#96 in NYC

Brindle Room

Name: Brindle Room
Address: New York, NY, US
Price range: $$

East Village, Manhattan

5.2/10

#96 NYC · AVERAGE

Brotherly Breakdown

Written by Brotherly Burgers

Brindle Room's Sebastian Burger is an alright burger with one horrendous component. The bun is a dry brioche that flakes into the back of your mouth while you are biting into it, and nothing else here is built to survive that.
Underneath it there is a decent burger. The patty's flavor was surprisingly good on its own, it was underseasoned enough to read bland, and the caramelized onions carried much of the flavor per bite. We were not blown away, and it is still worth a try if you are in the neighborhood.

Best for

Caramelized onion burgers, onion-forward flavor profiles, value, and East Village neighborhood dining.

The catch

The bun. A dry brioche that flakes apart into the back of your mouth mid-bite is the burger's defining failure, and it is the reason an otherwise alright burger does not land.

What it's actually like

Brindle Room is an East Village neighborhood restaurant and it is open, still serving the burger it is known for. The build is a custom blend patty with American cheese, caramelized onions, and pickles, with no sauce at all.

The bun is the headline and it is not close. A dry brioche that flaked into the back of the mouth while we were biting into it. That is a structural failure rather than a texture quibble, and it degrades every bite of whatever it is wrapped around.

What it is wrapped around is alright. The patty was underseasoned, possibly unseasoned, and its actual flavor was surprisingly decent underneath that, which makes the missing salt more frustrating rather than less. The beef had something to say and no salt to say it with.

With no sauce on the burger and only pickles alongside, the caramelized onions end up carrying much of the flavor per bite. They are good. They are also most of what is happening, and nothing in the build supplies acidity. It wanted something to cut through, possibly pepper.

Fix the bread and this is a genuinely pleasant neighborhood burger at fair value. As it stands it is a middling one, and still worth a try if you are in Alphabet City.

Strengths

Caramelized onions carry real flavor
Patty flavor surprisingly decent underneath the seasoning problem
Solid value

Weaknesses

Horrendous bun that flakes apart while eating
Patty underseasoned, reading bland
Burger relies on the onions for flavor
No acidity anywhere in the build

Why this score

The bun is what decides this one. A dry brioche that comes apart mid-bite undermines a burger no matter how good the filling is, and it is the first thing we would change.

What keeps it from sitting lower is that the burger underneath is genuinely alright. The beef is decent under its seasoning problem, the onions are good, and the value is fair.