Burger review: Zippy’s giant burger is, quietly, a tasty burger

I’m on a mission to find the best burger in the city of Seattle. I travel to various burger joints within city limits and rate the establishment’s most popular burger on a scale of 1-10. Of all the measures I use, taste is most important.

Between the Jason Rantz Show text-line, comment sections on MyNorthwest, and the tweets I receive, Zippy’s Giant Burgers is one of the most recommended joints. So I decided that I had to go there. The decor didn’t disappoint: It has this retro, diner-like feel. There are arcade machines and those red, bolt-down barstools that were a classic fixture of the mid-1900’s scene (so I’m told). My guess is if you grew up in the ’60s and ’70s, you’ll really love the atmosphere.

I ordered the “Zip Burger with cheese and bacon.” My first impression was the burger is much smaller than advertised. Giant? The meat is relatively thick, but if you used the term, “giant” I better be asking for a box. Expect to receive a burger that’s average-size, and fits in your hand. If you recommend this place to someone, just call it “Zippy’s.”

A Zip Burger with cheese and bacon. (Tom Amato, KTTH)

All-in-all, this is your classic, American-made burger. It’s charbroiled, hand-ground beef that’s crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. It’s cooked to medium-well and comes with tomato, pickles, red onions, lettuce and Zippy’s sauce; add in the bacon and cheese and it’s everything you would reasonably expect on a burger. It all comes on a cornmeal dusted, Kaiser bun that won’t add anything to the meal.

The cheese comes American, but apparently you can ask for a different kind. I didn’t know that — the woman at the register didn’t address it. I would have asked for Pepper Jack. Upon closer examination, it does say that on the corner of the menu. Whoops.

The vegetables were fresh, crisp and the onions add some crunch. It’s probably a good idea to add bacon, but there would still be plenty of flavor without it. I didn’t touch the fries throughout the course of consumption for two reasons: The burger was too good to put down and the fries were sub-par. It should fill up an average-size person.

This is quietly a tasty burger. With all the ingredients and vegetables, there’s a lot going on in terms of flavor. It doesn’t take much risk, there’s other options on the menu for that, but the Zip burger with cheese and bacon does the little things well.

Have you ever filled out a form where you answer questions based on a 1-5 scale? Maybe it was a work survey based on how problems are handled in the workplace with “1” being bad and “5” being great? If we translated that to this burger, the meat, every individual vegetable and the sauce would receive a “4.”

A plain Zip burger’ is $6.50. A Zip burger with cheese and bacon is $8, so you’re definitely getting your money’s worth.

Burger rankings

Biggest strength(s): Crispy beef, vegetables, American

Biggest weakness(s): Bun, verbiage

I’ll give the Zip Burger with bacon and cheese from Zippy’s Giant Burgers an 8/10.

What do you think of their burger? Where should I go next? Tweet me @NewProducerTom on Twitter.

Past reviews: 8 OZ. Burger (7.5/10), Little Big Burger (8/10), Uneeda Burger (5/10), Li’l Woody’s (7/10), CaliBurger (6/10), ShakeShack (8/10), Red Robin (7/10), BurgerMaster (4/10), Sam’s Tavern (7.5/10), Great State Burger (6.5/10)