Rave Burger Restaurant Review, San Mateo

Reviewer: Foodnut.com Rave Burger 144 East 3rd Ave (Near Ellsworth) San Mateo, CA 94401 650-342-6689 650-342-6685 (Fax)

Better burgers!

Rave Burger is a burger joint that opened October 2008 in downtown San Mateo. We were walking by and decided to give it a try to see how it rated. The provide sit down service in addition to to go food.  They serve hamburgers, vegan burgers, hot dogs, and salads and a lots more now.  We have been to Rave Burger several times over the years with our last visit in 2019.

Decor, Vibe – Rave Burger has modern clean decor with some nice cartoon wall art, crusty rock music. We ate during lunch and found most people giving the new place a try during their lunch break.

Rave Burger Menu Pictures (Click to zoom on any picture)

Menu

Rave Burger’s menu has beef,  chicken fish, and vegetarian burgers with lots of cheese, topping, and sauce options to personalize your burger. In 2019 we noticed a lot more things on their menu, aside from burgers.  Lots of beer and wine options. Try the Drake on tap.

Rave Burger Picks:

Western Burger with BBQ Sauce and Onion Rings ($9.89) and found it Good to Very Good.  Cooked to a requested medium rare and covered with good BBQ Sauce. They dish out free home fried potato chips now, which were a bit burned.

2am Burger ($11.90) with bacon and an egg.  Very messy with the egg dripping out! A great hearty burger for those needing lots of protein.

Cheeseburger ($11.80) with Black Angus Hamburger patty, Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Fries.  They did ask us how we wanted it cooked, which is a good sign. The medium rare burger was huge (1/2lb burger), and slightly juicy. Big thick sesame bun was almost too fluffy, making the patty look small. Cheese was fine. Fresh condiments, slightly above average meat taste. Definitely better than nearby Jeffery’s.

Cheese Sliders ($8.80) had two small but tall mini burgers that looked fun and proved to be tasty. You can mix and match sliders, so on another visit we also tried the Avocado Slider ($3.50) based on their recommendation.  A little zest and also a good choice.

Mango Salsa Atlantic Salmon ($15.80) was a very good non-burger entree.  Good size and nice layout.

Two Chicken Tenders ($4.95 kids) with fries had two nice sized deep fried wonders that should satisfy the kids.

Two Mini Cheeseburgers ($4.95 kids) with garlic fries were good looking sliders with lots of cheese.  Garlic fries had mild garlic and lots of cheese.

OK:

Pear Salad ($6.95) with honey glazed pears, caramelized walnuts, spinach, crumbled bleu cheese, cranberries, served with balsamic vinaigrette dressing is there for non meat eaters.  It was fine but not special.

Pans:
None

Their business at Lunch was pretty busy, a good sign for Rave Burger. Service for refills and ordering was friendly but slow when the place is filled. This place serves a very decent burger and a lot more. Jack’s Prime and Jeffery’s are a nearby rivals offering slightly lower quality. Godfather’s in Belmont is slightly ahead of Rave.

Rave Burger serves up solid food if you are nearby. This is better than the usual fast food joints, but not as good as top places like Burger Bar, Pearls. Kid’s menu available.

Restaurant Map: