With a restaurant in Athens and now another in Jounieh, Juicy Grill is a franchise claiming to have the best burger in town; so let’s try the food! Facing college central in Jounieh’s old souk, Juicy Grill serves a handful of burgers, appetizers, and grills. An open kitchen, five tables, a soft drinks fridge and some writings on the walls.
The small-sized diner can host up to twenty persons at a time. You are welcomed by a loud and annoying music, a flow of cold air coming down from the ceiling, unenjoyable sounds coming from the kitchen, dirty tables and used menus: I’m sorry to say it this way but the first impression was not what I expected from a “franchise”.
On the menu: 9 appetizers, 12 burgers, 3 salads, 2 grilled plates and 2 desserts.
Let’s eat some fries:
- A loaded bowl of fries covered with squares of bacon and sticked together with some yellow cheese. So... what’s the special thing about this plate? Crunchy but oily fries, bacon on top that doesn’t blend with the plate and the cheese is not enough. A tiny little portion of homemade barbecue sauce accompanies this plate. It’s good enough, but can be a hundred times better if more attention is poured in the plate; More cheese, fries that didn’t absorb oil, bacon shredded in small pieces, grilled to crunch and mixed with the fries, sour cream on top for a touch of freshness and way more sauce.
- All burgers come with fries, crunchy crispy fries ready to be dipped in their signature sauce.
The burgers: I ordered three of them. Below are my notes:
- They look awesome and the photos prove it: the problem is that the burgers are great for a photo but not studied to be easily devoured afterward.
- The chicken patty inside that huge burger is battered and fried. Chewy chicken, hard textured envelop, adding to that a chewy bread. I didn’t understand why the use of French bread that adds chewiness to the experience.
- This burger’s problem is that ingredients are not balanced and don’t blend together. A super thick and cold tomato, an extremely and illogically thick slice of purple onion then come the rest of the ingredients.
- The patty, minced so small feels like kafta; excellent meat quality but the texture is not too pleasant.
In my opinion: excellent ingredients but not the knowhow to create a burger made with love and passion.
What I would change:
- The shop needs to be changed: too small, too noisy, too cold...
- There’s the experience missing!
- Grind the beef less.
- Tomatoes have to be thinner.
- Use white onions that are thinner and softer on the palate.
- Change that chewy French bread and move to a real fluffy American bun: this bun is great in France at Big Fernand who created the “Hamburgé” not at an international diner.
- Keeping that same bread, it needs to be buttered to crunch.
- Too many cold ingredients inside the burger: that’s unpleasant.
- Cook the meat a bit less.
Now the famous question remains: why get a franchise from “Greece”. Lebanese getting food from Greece?! Come on! What’s the added value exactly? Our burgers are way better and we don’t even need someone to tell us how to do things. Is it the name? Nobody knows the name anyway.
The manager was professional though; we were asked several times about our experience and we were offered dessert probably because of the camera.
What will make me come again are the desserts... Excellent desserts: amazing! They look great and taste awesome!
- Homemade chocolate Oreo tart served on a square plate decorated with lines of chocolate and crumbles of Oreo. That Oreo tart made my heart skip a beat. It’s so finger-licking good; the crunchy crust, the molten gooey chocolate cream, the chocolate chips and its unique taste.
- Homemade chocolate brownie, more of a kid’s plate decorated with colors and crushed smarties is also good. A brownie served warm with two scoops of ice cream on top.
A restaurant with a huge potential... great ingredients that need a magic hand to put them all together in style, while the “eatery” adds some “experience” for its guests. “Nafass” is missing.
