By Syd Britt

Eazzy Burger’s statement.

A burger joint offspring of ZZQ, the Scott’s Addition Central Texas-style barbecue restaurant, recently opened in Scott’s Addition. ZZQ and its neighbor, Ardent Craft Ales, collaborated on creating, as described by Richmond Magazine, a “sustainability-focused, patty-forward initiative” restaurant called Eazzy Burger, which held its grand opening on December 17, 2023.

Aside from cooking burgers, hot dogs, chicken, fries, and a few things in between, Eazzy Burger appears focused on not just the food they serve, as they are devoted to “combating climate change because we care about the planet as much as we do the food in your belly,” as stated by the plaque plastered to the wall right inside the front door. 

The menu.

I recently visited this highly-praised and anticipated burger spot on 3204 West Leigh Street. From where I live and normally do most of my everyday activities, Eazzy Burger is no eazzy drive. For a familiar reference, Eazzy Burger would be around an 18-minute drive from Collegiate, possibly with tolls. As you get closer to the restaurant via following your chosen route, you may discover that parking is a hassle. Busy Scott’s Addition is usually packed full of hungry customers looking to try out a new burger, just like you may be. This will certainly be the case if you come to Eazzy Burger during prime dining hours. However, I did not go during busy hours, as I arrived at Eazzy Burger at 3:34 p.m. on a Tuesday. Parking was a breeze, as I got a nearby roadside spot and walked right across Leigh Street to Eazzy Burger. 

Assuming that most people order a burger and fries when they go to a burger-devoted restaurant, I ordered one Eazzy Burger and a side of fries during my visit, hoping to get the most authentic review of how reliable of a burger spot Eazzy Burger is.  

The menu, continued.

Before I tell you my thoughts on the food, I’d like to touch on the phenomenal and efficient service that I quickly picked up on while at Eazzy Burger. There were two cashiers at the counter, both with their own kiosk machines, who pleasantly waited for me to choose what I wanted to order. The woman who took my order was overly patient, kind, and respectful. After placing my order, I noticed menus beside the cashier and asked if I could take one. Surprisingly, she agreed, allowing me to keep it. This gesture, possibly influenced by the lack of other customers, left a lasting impression on me, reflecting the restaurant’s accommodating values.

Another factor is how efficient Eazzy Burger seemed to be. After giving her my order, I gave the cashier my phone number so that, once my order was ready, I would notified immediately. This does seem to be a more common method throughout restaurants, but Eazzy Burger utilized it perfectly. To make their operations even more efficient, it looked like they had about ten to fifteen employees behind the counter. 

Now, on to the food. 

The burger itself was extremely underwhelming. When I got the text on my phone that my order was ready, I headed over to the counter to pick up my tray of food. As I walked back, I actually admired the burger and thought to myself, “Wow, this is going to be one of the best burgers I have ever had.” This was my hope until the moment I took the first bite. 

Burger and fries.

As finicky as it sounds, the bun seemed to be at room temperature, or at least the same cold temperature as the Eazzy sauce (recipe unknown) tomatoes, red onions, pickles, and lettuce. This made for an awkward sensory experience, as I tried to focus on the true taste of the burger, but the odd everything-was-cold-but-the-patty factor really threw me for a loop. The best way I can put the taste of this burger into words is: fresh, poppy, tender, and homogenous. Fresh and poppy came to mind because of all the cold elements and condiments that accompanied the medium-well beef patty. It created a refreshing explosion, although I’m not sure a great burger is supposed to create this. The tomatoes were juicy and red, the onions were perfectly sliced and had the proper amount of white and purple coloring, the sauce offered a sweet and savory complement to the burger patty, the homemade pickles added a slightly acidic burst to certain bites, and the finely cut lettuce touched a small crunch and soaked up some of the Eazzy sauce, almost transforming the lettuce into a coleslaw-type taste, yet lacking more and more crunch as time went on.

Eazzy Burger from an outside perspective.

On a 10-point scale, I would give the eazzy burger a 7.2/10. It was alright, just nothing severely different and better than burgers I have previously had. Aside from taste, a positive note that boosted this burger’s score was that it held together nicely, despite its fairly bulky size. There were a few sauce drippings and lettuce and onion droppings, but the burger’s shroud served its purpose, as it cradled the burger perfectly, leaving minimal mess. 

On the other hand, the fries that I ordered as a side were excellent. They were thick, varied in length, and were cooked to a perfect rusty brown: crunchy on the outside, but rightfully potatoey on the inside. I gave these fries a graceful 9/10. A 10/10 would have been the case if the chefs had omitted the kilo of salt that they seemed to mixed in. Aside from this minor, yet important flaw, the fries were marvelous and topped off the burger in typical American fashion. In total, one Eazzy burger and a side of fries came out to be $18.17, including tax, as the burger was $12 and the fries were $5, a pretty fair price nowadays. 

The view from where I was sitting.

This would be a dishonest review if I were to not mention the wonderful scenery and communal feeling that this restaurant offers. Eazzy Burger is located right in the backyard of ZZQ and right in front of Ardent, a taproom, beer garden, and production brewery. These three locations combine to make a courtyard that has delicious restaurants fluidly interwoven within it, each offering distinctive food options for different pallets and appeals. Eazzy Burger has an outside seating deck and patio that is larger than the actual restaurant. However, the open architecture makes it feel that the outside area and inside area are one.

In some online reviews from Yelp, user @Menghai T. mentioned similar pros and cons as I did. This user said, “The fries were fresh but a little too over-salted for my liking,” and “A nice outside patio which was amazing for a spring day! Parking is small here.” Another user, @Harrison C., praised that Eazzy Burger has “Probably the best burger and fries I’ve had in Richmond! It was so good! I left super full,” hinting that this person may have had a different experience than I did.

Inside dining area.

Although I did not think Eazzy Burger offered any game-changing cuisine, it was definitely a fantastic experience, and I’m sure other customers are likely to catch it at a better time, as several online reviewers rave about the food. It certainly seems that Eazzy Burger and its surrounding restaurants are friendly aspects of an urbanizing Scott’s Addition and serve as options for a quality meal in the Richmond area. 

All photos by Syd Britt.