Me and my friend, Faith met up after work one evening in Birmingham and as I had never been to GBK before, this is where we decided to go. We visited the Mailbox branch. It was early evening and it was quite full already, this was a good start. Now as you all know, I love burgers and I'm forever on the hunt for the best burger in the West Midlands area. But, did GBK hit the spot? Click below to read more...
The interior is pretty good, bare walls and lots of steel, it had a very industrial feel to it and I liked the simple, laid back look. I always see GBK on voucher sites, they offer discounts frequently and their app is very good - you can get a free drink your first visit, a free side your second etc, a very good marketing ploy.
The menu is very varied with lots of different burgers including beef, chicken and they offer 'speciality burgers' which includes lamb, pork and even buffalo! They have a wide range of milkshakes, sides and sauces. The drink choice is very good to be fair, they have a good selection of soft drinks and they are refillable, which is always a bonus. Especially when the soft drinks aren't just your usual Cokes and Fanta's - they offer elderflower, ginger and lemongrass and strawberry and elderflower, I had the normal elderflower and it was very refreshing and tasty.
You have to take a note of your table number and then order everything at the counter, its a casual place. We decided to share a side as a starter and then have two burgers each with some sides. The service behind the counter was pretty good, they were friendly and took the order efficiently and with a smile on their face.
So far, so good. Until ...
We were served our 'side-starter' and this is where GBK went terribly wrong.
Starter
Chilli Fried Chicken Bites - with siracha hot sauce mayo
£4.50
Firstly, I thought £4.50 was pretty expensive for what we got, a small pot with 6 small chicken bites in it. But, that wasn't the main problem. As they were bite-sized we both are the first one whole, whilst chewing it I thought it tasted slightly strange and a little cold, which lead be to be cautious with the second bite, this time I bit it in half and what I found was far from pleasant!
After ripping my chicken bite in half, this is what I found - completely raw chicken, it was fleshy, bloody and cold. I couldn't believe my eyes, I was in such shock and disgusted with the fact that not only were we served this, we had already eaten one of them! As the pictures show, this chicken was clearly raw and I was not impressed, not only is this a stupid mistake to make, it is dangerous. I called the waitress over, who looked visibly shocked, apologised, took the plate away and informed me the supervisor would be straight over. The supervisor came over to our table and if I wasn't already annoyed - her attitude was so wrong, she was rude and unpleasant. She explained that it wasn't raw and its the 'style' of chicken they use - I would love to understand what that meant as that chicken was completely raw. Yes, we got a refund - but £4.50 does not make up for the fact that we ate raw chicken or the damn right rudeness of the supervisor, I was actually quite offended that she thought I was stupid enough to believe it was 'style' of chicken they use and, if I accepted her poor excuse, did she then expect me to eat the rest of the bites and get ill?! I was very unhappy after this experience and I did tweet about it and wrote a complaint email - which ended up with me getting sent vouchers for £30 - I will return for my free burgers but I certainly will NOT be ordering any chicken.
However, our burgers arrived and I was impressed, they were big, filling and presented well.
Burger
Avocado Bacon - avocado, crispy bacon, house mayo, relish & salad (I added on cheese too)
£9.35
I feel the burgers were very reasonably priced for the size of them. They were served with the lid on and the filling was generous and all the flavours worked very well together. I was very impressed and the burger was up to my expectations and I would like to return and try some of the other flavours. Especially the Blazing Sombrero, The Taxi Driver and the Salvador!
Sides
Sweet Potato Fries & Skinny Rosemary Fries
£3.95 & £2.95
The sides are reasonably priced as you get a big bowl, especially the skinny fries - which were VERY skinny, they were thin but very crispy with fluffy potato in the middle, I really enjoyed these fries and they were different from the usual fries or chunky chips you get in restaurants. The sweet potato fries were also very good and they were served with baconaise - a very yummy sauce and it went very well with the crispy, sweet potatoes. I really liked the sides and they went very well with the burger.
Over all, for £15 -ish a head, it isn't expensive, the burgers are very varied and yummy, the sides are good but definitely do not order the chicken bites and the supervisor needs to sort her attitude out. I will be returning for my second visit with my vouchers and I will let you all know my thoughts.
*I paid for this meal in full, but as always, all opinions are my own.
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