We never said the Budapest Burgerwar™ would be easy, and boy is it not. In addition to having to wrestle with all these burgers, we've faced certain troubling philosophical questions, such as whether to include burger chains among our reviews, and, getting to the meat of today's review, how to review burgers that cost more than the average dish at a luxury restaurant in Budapest.

The luxury burger in question was sampled earlier this week at the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest, widely considered the first proper five-star hotel to open in Hungary after the changes of 1989-90. We say it was "at the hotel," because we're not exactly sure of which of the Kempinski's three restaurants we were actually sitting in. As we were there during the day, we're pretty sure it was the Bistro Jardin and not the Ristorante Giardino, which is only open for dinner. But the bill we got was from Il Giardino.

And what a bill it was! With three burgers at Ft 4,250 (€16.50) a pop, plus a club sandwich (Ft 3,950), three (Hungarian) sparkling waters, three cokes and two ice teas, the total came to Ft 23,580 without tip, surely the most we've ever paid to take out three friends for burgers and soft drinks.

So what do you get for your Ft 4,250? Apart from some groveling but still slightly spotty service and a chair in a comfortably sanitized corporate-style dining room, you receive a nice plate with a standard "hotel"-style burger, some okay chips/fries, a little ceramic "boat" of tangy coleslaw, and some catsup and mayo on the side. The burger patty itself, which our waiter confirmed was made from ground sirloin, was well-formed and tasty, but a bit too "springy" for one of our guests. Our waiter also confirmed that the cheese was "plain Hungarian cheese." We did not, however, need for him to confirm that the bacon on our friend's burger (above) was far from crispy, that the buns were also nothing special, or that the salt shaker on our table was clogged. Meanwhile, none of the burgers came exactly as ordered; all were delivered slightly raw at the center. Which, come to think of it, is exactly how we felt after settling the bill.

How They Stack Up:

Meat: (7/10)
Bun: (7/10)
Trimmings: (7/10)
Service/Setting: (7/10)
Affordability: (0/10)
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Total Score: 5.6/10