A Round of Premium Burgers, Please

Burgers never get old. No matter how many burger joints there are in a city, you’ll be sure people will still flock to them, especially when their specialty is premium burgers.

In 2011, brothers George and Charbel Ghaby founded Rounds Premium Burgers and successfully put a fun, new twist on classic American burger stands. With 4 current brick and mortar locations and one mobile food truck, Rounds offers something for everyone. In February, Rounds rolled into Pasadena and set up shop at 46 N. Lake Ave., just above Colorado Blvd.

We asked co-owner George Ghaby about the price: quality ratio of their burgers.

“We’re not reinventing the wheel here!” he said. “We do have a burger that a lot of other people have. Brioche bun is now one of the top buns produced for higher-end burgers. The difference is our Classic Burger – which has lettuce, onion, tomato, pickles and Thousand Island on a Brioche bun – is $4.95. You don’t get that price anywhere for that kind of quality. The meat is top quality, the bun is top quality, the produce is fresh every day.”

Top quality burgers for the lowest price sounds like a good deal, but it gets better.

Ghaby adds, “Our regular fries are $1.95. Our drink is $1.95. You put that together in a combo, you get a dollar discount so it becomes $7.90 plus tax for a burger, fries and drink.”

Even the fries are of top quality, being fresh-cut everyday, and cooked twice to be “crispier and lighter.”

Today, Ghaby expects diners to know quality when they see it.

“People are more educated about food,” he says. “They understand when you say fresh-cut fries. They recognize Brioche buns. They know what to expect when you say fresh meat. We don’t have freezers, – we don’t have microwaves, we don’t have heat lamps.”

As for the Premium Burgers, “All we have are Premium Choices! From our ingredients to our buns, you will get the best quality. Also, if you want a healthier option, you have the choice of having your burger lettuce wrapped, or even over lettuce.”

Rounds offers a curated line-up of ten tasty toppings to accompany their eight different burgers.

There’s also this delicious concoction called, The Rounds’ Way, where vegetables are chopped and mixed with Thousand Island dressing, then slathered on top of the burger. Not to be missed.

When it comes to the meat, “we have four different types to choose from: Fresh All-Natural Ground Beef, All-Natural Chicken Breast and our own special house made Turkey and Veggie patties.”

Notice the recurring homemade theme? Almost everything is hand-chopped, made, and mixed in-house at Rounds, and therein lies their uniqueness.

Aside from burgers and fries, Rounds’ also serves eight kinds of craft beers at their Pasadena location, thereby separating it completely from other fast-food burger joints.

With all other restaurants, Ghaby says they are always looking to evolve and add to the menu. “Next month, we are going to bring in a pretzel bun as a choice. We will have a monthly special. We’ll also be adding more specialty burgers to our menu. We want to keep working on getting new stuff.”

And of course, aside from the great food and comfortable ambience, Rounds’ prides itself in the excellent service it provides to customers. “Anything you want, anytime you have a problem, come up to the cashier and they’ll fix it for you, no issues, no questions asked,” says Ghaby.

Rounds’ Premium Burgers. A burger joint with a twist. The twist? They don’t try to be pretentious. Just great food, excellent service and a great place at honest prices.

To check out Rounds’ Premium Burgers’ complete menu and locations, visit http://www.roundsburgers.com or you can call (626) 304-9810 (Pasadena location).