There are many, maybe too many, restaurants in Colombia that specialize in hamburgers. Clap Burgers is a national chain of restaurants and forgetting that the word clap could mean chlamydia in American slang, we gave them a try at their Envigado location…
They use the words “Always Fresh” as their motto, but what we got definitely conveyed the impression we were eating burgers made with frozen patties, so we’re not sure what they mean by fresh. If it truly isn’t frozen patties, then maybe it’s cut with cereals, but 100% fresh beef it ain’t!
Their motto is also “The original smash burger” which US restaurant chain Smashburger says is literally a burger that’s been smashed, so is Clap saying that they were there first? Not that the concept means much in real life!
We tried the basic burger so nothing could interfere with the meat. While there’s a couple weekday combo specials, we were there on a Saturday and there was none, everything was full priced. The burger had a good presentation and came with a couple small tubs of sauce which we ignored for the aforementioned reason, but in all sincerity, our verdict based on the meat itself would not have been saved by slathering condiments on top!
It’s not that Clap burgers are bad, but we found them wanting and no match for Chef Burger, which we reviewed recently. Clap burger’s menu to be pricier as well (see menu) when you add it all up. While an American earning dollars might not find it expensive at all, Colombians earning pesos might disagree. A tiny cup of soda set us back 5 thousand pesos!!
Maybe we should have tried more items on their menu and found something good or even great, but since hamburgers are the star of the show, we feel justified in our assessment.
In short…
Pros
- Meat well cooked throughout
- Attractive presentation
- Clean and organized
Cons
- Bland
- Pricey
- Small portions
- Counter service only
- Slow service
Conclusion: we expected more!
Verdict: Meh! (skip it)
Disclaimer: We received no benefit from reviewing this business, paid for our meals, and were not asked to do this review. It is our opinion only and others may have a different one.
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