Finally! A restaurant that lives up to my expectations!

The past couple of weeks have left me in a bit of a rut as far as restaurants go.  I have been feeling plagued by bad choices where I find myself completely disappointed by the food quality/price ratio and bad service...it has been a dark couple of weeks. But behold! 5 Napkin Burger, which as you know, I have been so excited about, opened tonight and I was blown away!

My friend and I tried an array of dishes and were not disappointed in the least.  Not to mention, the service was great, apart from a few slight mix ups, but that is to be expected during a restaurant's first week!

As crazy as this may sound, we started off with two orders of sushi.  Yes, you read right, 5 Napkin Burger is more than just a burger joint, it has its own separate sushi section in the kitchen where they whip up fabulous sushi concoctions. 

We ordered their 'southwestern roll', which is the one on the bottom of the picture.  It is spicy yellowtail, cilantro, chayotte, scallion, enrobed with soy wrapper and topped with jalapeno and tobiko. Not too shabby for a 'burger restaurant'!  The roll on top is their double tuna roll which was a very fresh rendition of your typical spicy tuna roll.  The sushi was as good as any you would find at a sushi restaurant.

Moving on, we ordered two different burgers. I had to order their 'Original 5 Napkin Burger', which is a 10 oz burger topped with gruyère, caramelized onions and rosemary aioli. When it comes to burgers, I am a touch judge.  This guy, made the top three for sure. The meat was so juicy and perfectly cooked, the other condiments, apart from an obvious overload of rosemary aioli, which is easily scrapped off, melded with the entirety like a match made in heaven.  It was divine.

We also got their 'Ahi tuna burger'. I have never tried one of these before, I am always worried I get a bad one. If you find yourself in the same boat as me, you have nothing to worry about here. Their tuna was the tastiest, marinated in ginger. The spice of the ginger was complimented perfectly with scallions, soy and a gentle wasabi aioli.  Tempura fried onions topped it off by adding some crunch and the whole thing was sandwhiched between an egg roll. Need I say more?

At 5 Napkin Burger, the sides are not included with the burger. This can be seen as a good thing, as it really showcases the burger.  However, while perfect for one person, I found they were a bit pricey for the amount you got.  Regardless, the homemade pickles were the best I have tasted and the onion rings disappeared two seconds after they hit the table. I could have done with a couple more!

We could not go without something sweet...I never really can. I ordered the espresso brownie sundae.  It was a nicely sized vanilla ice cream sundae with chunks of rich espresso brownie finished with a generous amount of whipped cream, caramel sauce and roasted peanuts which I thought was a great touch.

I also caved and got their s'mores milkshake which comes with a 'brulé-ed' marshmallow on top. Now, I have quite an extensive experience with milkshakes and I can safely say that this one surpassed all the others, Coldstone included. 5 Napkin Burger somehow manages to make these light enough to drink along with your meal, but rich enough that you feel you are really getting a treat..now that is a hard line to hit!

The only thing that disappointed was the '7-layer chocolate fudge cake'.  As a general rule, I never order chocolate cakes at restaurants because it is so difficult to find one that is moist and thick enough for my liking.  My friend took the risk and unfortunately, the result was as I feared.  The sliver was far too small, but perhaps that is just as well because the cake was very dry and the frosting, which can make or break it, did not deliver.

All cakes aside, our experience at 5 Napkin Burger was such that my friend is going back tomorrow, and I am already planning my next visit...perhaps this Sunday after our first week of 'Elo Eperience'? Another fab meal at this restaurant would surely help me get through the weekend!

Check out more of their menu:

http://5napkinburger.com/locations-menus/boston-mass/