A couple weeks ago, I received an email from someone handling marketing for Z Burger, a local chain restaurant in the DC metro area. They were offering free burgers to bloggers in an effort to build awareness for their new store in the Tenleytown area of Northwest DC. Not one to shy away from a free meal in exchange for a few words here on this blog, I arranged to meet a friend at Z Burger for lunch since I was in DC on business anyway.
We arrived at about 12:30 pm and the place was a madhouse – apparently this is a very popular lunch spot for American University students and people who work nearby. Once we reached the front of the line, I indicated that I was there for my free blogger meal. We ordered a couple bacon cheeseburgers, some fries and a milkshake and then went off to find a place to sit.
One of Z Burger’s main competitors in the DC market is Five Guys, another popular DC-based burger chain. I’ve written here on Bacon Unwrapped on several occasions about my love affair with Five Guys, particularly the outlet located at Reagan National Airport near the gate I’m often flying in and out of. So the bar was set pretty high for my Z Burger experience.
I do have to say (and not just because I whored myself out for a free meal) that our Z Burgers were quite delicious and can claim to be on par with Five Guys. Z Burger uses premium beef that has never been frozen. Like Five Guys, they use fresh Idaho potatoes for their fries, which for an Idaho native like me is always a plus! Everything definitely tasted fresh, and to say the servings were generous would be a gross understatement.
But the meal didn’t stop there. Apparently no other bloggers had taken them up on their offer that day, so once the lunch crowd cleared out, all attention was focused on our table. Multiple members of the staff – including the branch manager – stopped by to say hi and shower us with additional Z Burger menu items. We were delivered two more shakes, a cheesesteak, and a bacon dog. I was already stuffed from my meal, so we ultimately took those items to go. But we probably scored about $40 worth of food during our visit which is saying a lot given that the average price for an item on their menu is less than $5!
Being a bacon blogger, obviously the bacon aspects of the menu are most important to me. And on that front Z Burger has lot to offer. Your bacon options include a bacon burger, bacon cheeseburger, bacon hot dog, bacon cheese dog, and – something I’ve never encountered before – a Philly cheesesteak with bacon on it. Needless to say, Z Burger has a lot to offer when it comes to bacon!
So in summary – and I’m really not just saying this because they loaded me up with a bunch of free stuff – Z Burger is really good. They’ve got two locations in the DC area – Glover Park and Tenleytown – and from what I understand, they are planning to expand soon. So if you live in DC or find yourself in the area, check them out.
Their main website appears to be in development, so in the meantime you can learn more on the Z Burger MySpace page.