Eat San Francisco: Pearl’s Deluxe Burgers

People absolutely love Pearl’s, which has me totally perplexed. We frequently walk by to find frozen burger patty boxes out front on the sidewalk. There really is no excuse for a “deluxe burger” place in San Francisco, one that’s trying to be legit, to serve frozen burger patties. It’s incredibly lame, and you can taste it. I do end up grabbing one every now and then, more for convenience sake than anything. They get the job done alright…they don’t offend me to my core or anything, but there are FAR superior options out there.

What Pearl’s does do well is malts. They must have about fifteen different varieties, and they are delicious as all get out. We’ll get to that in a bit.

Another plus, the menu has a decent amount of variety. On the burger side, they range from specialty burgers with a bunch of different toppings, to kobe, bison, turkey, and veggie. You can, of course, make your own concoction, and they do also make hot dogs and chili, so chili cheese dogs are an option as are chili cheese fries. Thumbs up to that.

The fried menu includes onion rings, fries, sweet potato fries, combo baskets of those, garlic, and chili cheese.

After a long day at the ballpark last week, we needed something fast and fattening to take home, so we stopped in to Pearl’s

The real draw for us, the reason we stop in time and again, is the malts. They’ve got strawberry-banana, chocolate-banana, peanut butter-choc, black forest, pina colada, mint-chocolate, mint-oreo, mud pie, mandarin, blueberry, wild cherry, fresh banana, mocha, peach, nutella, oreo. Dude. Right?

I realize that a malt is a malt. But, you are hard pressed to find one in Union Square, let alone the city. To have access to malts, lots of different malts, right next door to our apartment, is a total God send. One that we do not ignore. This time around we went mint chocolate oreo, and it was delightful as always.

I love that big old malt straw, so you can get all the chunky bits up with ease.

We also ordered two classic cheeseburgers with American cheese (best for melting), and fries. The burgers come on a heavily seeded, very lightly toasted, dry bun. It’s a bit on the bready side but all of those seeds add some great flavor and texture. Lettuce is green, leafy romaine. It’s fresh and still has firmness, and again, it adds flavor to the overall product, so to me, it works. All burgers also come with tomato, onion, and mayo. I LOVE mayo on burgers. I don’t understand omitting it. The meat cries out for that fatty, tangy, creamy addition. At Pearl’s, the addition of ketchup and mustard is up to you, and by your own hand, but mayo, that is a constant.

I ordered mine medium rare and was pleased to find some pink looking out at me when I bit into it. I think you can tell by this photo, they don’t make a particularly juicy burger. There isn’t any meat juice anywhere. Not on the bun, not on my face. It just didn’t happen. But that’s how it goes with frozen patties. They don’t really season their meat either, or if they do, it’s not detectable. Huge bummer, that.

I am happy to eat a bag of Pearl’s fries, but in keeping with the burgers, they aren’t house-made or hand cut, they are just those frozen, battered, pub fries. I could do that at home, guys. But, I don’t. So I get them at Pearl’s sometimes.

Bottom line, Pearl’s is convenient for the residents and hostels/hotel guests in this neighborhood. It’s cheap, and it’s fast, but if your goal is a great burger, skip it go somewhere legit.

Pearl’s Deluxe Burgers
708 Post St, San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 409-6120
CASH ONLY

M-Thu 7:00AM-10:00PM
Fri 7:00AM-12:00AM
Sat 8:00AM-12:00AM
Sun 8:00AM-9:00PM