The Habit - Mission Valley, San Diego

The Habit has finally made it’s way to San Diego! I only tried The Habit once within the past year. We were up in the San Fernando Valley looking for a snack to eat before heading back to San Diego. A lot of people were raving about their burgers, so we had to check it out. It was delish.

Fast forward a year later and we were excited to see The Habit setting up shop in the Mission Valley area over by King’s Fish House. Is The Habit the best burger in San Diego now? We finally gave it a try today to find out.

Do you recognize this building? It used to be the old Baja Fresh. Fuddruckers is just across the parking lot. Lots of competition for your burger dollars!

Menu was simple and inviting. Nice lighting and setup throughout. We could tell there was a lot of energy in the place and lots of staff bustling around.

Apparently it opened up first in Santa Barbara, CA. The girl at the door greeted us and said they now have over 40 stores!

So my wife and I decided to split 2 burgers. The first one was a Charburger ($2.95) with American cheese ($0.50 extra) and the next the Teriyaki Charburger ($3.25) with swiss cheese ($0.50 extra). Kind of looks like In’n’Out burgers, huh?

We also ordered frings (1/2 fries and 1/2 onion rings). The onion rings were crispy and tasty (comes with ranch), but the fries were definiltey not hot (they look better than they taste). Hopefully next time we’ll see a fresh batch.

First up is the Charburger with American cheese. Looks pretty good, right? It was decent. But, if I had to grade it, I’d give it 4/5 stars. (For reference, I’d give In’n’Out 5/5 stars). Here’s the 1 star differential.

1) Shredded lettuce instead of hand leaf lettuce

2) Bun was not toasted (but, the sesame seeds were nice)

3) There was mayo instead of thousand island dressing

4) The burger was charred, not grilled (this could have been okay, but the char wasn’t very apparent)

5) The burger meat wasn’t seasoned (no salt)

6) The price was almost an extra $1.50 (although, it did look slightly bigger)

*We opted to leave out the pickles and on a side note, you can add bacon ($0.75), mushrooms ($1.00), and avocado ($1.00) for an extra cost.

Despite these shortcomings, the burger was fresh and a nice change of pace from the usual options. My wife liked this one better than the Teriyaki burger.

I actually preferred the Teriyaki burger slightly over the regular Charburger. I think I liked this a little better because it had some Teriyaki sauce and pineapple to jazz up the flavors. Everything else however, was the same as the Charburger.

One bonus item I liked was the $0.95 ice cream cone! It was a soft service ice milk which I love (hard to come by these days). Next time I’ll try a malt or something.

All in all, The Habit is a welcome addition to the burger mix in San Diego. The more competition the merrier! It makes everyone strive for better results.

BTW, if you’re not in the mood for a burger, The Habit also has grilled chicken and veggie sandwhiches, as well as salads.

The Habit
845 Camino de La Reina
San Diego, CA 92108
(619) 299-9913
http://www.habitburger.com/

Who do you think has the best burger in San Diego??

In’n’Out, The Habit, Fuddruckers, Burger Lounge, Hodad’s, Rocky’s, Five Guys, Islands, Stacked, Smashburger, ???

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One Comment on “The Habit – Mission Valley, San Diego”

Anonymous says:

November 16, 2011 at 8:10 pm

Hodads for sure. Love the bacon burger with some frings. Although the other joints mentioned are worthy alternatives.

P.S. keep up the awesome blog.