Umami Burger is a small chain of restaurants that began in 2009 in L.A. and has been touted as a regional chain to watch.  It is rapidly expanding throughout California and the rest of the U.S., so we checked out the new Irvine location with some amazing dishes!  Check out the Irvine-exclusive dish and an off-the-menu item that was totally delish!

It shares a space with the Irvine Improv, and you can even watch a show and order almost everything off the Umami Burger menu.  That’s so awesome!

A peek at the menu, plus the exclusive dish.  Mmm!

Now, to the food!

 

I had the Oh, Henry on the left, which was perfect for a warm summer evening.  The one on the right was definitely strong, but just what my dinner partner wanted!

By the way, the bar had these amazing beer bottle lanterns above.  Fun!

 

 

 

Wow.  I was a bit wary about ordering tuna from a burger place, but this was great!  We scooped up every last bit even though we knew we had burgers to eat!

 

So, this is the exclusive burger to the Irvine Location, and it is so so so good!  Honestly, if you already have your own local Umami Burger, you definitely have to come to this location just to try this burger.  Soooo worth a trip!

Somehow the chicken is perfectly crunchy even with the glaze.  It is light and somehow not greasy, like fried chicken is usually cooked.  Also, the glaze itself is ridiculously good and not overpowering to the chicken.  Just too good to miss.

 

 

Hello, off-the-menu item!  Cheesy tots are like tater tots, but for adults and cheese-lovers.  Oh, and you probably can’t tell, but they’re pretty huge compared to a regular tot, so that’s even more fun.  🙂

The hardest decision you’ll have to make is not whether you should order them, but which sauce to try them with…

 

 

 

Sometimes I’m hard on restaurants that rely too much on truffles to sell a dish, but omgthiswasamazing.  Translation: this is a totally addicting burger.  You will be thinking about it for the next few days during dinner, lunch, before you go to bed, and about a hundred other times.

 

I love a roasted chile, and this was definitely awesome, but not as life-changing as the other two burgers.  But believe me, this is still waaay better than your typical burger.

 

By the time dessert rolled around, I figured that we could try something small.  We customized our own ice cream sandwich, and then this huge plate was plopped in front of us!  But then it was so good, that we devoured it anyways.  🙂  Yum!

So this location of Umami Burger is my new favorite!  I have been to a few, and maybe it’s just the atmosphere of the open patio, the fire pit, or the fried chicken sandwich luring me back, but I will definitely have this on my list next time!

Umami Burger
31 Fortune Dr., Suite 216
Irvine, CA 92618
949-396-1830
http://www.umami.com/umami-burger/eats/umami-irvine/