The Bun: 13/20
Having seen the 7Bone social media for research a good few times before deciding to review them the Bun was actually the one thing that I was not impressed with on an image basis. In actual fact, the Bun was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I should have probably asked what type of bun it was, but I came to the conclusion that it was some sort of brioche. It was light, fluffy and soaked the ingredients pretty well. As, in all of our reviews, the bun can make a huge difference if it is a bad one, I can definitely say it did not hamper the performance of the other components of the burger but complimented pretty well.
The Toppings: 7/10
Smoked Brisket, Wiener and Tobacco Crispy Onions! A star studded line up that didn’t perform as well as expected. Starting with the Wiener. This was the downfall, it tasted cheap and undercooked. The rubbery texture was less than appetising and interrupted an otherwise quite pleasing bite each time, after a few bites I decided to remove them from the Burger and try them alone. Alone, they were terrible, but in the Burger, probably a little worse. The Smoked Brisket I think was okay. Speculating on the Briskets authenticity I can say with pretty much 99% conviction it was not smoked “in house” and probably reheated. If it was, they have a good supplier at 7Bone because it wasn’t too bad. Having played with the smoker at home for 15 hours I know the complexity cooking a brisket and also the flavour. The brisket at 7Bone wasn’t bad, but if you know brisket then you know brisket cooked well would be the star of any show, it was no star lets put it that way. The onions were pretty good, well cooked and nicely crispy. The onions added a nice texture to this Burger and definitely something that helped with the overall bite, maybe not so much in terms of taste but definitely in terms of texture balance.
The Condiments: 7/10
The Coca Cola BBQ Sauce and American Mustard were both equally impressive. The mustard tasted great. I seem to gravitate heavily toward “Frenches” American Mustard, in terms of brand and although I cannot be certain that 7Bone use Frenches mustard, I can say that it tasted very similar and this was pleasing. The BBQ sauce was definitely a little disappointing. I expected something a little stronger that would counterbalance the subtle sharpness of the mustard but the flavour was pretty non existent. I did taste a smooth BBQ sauce every now and then but the ratio of mustard to BBQ sauce was wrong, in my opinion leaving the mustard to take centre stage.
The Cheese: 15/20
I really liked the American Cheese. It was strong and loaded on the patty as you can see from the image above. A good few slices went on this patty and the standard of cheese was pretty high in my opinion, it tasted great with a stronger flavour than I have had with most American cheeses. Another thing to note was the texture that it added, there is something quite satisfying about having a good melted cheese clinging to the bun when eating a burger and this is definitely one thing that 7Bone have got right in construction.
The Patty: 10/20
The Beef was probably, along with the wiener, one of the more disappointing components of this burger. It was an average-tasting beef with no real signature or quality. The patty wasn’t cooked too badly, I asked for pink, which I got but the coarse grind of cheap meat didn’t offer much in the way of juiciness or flavour. When squeezing the burger I always look for a nice omission of juice and this patty did not give me that, unfortunately. The Beef was lacking in flavour, and definitely under-seasoned. Under seasoning of poor quality meat is always an issue in terms of taste, but the “beefiness” was saved a little bit by a half-decent brisket so there was quite a bit of confusion and consideration taken with each bite. With some of the burgers we have tried, with exceptional patty cooks, this one just didn’t stack up. You should check out our Hit List to see who does!
The Taste: 14/20
Taking all components into serious consideration I have to commend 7Bone on a decent-tasting burger. Taking the wiener out of the equation was definitely a positive but I felt it unfair to score them down too much for what was just a bad admission of topping and would probably suit a younger, more adventurous pallet. The balance was pretty good but with so much going on, so many stars in their own right the Walmart Lucky Dip Burger must be like juggling plates to find balance.
Our Verdict: 66/100
7Bone has got a nice place in Camberley and definitely looks like a Burger Joint and, I can imagine, is a lot of fun going out for a big meal before a night out or to close a week of work. I am not sure that the Walmart Meat Lucky Dip Burger is something that would be my choice again but with a range of serious-looking burgers, it is definitely somewhere I would go again. They have an unpredictable specials menu that keeps cropping up on social media and surely they will have a hit with one of them which will be added to the menu for a longer-term. The standard of meat was an issue but the excitement of the menu was a positive that leaves you wanting to try things. They remind me of the old Newcastle forward ‘Tino Asprilla, unpredictable, exciting, and full of weird identity. Watch this space 7Bone, no doubt we will meet again and next time I will be trying something a little more refined from you guys.
