For over a century, the hamburger has been a staple of almost every American’s diet. In an effort to find the best burger in the Durham area, we traveled to 6 different places to test their hamburgers. We went to sit down restaurants, fast food chains, and even a gas station. During our testing we took multiple factors into account. As soon as we walked into the restaurant, we were taking note of the service and price. After we got the burger, we evaluated how it looked, tasted, and the quality of the ingredients. All these factors were carefully considered and pieced together into a final rating out of ten. The best burger may be somewhat of a surprise, here’s what we came up with.
Check out @mor.magazine on TikTok for the review videos corresponding with each.
Last Place
Location: Circle K Food: Bacon Cheeseburger
Rating 2.2/10 Price: $6.44
To start off the rankings, we had extremely low expectations for this burger. It was a very basic burger that consisted of a traditional bun, 1 patty, cheese, and 1 piece of bacon. The first impression we got of this burger was that the bun was rock solid, almost taking the shape and texture of a hockey puck. This was something we did not see from any other burger, which really caught us off guard. The hockey puck tasted as if it was made 2 weeks ago out of dumpster scraps and then reheated upon our arrival. However, the one thing that was nice was how quickly we were able to get it. All we had to do was walk into Irving and grab it off the heated shelf. While this was easily the worst tasting and looking burger, it was still not the cheapest, coming to $5.99 and $6.44 with tax. This is the only burger we threw out after one bite and without a doubt the worst burger we tested by far. We will most definitely not be having it again.
Fifth Place
Location: Wendys Food: Dave’s Single
Rating: 3.6/10 Price: $6.39
The Wendys Dave’s Single was something both of us had previously only tried once or twice. For a solid price, you get a single patty with lettuce, onion, pickles, tomato, American cheese, ketchup, and mayo. For a burger with all those toppings, we both found it very interesting how small and depressing the burger appeared. This almost sad sense continued when we gave the burger a try. It was bland, and any flavor it did have was subpar. It sort of tasted like something I would expect astronauts to eat in space… and no Wendy, that is not a compliment. The patty was very dry, and even with the ketchup, mayo, and tomato (three VERY wet things) trying to bring some moisture to the burger, it wasn’t enough. The American cheese was maybe the worst cheese out of all these burgers. It was very rubbery and was wayyyy too strong for both of our likings. The lettuce was also a major letdown, even with the low expectations. Despite all this, we must give some credit to the service as this burger really put the “fast” in fast food. We hardly had the time to fill up our drinks when the food was ready.
Fourth Place
Location: McDonalds Food: Big Mac
Rating 4.2/10 Price: $6.50
This classic signature, widely known across America, was maybe not what it is hyped up to be. The burger has two patties, three buns, pickles, onions, special sauce, and lettuce. What was one of the more unique burgers of the bunch because of the third bun in the middle of the burger, however it did not impress us at all. The extra bun in the middle dried the burger up quite a bit and left a sandpaper sensation in our mouths. The cheese on this burger was very rubbery and did not look much like normal cheese in the slightest. With these other major issues, the biggest was the size of the patties. McDonald’s had the thinnest and weakest patties of the burgers as well which made the two patties seem like only one, yet the Big Mac was not the cheapest. The Big Mac had some of the fastest service as well as extremely convenient kiosks to order from. You would think one of America’s biggest burger chains would at least have a fighting chance as the top burger but we’re not so sure about that.
Third Place
Location: JP’s Grill Food: Cheeseburger with 3 toppings
Rating 6.8/10 Price: $14.10
Although they’re not necessarily known for their burgers, this was a popular suggestion from people, so it became hard for us to leave them out. For a hefty sum, JP’s Grill’s burger holds a single patty with American cheese, lettuce, onions, and tomato. Ketchup was supposed to be a part of that but unfortunately, it wasn’t put on either of ours. The cheeseburger as a whole was just slightly above average. The toppings were pretty good, which was crucial as the toppings kind of ran the show here and made up most of the overall taste. However, every few bites we got a nice char from the burger that both of us enjoyed. The bun was nothing special and the cheese was very average. Both of these sort of disappointed us because for over $14 we’d expect the essentials to have some quality. Overall, it tasted good but with the high prices and slightly disappointing patty, we couldn’t rank it any higher.
Second Place
Location: Hop and Grind Food: “Our Classic”
Rating 8.4/10 Price: $10.85
Hop and Grind is one of the more famous burger places in the town of Durham and they did not disappoint. We got the burger that they call “Our Classic” with a sesame seed bun, single patty, cheese, hop sauce (Hop and Grind’s signature sauce), pickles, and onion strings. This burger had the longest wait of about 20 minutes, but to be fair that is something to expect from a primarily sit-down restaurant. Their patty was thick and juicy making it some of the better-quality beef we had in our rankings. The cheese was also top tier and a huge step up from the flat out disgusting rubbery cheese we saw from other places. The only knock one would give this burger was how messy it was. There may have been a bit too many toppings. This burger was just a very good looking and good tasting burger all around and a very good option for a burger. I’d agree with the fame this burger has in Durham, no question.
First Place
Location: Five guys Food: Cheeseburger with 3 toppings
Rating: 8.5/10 Price: $10.68
This cheeseburger got off to a hot start as we opened up the wrapper to see the exciting surprise of two big patties. For the price of $10.68, we got those two patties, American cheese, lettuce, pickles, and ketchup. Despite this not having the most toppings, this ended up being the biggest burger we tried. This was a very pretty burger, which is somewhat unusual for fast-food restaurants like Five Guys. The best part was that the taste absolutely backed it up. The patties were juicy and very well cooked, with the pickles and lettuce doing a great job complementing the overall taste. The ketchup was strong but not overpowering enough to make the burger any worse. The bun was definitely a hit as it was buttery and nicely toasted. Our only complaint was the cheese as it was very rubbery, but luckily, the flavor and texture were mostly drowned out by the other toppings. For a fast-food place like this, $10.68 seems like a lot, but whoever the “Five Guys” were that made our burgers did a really good job in making it worth every dollar.
The boys will be back next issue trying something else… see you soon!
-Kai Nield and Kevin Kell
Mouth of the River 
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