The Burger Menu Red Flag You Should Watch Out For

Classic all-American cheeseburgers are awesome and can be a great vehicle for experimentation. They will taste great with homemade pickle butter, or you can even top your burger with tater tots for a crispy, salty snack effect. As much as we love playing with flavors, some restaurants get a little overzealous with burger toppings and have too many options on the menu.

While this seems ideal on paper, a crowded menu can be an indicator of a lack of quality control. That's why we sat with Marissa Stevens, founder and recipe developer of Pinch and Swirl, to chat with us about why she thinks a big menu can lead to big problems.

The first thing that Stevens mentions is how, sometimes, when there is a lot of everything, the restaurant is less likely to ensure high-quality standards. "A burger menu that reads like a short novel usually signals that nothing's getting enough attention." She told Food Republic, "I'd rather see three standout burgers made with intention than ten versions that feel like filler."

According to Marissa Stevens, one of the biggest struggles is how a big menu often leads to old food. She said that a large number of options "often means ingredients are prepped ahead and used across too many dishes, which can affect freshness." So, if the restaurant has a ton of custom toppings and specialized burgers, there is a slight chance that the guacamole you add could come out brown.

Stevens explained that despite the restaurant's best efforts, there is only so much they can control. "The more sprawling the menu, the harder it is to keep every component truly fresh." She goes on to explain that the reason for this is because "things are being batch-prepped and held longer than ideal." If there are 20 burgers on a menu, and diners at any given moment order 15 of those, there won't be enough time to give each the consideration it needs for a well-done product. Toppings will be batch-prepped, so the line cooks can just grab and go.

The downsides of batch prepping can have unsavory consequences for the diner. When a restaurant prioritizes endless topping choices over quality, Stevens said the food suffers. "For burgers, that could mean wilted lettuce, dry buns, or patties that were cooked in advance and reheated — not exactly the kind of detail that gets remembered (at least not in a good way)."

So, while a large menu with tons of choices may sound good, it often leads to a lower-quality meal. Instead, look for menus that are curated, with a small number of unique offerings. This way, you get something fun as well as tasty.