Jerry’s Burgers ‘N’ Shakes, 482 Macaulay Road, Kensington. Phone: 9372 1687
Not too long before we noticed the assembling of a Jerry’s franchise branch in Kensington, our friend The Burger King dined at the Tullamarine shop.
His verdict?
He was and is dismissive.
More recently, another friend – for whom Kensington is neighbourhood territory – implied he and his had a much more satisfying time at the new place.
So I decided to find out for myself.
The Kensington jerry’s is a smallish operation, done out in typical fast-food franchise fashion.
The seating is limited and rudimentary.
I found the service to be good and the prices to be very low.
But there’s the rub – on the premise of “you get what you pay for”, your Jerry’s burger will most likely suffer by comparison with the more pricey likes of Grill’d and other ritzy burger places.
The range of sandwiches – and even salads – is very long (see below), ranging through beef, steak, pork, fish, vegetarian and breakfast items.
I went with the She Hot! burger with beef, bacon, cheese, red onion, Tabasco aioli, lettuce and jalapenos ($7.90) and a small serve of chips ($1.90).
My burger was just OK, and as hinted at above pretty much what you’d expect for cents under $8.
It wasn’t nearly as hot as the number of pepper slices included might suggest.
It was a sloppy meal, with the structural integrity lapsing totally by the end.
Worst of all, the meat patty was bereft of beefiness and redolent of sausage meat.
I wouldn’t go so far as draw a comparison with “pet food”, as one Urbanspoon contributor has done, but you get the picture …
The best part of my dinner were the chips, which were terrific and plentiful.
consider the sauce 
We haven’t been here but I think it is the week for bad burgers. We had a shocker at the Station and will stick to steaks there from now on. 8bit still is our burger place for now. As for Jerry’s a friend summed it up well by saying they have so many things on their menu they do not seem to do any of them well.
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Hi Lauren! Wow – dud burger at the Station? That’s way more shocking than my mediocre franchise meal in Kensington! Yes, 8bit is the go! What about up your way?
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Up our way yet to have a great burger, we stick to 8 bit. I have heard my fish and chip shop captain hooks in derrimut does a good burger but I cannot go past their super crispy battered flake when i go there. I was surprised at the station, we have never had a bad meal there. I did wonder whether they have sent some of their kitchen staff over to their new hotel opening the Hawksburn as everything was a bit mediocre that night at the station.
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Oooh, thanks for the Captain Hooks tip!
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8 bit is the go?
I went twice to make sure I didn’t get the wrong idea the first time. Sloppy falling apart burger, oily tasting, as in Kenny’s opinion of the burger at Jerry’s, pet food springs to mind. Limp chips too.
The only thing 8 bit seem to be good at is managing their online profile – loads of activity on facebook/urbanspoon etc etc. But the food is a total disappointment.
Grilld still the best I reckon.
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Hi Rosie! Some folks get a bit sniffy about Grill’d but they remain the default setting for Bennie, if not for myself. Though I like them, too!
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I also find 8bit too oily. I love grand taverna on bourke street. Grilld is pretty good too- actually tastes fresh and more interesting than a lot of burger places out there.
Jerry’s looks like a dud! That is such a sad looking burger!
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I totally agree with the rest here about 8 bit, although the nailer in their burger coffin is how loooong you must wait for the multitude of inefficient staff to make a single burger. If there’s a queue of ten + put on ten patties. It’s not like they are there for the drinks. It’s faster for us to leave Footscray and go to grill’d in Yarraville than walk around the corner and wait at 8bit..
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