I read most of the thrillist.com daily emails. What can I say, they are witty and I love food and booze. So when I saw the email for the top 33 burgers in the country I checked it out, as usual. I was surprised to see Nano Brew in Ohio City on the list for the simply named "spicy burger". So, when I was in the area for a beer event I decided to give it a shot to see what a top 33 burger in the country tastes like. Well, I feel like thrillist lost some credibility...
The theme is cool - certainly hipster (as is most the area) but cool, fun and has a wooden/bike theme as well. They have a solid beer list (again, this is not groundbreaking for the area) which is posted on the wall with wooden signs. I do have high expectations for ohio city and tremont restaurants and bars so that certainly played into my experience here.
We started with a couple apps...the mac and cheese bites and the stoner fries. Both were pretty decent but nothing I would order again. I probably liked the dipping sauce for the mac and cheese bites the best. My highly regarded spicy burger was, well, a massive disappointment. They cook all their burgers here med-well...which I like mine med-rare. This did not bother me at all - in fact I prefer when a restaurant "suggests" a cook temp on items as I figure they know how to bring the best out of their food. This honestly tasted like a over cooked, dry steak and shake burger with very minimal spice (especially to be called "the spicy") and just really lacks the flavor you would expect. I have nooooooo problem paying $10 for a burger - but give me the quality. So I found this to be grossly overpriced because of the size and quality. The waffle fries were aight, but again nothing to rave about.
Coupled with "meh" service and high expectations for a super quality food neighborhood nano brew really disappointed me. Fortunately there are so many great spots in the area.