Barney's (Gourmet Burgers)

This is my review of Barney's a hamburger chain in Berkeley.

Website
Yelp

Atmosphere
This place is a great place to hang out with friends. It feels more like a cafe than a restaurant. This place is clean and has the vibrant atmosphere. My only complaint is the the ugly blue booth area of this restaurant. Not only the booth look ugly... they are extremely uncomfortable. It seems like it was designed for people who have 1 cm thigh region and the material of the booth sticks to your clothes/skin. It is counter-intuitive since the booth is supposed to be the most comfortable area.

Service
Service was alright. Nothing worth noting here. But sometimes its not that easy to get a hold of the servers.

Food
This place makes good burgers and gives you large portions. Its one of those places where you can actually request a certain temperature for your burgers and they will actually cook it. The fries are crispy and tasty. They have a diverse selection of burgers  to suit most people's taste and they are big and juicy. The presentation was simple the way it should be for a burger.

Price
Price Range: $8-20 per person
I say the price isn't bad. I cannot say that this place is better than In-n-out burgers ($2) since they are kind of at the different level. If i just compare the burgers i would say Barney's wins, although In-n-out burgers are still awesome. But whether i feel the extra $6-7 on the burgers is reasonable is questionable. I say it is just a tiny bit over priced for what you get. But over all i wouldn't feel cheated for paying what i paid.

James' Score
Atmosphere: 7/10 (vibrant environment with crappy booth)
Service: 5/10 (Ok)
Taste of Food: 7/10 (good burger)
Presentation of Food: 5/10 (simple and not pretentious)
Price 6/10 (Maybe a little bit expensive but acceptable)

Overall 6/10

Final Comment
This is a nice place to enjoy a juicy burger and hang out with friends. Well... if you don't have friends like me... you can go alone too.. and pretend like you are studying something.... which is what i did...

Will I come back? Yes

Sign!

Skinny Fries
These are fried perfectly (although i don't think that is hard to do). Crunchy and tasty is all i can say.

Root Beer!

North Beach Burger
This burger has marinated artichokes and sauteed mushrooms with cheddar cheese. It is a very earthy and filling burger with a nice soft and resistant texture of the mushroom and the artichokes. Although it feels a little less than a burger and feels more like a dish of hamburger steak with sauteed vegetables and bread. I still liked this burger a lot.