Rave Burger
Price: $10-$15/person
Location: 144 E. Third St. San Mateo

Hidden within busy downtown San Mateo, where there is no shortage of restaurants to eat at, Rave Burger is a definite must if you want a gourmet burger that is worth every penny.

With a name that gave me the impression of a restaurant that would have crazy strobe lights, featuring me dancing to rave music while eating my burger (Sorry my imagination can run a little wild sometimes). Rave Burger is in actuality quite the opposite; it is a very relaxed place where you and few friends can sit to enjoy a burger and beer, or the family can enjoy a nice meal together.

The inside of Rave Burger is fairly small with around eight to nine tables and a bar towards the back. The restaurant is decorated with a few pictures of comic strips blown up to picture size. The bottom of their bar is illuminated with a red light which gives it a nice modern feel.

The menu at Rave Burger offers appetizer choices ranging from Dungeness Crab Cake ($10) to Spicy Curly Fries ($6). They also have a variety of salads for around six dollars each. The menu for children is limited giving Cheese Burger Sliders ($5), Cheese Quesadillas ($5), and Crispy Chicken Tenders ($5) as the only options.

But of course the main draw on the menu at Rave Burger is going to be the burgers and sliders. The sliders come in one ($3), two ($5), three of a kind ($8), or a dozen ($33) with slight variations to the price depending on what type of slider you get. They offer a nice amount of variety like BBQ Pulled Pork, Mushroom, Teriyaki Chicken and much more.

The burgers choice ranges from the standard Cheese Burger ($9) with all the normal fixings to things like the 2 AM Breakfast Burger ($11) which has crispy onion strings, bacon and a fried egg in it. They also have a signature Rave Burger ($11) which has grilled jalapenos, bacon, crispy onion strings and caramelized onions. Each burger also comes with your choice of fries or a house salad.
On my most recent visit to Rave Burger, I invited a couple of friends and we started the night with an order of their Spicy Curly Fries ($6) as an appetizer with a pitcher of Stella Artois.

The fries came out piping hot and had just the right amount of seasoning; they were not very spicy, so even a person who cannot handle spicy foods can enjoy. The fries were gone within minutes of reaching the table. A short while after we finished our fries, our burgers arrived; I ordered the signature Rave Burger with a house salad to add a little variety to my meal since we already had fries.

The burger was so big I could hardly manage to bite it; one of my friends who ordered a Cheese Burger with avocados added ($10) opted to use a knife to cut hers in half because of the massive size of the burger. All of our burgers were cooked the exact way we ordered. The only problem I had with my burger was the size of the jalapeno slices that were added to my burger. They were huge; every
time I ate one the taste would overpower my burger, other than that the burger was good.

Overall the service, the food, and the atmosphere of Rave Burger are great. If you ever find yourself in San Mateo and are having a tough time choosing a restaurant to eat at, don’t fret because Rave Burger is there to save the day.