Burger Photo Gallery (click pictures to enlarge)

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

THE JOINT

The Habit Burger Grill is a fast food chain with locations across California and Arizona.  The first location opened in 1969 in Santa Barbara, CA and over the years they have expanded with franchises in Northern, Central as well as their many Southern California locations.

I remember when Habit Burger first came to town, it was packed almost every day.  I got their “to go” menu and I used to call in my order almost every week for another fix of their charbroiled cheeseburgers.  I hadn’t had Habit Burger for well over a year, so I made a special trip with my youngest daughter for a quick lunch.

THE BURGER

When I go, I usually order the Double BBQ Bacon Charburger with Cheese. It sounds like a mouthful and many times I’ve almost forgotten to say “with cheese” at the end. Thankfully they usually remind you when they are taking the order “would you like that with cheese”.

Their 100% fresh ground beef burgers get their fantastic flavor from being chargrilled over an open flame. I love the sweetness of their BBQ sauce combined with the similarly sweet flavor of the caramelized onions.  Although, like most fast food restaurants, the burgers are usually cooked well done, they are able to keep some of their moisture throughout the grilling process.   What it lacks in medium rare juiciness it makes up for in a flavor that is familiar to those backyard burgers you love grilling in the summertime. Their bacon is always perfectly cooked and the shredded lettuce is a nice change over the usual slabs of lettuce you get on most burgers.

Their fries aren’t wow-worthy, but they are a decent side.  Their milkshakes, however, are magnificent! I usually order a mocha shake with my meal and it’s evident that they are using real ice cream to make their hand blended milkshakes extra creamy. Dipping the salty french fries in the shakes helps to boost the fries worth (don’t judge…try a dipping your fries in your milkshake or ice cream…it’s surprisingly good!)

THE VERDICT

Every now and then I get a hankering for a Habit Burger. Their version of the charbroiled burger tastes distinctively different than the flamebroiled burgers from Burger King.  When they were the only good burger joint in town, I found myself there at least once a week, but  now that there’s a bit more competition and only a few burgerdays in a month, I end up there less often (usually when I have my windows down when I drive by and smell the charbroiled goodness coming from their restaurant as I drive by).

Tags: bacon, bbq, featured, national hamburger month, sacburgermonth