It was a beautiful winter day in Arizona when we walked up to the door of Stax Burger Bistro in Scottsdale. In other words it was sunny and quite warm with a slight breeze. Since it was such a nice day, we opted to sit on the semi enclosed patio. The small interior of Stax was very modern looking and is more conducive to a meal with a couple friends or your significant other than a group dining spot. We had been told that this establishment had great burgers so we were here to judge for ourselves.
Stax takes a different approach to burgers in several ways. One is that, to them, a “burger” doesn’t have to be beef. They have quite an impressive variety of different meats for one to choose from, such as, buffalo, turkey, fish, and their “Seasonal” selection which at the time of our visit was antelope. Of course we are looking for the most traditional burger experience so we went for the beef patty.
Another difference here at Stax is that their burgers are quite small. Our server clued us in on their burger philosophy by saying that a Stax burger is “our version of a slider; about a 3 inch burger on a fresh bun.” He also informed us that “most people order two.” I have to say that most of us were a bit dismayed at this revelation, but decided to forge onward with the quest of taste-testing these burgers.
Since Stax doesn’t have a particular menu item that is the pure essence of a traditional cheeseburger, we had to improvise and with the help of our kind server, we soon had our orders in. We settled on a beef patty with cheese, lettuce, barbecue sauce and onions (in the form of one large onion ring). After a relatively long wait (considering how little there was to cook) we were presented with our burgers which were very tastefully served on rectangular, white, glass tableware.
The burgers were indeed small, but were quite tasty. We had all opted for appetizers (see Side Notes below) which turned out to be a good choice because it’s doubtful if any of us would have been able to satisfy our hunger on these small sandwiches. The meat was cooked well and while it wasn’t extremely juicy, it wasn’t dry either. The cheese was of good quality and was nicely melted on the patty. The condiments and produce were also high quality and very fresh. The bun was a small roll that was sliced in half and the top half was skewered in place with a wooden stick.
Despite the small size of the Stax burger we all felt that it was huge on taste and our overall feeling was quite favorable toward this “dwarf burger”. We would have to agree with the server; you really might want to order two in order to satisfy your hunger. While it was not the best burger we had ever encountered it certainly is a quite good one and we’d recommend that you try it for yourself soon.
Final Score: 7.63
"Side" Notes
A couple members ordered the tater tots and a couple ordered the onion rings. Both were fried perfectly and were not overly greasy; each appetizer had the perfect crispness and crunch that one would expect from a well prepared deep fried foodstuff. Two members also sampled the Stax rendition of macaroni and cheese, called Mac & Jack, with quite positive results. Stax also boasts a variety of salads, soups, and dips so be sure to check those out as well.
Note: We did not sample a signature burger at this establishment.
MAP
