Tulip Cafe

Tulip Cafe
1319 Colorado Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90404

Rosa's Take:

My burger: Cheeseburger cooked medium, with lettuce, tomato. Thin, diner-style patty was oddly dry and greasy at the same time.

The side: Onion rings, the type with cornmeal coating. Standard frozen rings; fried, then salted. Biggest disappointment here was the ketchup. I'm no ketchup fanatic (not that there's anything wrong with that) but I do like a good squirt of Heinz. The Hunt's ketchup on offer did not satisfy.

Verdict: This place has a great vibe, and what seemed like happy regulars. But it's no place for a burger. By the end of lunch, I wished I'd ordered eggs and toast or one of the Tex-Mex specials.

This was the lowest-priced burger we've had. All the best we've tried so far have been thick, 1/3 lb patties of name-brand beef costing in the neighborhood of $10. I'd like to think we'll find a delicious burger in the middle ground; something with a good sear, beefy taste, but of a size that won't send us into food coma for the afternoon. Do In-N-Out and Fatburger have this space all to themselves?

Richard's Take:

My burger: Bacon-cheeseburger cooked medium-rare, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mayo.

The side: Onion rings from a bag - really heavy breading, and bleah onions.

Verdict: I really wanted to enjoy this burger. The diner had a really nice vibe to it - the waitress was really nice, the place seemed very homey. When we walked in, I wanted it to be a great burger discovery. When we walked out, we all said we would go back to have breakfast, but we would never order a burger there again. This was the worst burger I have reviewed. Bad patty, bad bun, bad fries, bad onion rings - two of the reviewers complained that the ketchup was bad.

All in all, a very disappointing burger experience.

Steve’s Take:

My burger: Bacon cheeseburger cooked medium with light mayo.

The side: Giant pile of fries. There were so many fries, my smallish burger could’ve hidden completely underneath them. Best part of the meal.

Verdict: Despite the unassuming, locals-only feel of this diner, I can’t recommend the burger here. It looked almost exactly like a McDonald’s quarter pounder with cheese before I got started on it, but ended up tasting worse and proved more costly. In fact, after tip, my meal ended up costing 12 bucks! The meat was a strange grayish color (always concerning), the cheese must’ve been a Kraft single and the bacon was undercooked to the point of being almost clear. Not a good combination.

If I had eaten this burger in Europe I would have said it was somewhat acceptable. In the Land of Burgers, however, it’s just really not that good.

TVE’s Take:

My burger: medium rare burger, add bacon and a fried egg .

The side: fries.

Verdict: The patty was over cooked. Everything was frozen (from the meat patty to the fries). Everything tasted either bland or greasy (if that's even a flavor); very much like cafeteria food. The ambiance was very nice; a small town cafe with friendly smiles and courteous employees.

Overall, don't go there for the burgers. I would definitely go back and try some other foods because the atmosphere was great.