If you live in Pensacola, you are at least aware of two things. Hurricane Ivan sucked, and the Fish House is awesome. From the building itself, to the views from the deck, the friendly wait staff, the amazing menu selection, you would be hard pressed to find a better place to spend an evening in Pensacola.

As far as the Burger Tour goes, The Fish House is the reigning champion of the 2009 Burger Tour. After this tour stop, many tour members commented that they now remembered why the Fish House “Barracks Street” Burger was top of the list at the end of the last tour. A few other members however, commented that this was not the same burger as the 2009 burger….so is it a contender or a pretender?

A half-pound of ground Black Angus beef served with leaf lettuce, tomato, and red onion on a toasted kaiser roll. We added American cheese as always.

The Black Angus patty is one of the most perfectly cooked pieces of meat we have found to date, which is a testament to the great chef’s at the Fish House. A great char, seasoned perfectly and cooked to order, it tastes as good as it looks. Although getting excellent marks from most, many tour members still remembered it being better than this a few years back. Through some questioning, we were informed that sometime while we were changing our Fantasy Football lineups, they switched from hand formed patties, to a frozen patty. During the past few years, “inconsistency” has always come up when discussing the Fish House burger. We came to the conclusion that it’s a major issue with this burger.

The Bun was sort of a wheat bun/Kaiser roll that matched the patty size perfectly and was sturdy enough to absorb some of the juice from the burger without disintegrating. It is a good choice for that upscale burger, but many thought a better choice was out there still.

The produce was average at best. The red onion drew the ire of several tour members on how strong the taste was. One tour member took the onion off his burger but then said the tomato now tasted like an onion. The ripe red tomato was beautiful and good, although it was a relatively small slice for a big burger. The final veggie was a large piece of Romaine lettuce that some used to fan themselves while leaving in the humid Florida noontime sun. A pickle slice or two would have been nice. The cheese was some of the better tasting we have had, delicious and perfectly melted over the patty; it really complemented the burger nicely.

So why would the Fish House burger not be “as good” as it used to be?? We can only assume it’s because the focus at the Fish House really isn’t on the burger, although some more obviously and quickly attributed it to Obamacare.

With a menu of local fresh seafood selections and some of the best entrees and apps in Pensacola, it’s hard to go the Fish House and not enjoy the “World Famous Grits a Ya Ya” and start out with an order of “Soul Rolls”….mmm….delicious!

So with a score of 8.01 the reigning champ, Fish House burger has taken a knock out blow; but it is still atop a list of excellent hamburgers in the area. So go by and check out the Barracks Street burger and let us know your thoughts, and don’t forget to give it your own score under “your score” on the website; and as always, check back next week as the NWFL Burger Tour rolls on.