upstairs at campagnolo

awkward place. thought it was supposed to have the best burger in vancouver but as a local i can say it definitely is not the best. it is a plain burger i would expect at a birthday bbq nothing more.

over priced basic food, never served such a basic tasteless burger-in canada. can’t find enough words to describe this awkward experience.

the bar staff was extremely knowledgeable and made us custom cocktails. the food was amazing! ‘the dirty burger’ is the best in the city! also if you get a chance to try the whole deep fried duck it is 100% worth the price! will definitely be going back!

i love this little spot. cozy, relaxed atmosphere and great food, and although i haven't had many of the other great burgers in our fair city i doubt any will top the dirty burger. burgers are my favourite food which makes the dirty burger my favourite thing to eat period.

both diana of “foodology” and myself read the same article by ken tsui for “scout magazine”. in it he speaks of the best burger in town being robert belcham’s famous dirty burger from campagnolo. that was enough of an endorsement for us to visit, and for me to film our experience with the one of the “best cheap eats in all of vancouver”, as ranked by the readers of “scout”.

campagnolo upstairs is a hidden gem for those who love cocktails and burgers. i came with m and magmei after work to try out their delicious dirty burger. you enter from the door on the right side and go up the stairs, past the curtain, keep on walking up until you see the bar. they are open at 6 pm on weekdays; 10:30 am – 2 pm on weekends and long weekends.

i was looking for a brunch place that was reasonably priced and i came across upstairs at campagnolo. i read about them before but forgot about them. i really wanted to go to jam cafe but i didn’t really want to wait. but then again i never do… hahaha. you enter through this green door and go upstairs. they even have a helpful sign.

loved fried chicken and biscuits. not something you can get at a dinner. biscuits were super soft, and chicken was more like fried than deep fried. but i love their version. my friend had a burger. the patty was a rough mince, not super fine. gives the patty nice texture. all in all we enjoyed the food.

had brunch here today and it was a pleasant surprise! tried the smoked salmon eggs benny and it tasted light, fresh and delicious. only thing was it ate a bit heavily because of the cheese biscuit underneath but hollandaise was not overly dense. also had the braised beef collar short rib which came with an abundance of tender beef. the dish was a bit oilier than i usually enjoy but again, potatoes were crispy, eggs a good soft/medium poach and was more than enough for one serving. service was a bit slow but polite and efficient.

just had a couple of burgers here. burgers- good, hardly cooked medium but well at best. patty tender. one micro slice of stoney paradise tomato... buns a little too firm. if there's a salad on the menu, make it awesome. salad on this menu, far from awesome. needed seasoning on the greens, some greens were yellowing, more acid in the dressing and more stuff for texture/interest/to justify the $12 asking price/salt... dressing had some sort of cheese incorporated, weird. bartender friendly enough, it's not his fault the food is mediocre at best. cheers!

a small, casual bar tucked upstairs of campagnolo. it’s basic, but it does the basics very well. a well stocked bar of spirits and beers, and a small selection of foods. we got the olives, and they actually give you a good portion, and the fries are golden and perfect. we also ordered the polenta from the downstairs menu, which was delicious and very rich. we had to ask for the menu for downstairs though, i’m not sure that hey like to advertise that you can order from it.

"enter through the green door." what am i doing...buying drugs? lol actually...i'm just going for brunch! ;)   so nondescript you'll hardly even notice it, upstairs doesn't have an awning so you probably wouldn't know this place existed if you weren't looking for it haha. it's almost a secret club of sorts, where the hip congregate for drinks, sunday brunching, and the infamous "dirty burger !! - a burger so glorious they had to trademark it.   how glorious you ask? well...the burger patty is made out of 40 day aged prime beef and the bun is saturated in butter/ lard...is that glorious enough for you? lol. it was even named "vancouver's best burger!!" by a few foodie sources!   but no, i didn't get one haha! strangely enough, i wasn't in the mood for a burger. i wanted something breakfast-y hehe...i'm having brunch after all! ;)   brunch at upstairs starts at 10:30 pm on weekends, but they don't take reservations, so come early! when i got there it was already a full house, and thankfully since i was alone, i didn't have to wait for a table because i got seated at the bar! but parties with 2+ more people had to wait an average of 25 + mins for  a table to clear up!   something terrible happened today haha...my sd got damaged so i had to import the photos to my phone because my computer couldn't read the pictures, which converted the pictures into jpeg (i normally shoot raw) which significantly altered the quality of the photos :(   i can't edit my photos either, because editing them in jpeg corrupts the image...   i'm so choked...i had a ton of awesome photos stored on there! does anyone know how to fix a broken sd card? *help* cotechino sasuage hash $12 sorry for the bad image quality, my sd card got damaged :( 4/5 stars   it was either this, the fried chicken, or the albacore tuna benny...or everything else on the menu lol...i'm indecisive, can you tell? :)   this was really yummy!! i even overheard the waitress raving about it to the table next to mine haha!! the

terrible brunch. i went with some friends for the brunch. it was very disappointing, and the food was weird. one friend ordered the bacon pancakes, the bacon was undercooked. another friend ordered a dish i don't recall the name of, but turned out to be essentially some eggs in marinara sauce. i ordered the chicken and biscuits. the biscuits were soggy and covered with strange cheese. the chicken was very cheap low quality dark meat which is not what i'd expect for "chicken and biscuits". everything tasted like pickles for some reason. it was probably the weirdest brunch i've ever had and i lost my appetite. my friends ordered mimosas and there seemed to be a great deal of confusion amongst the staff exactly how to squeeze the oranges for the juice. there were no lights to the bathroom. overall, it was a bad experience and i would not go back. i have heard good things about the downstairs and the upstairs might be ok for bar type food, but the brunch was quite terrible.

what’s near science world that i’d want to eat? campagnolo immediately popped into my mind as a number of friends and articles mentioned something about the dirty burger as a must-try. who am i to argue it’s worth mentioning that the dirty burger is only available at upstairs at campagnolo which is literally another room on top of the original restaurant. they have the exact same menu plus a few additional items from their secret menu.

burgers are good. are they amazing? no there just good old fashioned american burgers.