Jack’s Prime Burgers Restaurant Review, San Mateo

Reviewer: Foodnut.com Jack's Prime Burgers 3723 S El Camino Real (At 37th Ave) San Mateo, CA 94403 650-638-1479 650-638-1011 (Fax) Jack's Prime Burgers Website

 

Jack’s Prime Burgers is a burger place in San Mateo that opened in 2008 on El Camino Real just south of Hillsdale mall. They serve burgers, salads, and have a fair amount of beer and wine selections.  They serve Meyer Ranch Beef patties and Diesel Ranch free range turkey patties. All beef is humane certified raised and handled.  They have to go, patio dining, and sit down dining. Our last visit was in the middle of 2012.

Decor, Vibe – Jack’s Prime had modern clean diner-like decor. Counter seats, booth seating, and a large communal table. Album rock. Packed during lunch, with lots of families and couples of all ages. We waited about 15-20 minutes for our food, a little less on another visit.

Jack’s Prime Menu

Jack’s Prime Menu

Jack’s Prime has a monthly special menu with a couple new items.

Website Jack’s Prime Burgers Menu

Jack’s Prime Picks:

Jack’s Prime Classic Cheeseburger ($9.50) with 1/3 lb patty, Cheddar cheese, Seasoned with sea salt & black pepper, iceberg lettuce, kosher dill pickle, red onions, tomatoes and Prime Burger Sauce was a cooked to our medium rare request. The burger comes with shoestring fries or a side salad. Substitute sweet potato fries or onion rings for an additional $1.50. Both fry options are very good and worthwhile, especially the sweet potato fries. Juicy, good condiments, but the soft bun seemed soft and soaked up juices. The tall upper bun made the patty look tiny. This burger is decent but not exceptional.

Ultimate Bacon Burger ($11.75) added bacon to the mix and was again solid but not the best around.

Black bean veggie Burger ($9.95) House made black bean and cilantro patty, with jack cheese, roasted bell pepper mayo, tomatoes, sweet corn/bell pepper relish and mixed greens served on whole wheat bun or low carb lettuce wrap was a good not dry, nicely flavored burger and not a meat pretender.

Kids Best Hot Dog with fries ($4.99) was a nice inexpensive combination. Hot dog was real red inside, but tasted fine. Fries are freshly cut and fried just right. The Onion rings are juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside.

Jack’s Prime Sweet Potato Fries ($3.50) were deep fried yams dusted in some sweet seasoning and served with Tiger Ranch. Very nice yam fries and worth ordering.

Mint Chocolate Chip Shake ($4.95) was tall and excellent. Clover Stornetta milk, Premium Double rainbow ice cream made this very smooth.

OK:
None

Pans:
None

Jack’s Prime’s service was average, refills were made, but in the end they did overcharge us on one visit. This restaurant was busy and has decent food at a reasonable price. We would put Jack’s Prime burger ahead of nearby Jeffrey’s Burgers in San Mateo, but not in the same league as hot spots in San Francisco like Pearls deluxe burgers. Nearby, Godfathers Burger lounge in Belmont, has a swanky atmosphere and slightly better food.

They also have a kids menu. Jack’s Prime Burgers has evening specials Tuesday and Thursday starting at 5:30.

If we needed a burger fix and were in the area, we would not hesitate to go to Jack’s Prime.

Restaurant Map: