Umami Burger, Las Vegas NV

The simple Umami Burger menu is burgers, fries and apps, and it works. Locations in California, Vegas, Chicago and NYC will tempt your tastebuds.

It is extremely rare that I leave Oklahoma once August hits, because I’m so busy getting ready for football season. But I will occasionally make an exception…of course a trip to Vegas to celebrate Reilly’s birthday is reason enough!

We arrived in Vegas on Saturday afternoon, and had a fabulous and very fun couple of days. We stayed at the Tropicana, and had cabana day both Sunday and Monday. If you’ve never done it, you are definitely missing out. It’s not crazy expensive especially with a group, you get your own space, and you also get wonderful service.

Reilly had a room Tuesday night at the SLS, which is one of the newest hotels in Vegas. The SLS has a very modern vibe, and an amazing pool. But honestly, I had no complaints about the Tropicana pool either!  Shawn was staying in the room Tuesday night, so after we checked in and dropped our bags off, it was time for lunch.

Umami Burger is one of the hotel restaurants at SLS. We all needed greasy food, and I had heard good things about Umami Burger, so it was the perfect combination. Umami Burger opened in 2009 in LA, and now has locations in Southern California, Northern California, Chicago, and New York. Japan is next on the list, and will open soon.

Umami Burger has a variety of seating options, including booths along the walls, tables, couches in the middle, plus of course bar seating

We sat at one of the corner booths, and I love that each has a TV on the wall.

What is Umami you ask? It’s considered the “Fifth Sense”, in addition to sweet, salty, sour and bitter. Umami originated in Japan, and is found naturally in many foods.

The Umami Burger menu is pretty simple, featuring appetizers, salads, burgers, sides, and desserts. There’s no better way to kick off a hangover cure meal than with meat and cheese, so we began with an order of the beef barbacoa loaded nachos

Wow, these nachos are fabulous. The barbacoa is incredibly tender, and it melts in your mouth. You really can’t taste the beer in the cheese, but it does add a great depth of flavor.

Michele went the healthiest of the group, and got the ahi tuna burger

I didn’t try any, but Michele raved about how good it was.

Grilled chicken breast, turkey patty, and even portobello are available as a substitute for any burger. April did the Cali burger with portobello

I tried a bite, and it was fabulous. I’ve never tried portobello burgers, but after trying 2 of April’s during the trip, I’m becoming a big fan. I had always heard “it tastes just like a burger”. No, it’s not “just like a burger”, but portobello mushrooms do have a very meaty flavor.

Reilly, Matt, Shawn and I all got the manly burger. Was that the smartest decision for me, after 3 days of rich food? Probably not, but who can resist bacon lardons?!

This burger was so delicious, and the meat is juicy and has incredible flavor. The Umami Burger meat is house-ground, and the burgers are medium rare. The onion strings add such a great bite and texture, and the bacon lardons are fabulous. Of course they are, because they are bacon.

Last, but certainly not least, were the sides. The only options of sides at Umami Burger in Las Vegas is fries…and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. We decided to get one of each, for blog research of course

All of the fries were perfectly cooked, and screaming hot. I honestly couldn’t decide on one favorite  as they were all really good. I liked the truffle fries, but most of the sauce was on the top layer of fries. A side of the truffle sauce would be a better idea, so you can dip as you eat.

Will I go back to Umami Burger? No question. The food was delicious, and I really enjoyed the atmosphere.

For reviews of more restaurants in Las Vegas, click on the photos below!