The Experience: Look, I need to be honest here; I had a pretty rotten evening before eating the burger at Action Burger. After a great weekend in Atlantic City and Brigantine Beach, I took a Greyhound Bus back to New York. Those words alone should be enough information to give you a picture of how lousy my travel situation was, but I’ll add a couple of details. The bus driver knew our bus was on the verge of breakdown, but rather than radio for a new bus, he drove us 35 miles per hour the entire way, doubling the trip time, and then broke down in the middle of the Lincoln Tunnel completely. Hungry, spinning from the heat and fumes on the bus, and yearning for just a little reprieve from travel-stress, I looked to the North Brooklyn Burger Scene for refuge. Late at night on a Sunday, I found Action Burger.
Action Burger claims to be a restaurant for nerds, by nerds. I guess my idea of a nerd is different from those behind Action Burger. I think of nerds as being capable and creative. One look at their website shows that Action Burger isn’t capable of being user-friendly. The menu is hard to read and confusing. Rather than read through their endless descriptions of cryptically explained burgers, I ordered an Action Burger and made custom additions.
Burger Ordered: The Action Burger
The Taste: The standard Action Burger is a six-ounce patty with over 12 different seasonings, on a brioche bun. I added red onion, pickles, bacon, spicy guac, pepper jack cheese, spicy mayo, and a side of fries. There were a couple of superhero-related attributes to this burger. For one thing, the guacamole did look like it was radioactive. For another, a burger ordered rare had the uncanny ability to shape shift into a burger served medium well. I did enjoy the brioche bun, and appreciated what they were going for with the heavily seasoned patty. The fries were pretty bland, and the fact that they came in a huge portion didn’t do anything to change that.
The Verdict: This place is a bit of a mess. Even as a comic book geek myself, I didn’t feel any kind of kinship with it. As with most concept restaurants, its more kitsch than content. The burger is serviceable, but not good enough compared to others in the neighborhood to warrant a visit that isn’t curiosity-inspired.
Action Burger is located at 292 Graham Avenue in Brooklyn, New York.
