Yard House's burger in Hallandale was a pleasant surprise

Heading to Yard House at the posh Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach I wasn’t planning to do a review—in fact I wasn’t even planning to eat a burger.

The place looks like a high-end mix between a pub, a bar and a restaurant; it includes elements of all three: a huge selection of beers, deep leather booths, dark wood tables, outside seating and a massive open kitchen.

The menu cover the entire realm of American cuisine, from pizza and sandwiches to anything seafood.

As far as the burger offerings go, they got my attention. Most burgers go for about $11. Here’s the burger menu:

Avocado Swiss: lettuce, tomato, red onion and roasted garlic aioli.
Classic Cheese: lettuce, tomato, red onion, roasted garlic aïoli and choice of cheese.
BBQ Bacon Cheddar: applewood smoked bacon, rum bbq sauce and roasted garlic aioli.
Hawaiian: fresh chopped pineapple, pepper jack, aloha sauce and roasted garlic aioli.
Pepper Jack: roasted green chiles, roasted garlic aïoli and pepper jack.
Turkey Burger: house made, roasted roma tomatoes, mozzarella and roasted garlic aioli.
Pepper Crusted Gorgonzola: marsala sautéed crimini mushrooms, caramelized onions and baby spinach.
Béarnaise: classic béarnaise sauce and fried onions.
Surf & Turf: maine lobster sautéed in garlic butter, grilled asparagus, Swiss cheese and tomato béarnaise.

I had the Pepper Crusted Gorgonzola burger

Let’s start with the meat. The patty looked to be eight or nine ounces even though the menu didn’t specify. Flavor wise it was great: really smoky, juicy but not rare and good chunky grounding.

Everything else was not extremely tasty but served to add layers of flavor.

If the menu didn’t say the cheese was gorgonzola I would have thought it was brie; it was very creamy and rich. The crimini mushrooms tasted more like a roasted green pepper and the caramelized onions I could not taste at all.

The potato bun did not stand out but was in tune with the rest of the burger.

Overall the burger was very good and beats out burgers I’ve tried at some of the so-called gourmet burger joints. The patty was the main character in this act and that’s very important. The other ingredients were a fitting supporting cast.

Here's what other people are saying about Yard House:

Urbanspoon:

Frank B. - Fun place in the Gables to hang out, drink beer and eat. Their Bernaise Burger is the bomb.

Zagat:

David D. - Great location, often crowded and noisy indoors but worth the wait. Extensive menu with something for everyone. Good burgers, sandwiches, and main dishes as well. Try the vodka spiked Brazilian Lemonade for a refreshing drink.

Yelp!:

Patricia K. - This place is NOT GOOD. Its a nice place to go watch a game, but the food here is embarrassing- specially the salads and burgers, which are usually the only eatable things at bars. The service is lacking, and I recommend you don't bother with the truffle fries!! (worst truffle fries ever) TVs, onion rings, and beer are the only things that I would go to Yard House for.

Megan W. - My bf and I split the lunch sized Mac and Cheese and the Bernaise Burger. The food was very good and reasonably priced.

Sergio F. - My BBQ burger was actually well done as requested while retaining some juicyness. The included BBQ sauce was thinner than most other places but at the same time sweeter and spicier than Ive had lately. Big WIN on the sauce!