger like some undercooked bacon does.

Obviously getting them to go and the drive home make them a little less awesome, but they were both still a solid burger after 30 minutes.

Fries

We tried two types of fries, the normal fries, and the sweet potato fries.

Normal fries are solid. Good size, well cooked. The sweet potato fries needed a bit more salt, and more crunchiness. (If you want the best sweet potato fries go to Guru’s Cafe in Provo)

Shake

They have a limited shake menu. Vanilla, Oreo, pistachio, dark chocolate, and strawberry. I love Oreos, we we went with the Oreo shake. It was good. Drinkable thru a straw, so not a concrete, and had good Oreo chunks that weren’t so big they would clog the straw.

Fry Sauce

We love our fry sauce in Utah. Bobby’s Sauce is a fry sauce cousin. I liked it on the burger, but for the fries, it was too spicy. And I like spicy things!

The honey mustard dip was our favorite for the fries. It is more sweet than tangy and that was the only sauce we ran out of.

Final Rating of Bobby’s Burgers

Overall I would give it 3/5 stars.

I will go back eventually and try it again to sample the Nacho burger, since Southwestern is Bobby’s speciality.

I wouldn’t pick Bobby’s Burgers if I was suggestion a place to eat, but if someone wanted to go there, I would not be disappointed at all.

Honestly I expected a little more from a restaurant started by a celebrity chef. However, I did appreciate that the menu actually reflected his input and taste profile. And it was much better than the ghost kitchen approach a lot of celebrities use (looking at you Mr Beast Burger fail)

If you like burgers, and are looking to try something new, I would recommend giving it a shot!

Details

Bobby’s Burgers

Address: 575 E University Pkwy, Orem, UT 84097

Google Maps link

https://bobbysburgers.com/

Eat Utah’s Rating

3/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️☆☆, would try again

Links

https://bobbysburgers.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby%27s_Burger_Palace

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Flay

https://www.cityweekly.net/utah/celebrity-crush/Content?oid=22594715