square burger

outstanding. visited squareburgeron a friday night and was blown away.
in general, this joint in historic downtown mckinney attempts to standout by offering a modern approach in a very old looking downtown. after our dinner we spent 10 minutes talking with the co-owner and manager chris and he is what we learned.

so, 10 years ago the only place to eat in downtown mckinney was goodhueys and chris (i think) worked there with his friend (now the head chef. so, the chef went to cal for culinary school, was amazingly successful and ended up being a head chef working with wolf-gang puck in la. after years of notoriety, chris convinced his friend to come to mckinney to open square burger. in building the menu for this place, they tested the top 5 beef you can buy with mixed success before running across a local supplier who only use organic/no hormones, ect...in the area. the beef supplier brings his meat and processes it in downtown mckinney at the old hams shop and literally hand carries the meat across the square 3 times a day to squareburger(never once is it ever frozen or even put on a truck). the meat is about 78% lean and you can taste the difference. it is a totally different beef taste than what you would even find at a twister root type place and it's for the better....but be aware, it's different and lean.
so, the service is top notch all around.
drinks: tons of local and texas brews are on tap with franconia leading the pack (brewed in mckinney).
food: everything, i mean everything is made from scratch at this place from the burgers, bread and deserts. what was particularly good was the tomato soup and grilled cheese (small and handmade bread that was great).
it's not on the menu, but you can order "small" burgers of any kind which come in at 5.5 oz vs. 7.5 oz. it sounds small but it is perfect if you plan on having anything else so go this route.
the burgers....the meat is great and they combination of other ingredient are all organic and you can really taste the quality.
side - sweet patato fries...top notch. they also give you fried pickle and chopped pickles for the burger. if you ask, they will give you a special sauce that is mixed by the chef himself.
desert - go with ice cream sandwiches...all homemade and they wait till you order to put it together and it shows.
price - a little high but you are getting what you pay for with the quality presented.

overall, this place is top notch and is deserving of the reviews it gets. it must have something on the competition when the dallas reviewers will drive 30 minutes to get a burger. so, take a gamble and try this place out.
it is different but is mckinney opened and operated...a welcome change to the run of the mill, fancy, burgers in dfw.

lambburgerwas perfect! mild lamb flavor, feta cheese and tziki sauce on the side. highly recommend this burger. light tastingburgerwith flat pita bread. satisfying without stuffing you.
sweet potato fries actually retained taste of fresh sweet potatoes. dipped a few in the garlic aoili, too. very good lunch.

the mushroomburgerwas good. the caesar salad was fresh, but very bland (tasted like nothing). the service was ok. we had to ask for ketchup and wait for it. this was a little disappointing, since the ratings were so high. i think the ratings are because of their large selection of beers, but this is a restaurant not a bar.

we headed down to “the square” on a rainy day to take in some “scare on the square” activity…but before that we ate at the much lauded square burger!

om: we’ve been meaning to try this place for a while – seems to get good reviews and there is some hype around the restaurant. we had no problem getting seats in the mid-afternoon, but normally the place is pretty busy around lunch and dinner. sb was nicely decorated for halloween, with a huge spider web w/spider on the ceiling. i ordered aburgerwith bacon, cheese, fried onions, and bbq sauce, with fries and onion rings to split between nom and myself. here’s the thing; i had high expectations walking in. between the hype, reviews, and cost of their menu items, i was thinking this might be the bestburgerexperience to date. the fries were above average, nicely salted, but definitely did not stand out from otherburgerjoints. the onion rings were legitimately good, loved the thick batter. theburgerwas just “ok”, but i was really hoping that it would stand out from most others that i have tried, and it just didn’t. it was a decent size, decent taste, but nothing stood out about it. there are plenty of otherburgerplaced in mckinney that can do a similar – or better –burgerfor cheaper. i don’t know if this was just because i had higher expectations, or theburgerwas truly just average. the service was fine, and two burgers, an order of fries, and onion rings cost over $37. so i don’t know. because of the good fries and even better onion rings, plus the location, i’ll go 4/5.

nom: we had been meaning to take a short trip downtown to try square burger! last time we were down there it was crazy busy just trying to get downtown! this time it was easy to get there and find parking and the place was not busy at all. probably because it was raining… needless to say it was super cute inside and very nicely decorated for halloween! i loved the huge spider and web that took up the entire ceiling! we started with the fries and onion rings! both were super awesome! the fries were nice and crisp and the sea salt was pretty cool, usually i think it’s a bit pretentious but it was tasty! the onion rings were the tempura batter with sweet onions! they were crispy and delicious and so flavorful! i almost ruined my appetite just to plow thru the rings! i had a cheddar baconburgerand it was good…i thought it might rival haystack because of the hype but alas no. don’t get me wrong, it was one tasty burger! but there are a lot of tasty burgers in mckinney! i’m glad we went but for a tab of $37 for two people…eh. i would go and have an order of rings any day of the week!

when i moved to mckinney, squareburgerwas my introduction to "the square;" the first place we went.  we went there simply out of curiosity and a love of burgers having not yet been exposed to hype surrounding the restaurant, considered one of the best in dallas' increasingly crowdedburgerscene.  

several years later i have tried almost everyburgerin dfw, from the old standards to whatever the new kid on the block is this month, and squareburgerstill ranks very near the top of my favorites list.  it comes down to the beef -- squareburgeruses excellent quality beef from the local yocal down the street.  sure other places may have a more varied menu or more exotic flavors, but if the beef isn't good, the rest of theburgeris immaterial.   for me, it begins and ends with the beef, and in that regard there are few places that can compete with square burger.

love the atmosphere and the beer. burgers are always fresh and delicious. never had a bad experience. i just moved to the area and i will be making this my go toburgerjoint.

great place to get a grass fedburgerthat's awesome in flavor and doesn't make you feel gross after eating it. theburgersizes are plentiful and most times i feel like i can hardly finish it all. the sweet potato fries are great with the aoli sauce they serve with it. my all time favorite is the parmesanburgerwith a basil pesto sauce! it's fairly new on the menu and is awesome if you want a different flare for a burger. their salads are great too! the one and only downfall i have found almost every time i go is the service. i don't know what their criteria is on hiring but it seems like personality and attention to customers is not their focus sadly because we used to go there often but stopped going as much because we got tired of the slow service or lack of service to say the least. i don't understand how a place that seems to stay so busy can lack in the way the employees handle their customers. i think out of the many numerous times we have gone we've had maybe 2 good servers that seemed to actually like what they do. i really hope that the manager sees this and can get a better staff. i feel like the only thing that keeps them going is the great burgers!! so if your main focus us on the food and not the service, this is place your looking for!

unfriendly, but tasty. not even that bust at 330 pm. the hostess and waiter were both off puttingly short/rude. food was good, but there are plenty of other good upscaleburgerplaces to go to and not have to put up with staff that have an attitude and act like they are doing you a favor with your patronage. pitty,cause it could have been a winner....

hockey pucks. worst burgers ever. wife and i were delighted with lobster mac and cheese.burgerwere way over cooked. dont go to this place. way over priced for crap.

we order the squareburgerwith american cheese, mustard, onion, pickle, tomato and lettuce. the meat is formed into a thick patty, but not pressed to flatten.

great beer not so great burger. i've tried squareburgertwice now. i am not a fan of the burger. the buns are too dry for me. on one occasion, it broke into dry pieces. the meat was over cooked for my preference. i would go to squareburgerto experience their beer. they have a huge selection with tons of local choices. it would be fun to work my way through all their choices, but the overall point is burger. i won't be back for that.

at our first visit we were overwhelmed with how friendly and accommodating the staff was. (we have two children under 4 yrs.) every bite of food was great including the kids meals! my tunaburgerwas the best, though. cheers to mark and brandon and staff!

i have never had a bad meal while dining at squareburgerand my latest experience here was no exception. the food was great and the service was spectacular. our waitress was even smiling when she had to clean up a mess when my oldest daughter spilled her sprite. squareburgereasily ranks in my top five dfwburgerjoints and i am sure i will eat here several times in 2014

i can't believe other reviews say the service is slow. it is honestly one of the friendliest and best staff of any restaurant in downtown mckinney. i'd much rather pay a little more for aburgermade with meat grown on a local farm (all meat comes from local yocal). for those people who think theburgertastes funny, they probably aren't used to tasting meat that's not pumped full of antibiotics and chemicals! the owner is has a real community focus (carries most of franconia's beer) and lauren the bartender is wonderful.

ok, i'm usually not a complainer but after i drop 30 bucks for 2 burgers and one side of fries i felt i needed to vent.burgerwas below average. i just can't believe people think its ok for sub par food to pay so much. c'mon mckinney, there is better food out there. we are paying for their fancy plates and cups of ketchup.