Monarch Burger at The American in Vancouver

Monarch Burger is a completely made from scratch burger restaurant. They are currently operating out of the American on Main St. close to Torafuku, Pizza Farina, and Campagnolo. I tagged along with a friend for their opening night to try these burgers. I am a huge fan of the Dirty Burger at Campagnolo Upstairs, which was originally create by Robert Belcham. When I heard Robert was starting up Monarch Burger, I had to see if the burgers held up to it’s name. They have a happy hour special where you can get a beer and burger for only $12 during 5 – 7pm.

Interior

The space is huge and there are 150 seats in The American. There’s a live DJ, pool tables, foosball, skeeball, and other arcade games. This is the ultimate place to hang out with your friends over some drinks…and now some burgers too.

The mid part of the restaurant has long tables to fit a lot of people. One one side of the restaurant, there is booth seating if you want to be in a more private seating area.

On the other side, there is a whole line up of pinball machines.

There are so many pinball games to play and they are $1 per play, which isn’t too bad, so make sure you bring some spare change.

Familar pinball games like Game of Thrones, Star Trek and Simpsons can be found.

Great for novices and experts. Lights. Lights. Lights.

We even saw a skeeball machine.

Monarch Burger

The menu is pretty simple. Choose your burger and put any add-ons and sides. This place has bar service, so you need to go to the bar to order your drinks and food.

Once you put in your order, they give you a number. Once it’s ready, they will bring out all the food.

Gotta add some drinks to the mix. We went with something lighter instead of cocktails, so we had beer and cider.

Cheeseburger

We got the cheeseburger and it comes with lettuce, tomato, pickles and their secret special sauce. Their beef is sourced from local farmers who pasture raise and tend their animals with care. They then age the beef for 45 days, grind it fresh daily and hand form every burger. It came to the table very greasy and the cheese was just everywhere. This was definitely a messy burger to eat. The patty was more cooked compared to the Dirty Burger at Campagnolo Upstairs. It was a solid burger but it still doesn’t out do Campagnolo Upstairs.

Double Cheeseburger

Go big or go home. We got the double cheeseburger with an egg and bacon. The fried egg was cooked thoroughly, so there wasn’t as much drippage. Similar with the first burger we had, it was very greasy and you needed a handful of napkins to keep somewhat clean.

Poutine

The poutine was decent but it was a bit heavy handed on the salt.

Kale Caesar Salad

This was delicious. The croutons were airy and crisp. The kale was lightly dressed and topped with parm to give it more dimension. I really enjoyed this and it pairs with the burger nicely.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the burgers could have been less greasy and heavy. I appreciate the use of good fresh ingredients, but it didn’t hit the mark this time. I still prefer Campagnolo Upstairs for their Dirty Burger. The one thing that stood out to me was the Kale Caesar Salad. I still love The American for their awesome space with all the games around the venue.