If you have walked by the Hermosa Pier recently you’ve probably been handed a flyer from a Boardwalk‘s employee clad in all blue and boasting their #1 Fries in America and Coldest Beer in Hermosa. I’m not sure how that alcohol temperature matters but I can tell you that these aren’t the number one fries in America.

When you walk in there is almost a nautical theme, there are rope partitions and steel drum music plays in the background to the tune of “Under the Boardwalk”.

I have to hand it to the employees, they always greet everyone and are as nice and helpful as they can be. The food, on the other hand, is a different story. They are known for their burgers, and you have the option to customize your classic single Hamburger by adding cheese or bacon, which of course is extra, or things like pickles and white onions and sautéed mushrooms, which are free, and you’re going to need to if you don’t want to die of blandness. And nothing comes with fries, those are extra, so are the drinks. I made a mistake with the classic last time, and so this time I decided to mix things up with a Double BBQ Bacon Cheddar.

I ended up spending over  $11 bucks (drinking only water) and the burger was not much better than a McDonalds Angus Third Pounder. While a little juicier maybe, the meat was almost tasteless and the standard Costco brand BBQ sauce I assume they put on it didn’t make up for it. The problem wasn’t that the burger was missing anything, it had all the components, they were just boring components, like something anyone could make if they were given all the ingredients. The fries were not bad.

Ok the fries were pretty good actually, but not #1 in America for sure. They were deeper-fried than most and had more peel than most showing, crunchy, and salty. I may prefer these to other burger place fries but the problem was that by the time I started eating my third fry they had started getting cold and lost most of their appeal.

I honestly prefer burgers from Islands, Fatburger, or In-n-Out. Each of these places have a unique and trademark taste to them, while the Boardwalk’s burgers do not. If you do come here, make sure to heavily customize your burger, and try the burger seasoning they offer on their counters, maybe then you can salvage some taste.