Blackburn + Sweetzer Has Moved

Umami Burger and Malt Liquor Tempura Onion Rings

Since Umami Burger has already been written about extensively, I won’t worry too much about writing about our experience before we even got to our table.

The husband and I finally find parking (a bit of a challenge on a Saturday night, but not horrific) and walk into Umami, which is filled but for one table for two and at least two parties waiting outside. We immediately get seated, only to have one of the parties outside come in and complain. We’re told by the person who sat us that he didn’t realize there was a waiting list, which is odd because it becomes clear that there’s been a waiting list for quite some time.

We continue to wait outside the wall of glass which separates eaters from non-eaters. The numbers of non-eaters grows—a dozen, probably as many as 20 people waiting outside. OK, it’s busy right? The problem is we can see right inside that three tables (one a four-seater, one a six-seater and a table for two) are open, but have not been cleared.

This goes on for possibly 20 minutes, while we can also see the servers chatting up the eaters and moving like molasses inside. When they finally do get to clearing a table, we witness them picking up two things and taking them to the back. Absolutely zero urgency. It was painful and everyone was getting antsy and competitive, not because the non-eaters were doing anything wrong, but because the seating system just seemed to be in shambles.

To the food!

A quartet of non-eaters, who had arrived before us had been waiting for 45 minutes, and probably logged in an hour total. Meanwhile, multiple people on their way out tell us it’s worth the wait. A guy who’d come for lunch that day was back again with his wife who gave us an ode to the truffle burger which she’s had one quarter of.

We finally get seated and the servers are extra solicitous, we think because they know they’re doing such a shitty job seating people, and, honestly, we don’t want to hear it at that point. Don’t try and kill me with kindness, just get someone who knows what the f*ck they’re doing in some sort of host/hostess capacity.

But to the food. Look, it was delicious. I got the Umami Burger—extremely tender with mushrooms, roasted tomatoes and (surprisingly) non-melted cheese with a bit of bite to it, on a soft I’d-eat-it-plain bun. The husband got the Triple Pork Burger, a blend of ground pork with shots of chorizo, smoked bacon, and topped with melty cheese. This also was delicious—very porky for lack of a better word—but not quite as good as the Umami in my opinion. We both got the Malt Liquor Tempura Onion Rings, which was a mistake, as they were really kind of bland. Also, the Umami Ketchup didn’t grab us.

This is the thing, there’s no denying the merits of Umami—I mean, now there’s a scallop burger? mmm—but with Golden State within walking distance and the ability to serve beer and wine (Umami still doesn’t have its liquor license, but there’s no corkage fee), I can’t see going through the hassle of waiting on Umami when the burger urge hits.

That being said, here’s to hoping there will be a sharp learning curve, because that scallop burger really does sound amazing…