After weaving your way through the treacherous Rolling Meadows parking lot and (hopefully) getting onto Central without scraping some paint off your bumper, you might find yourself deserving a Japanese-inspired burger. Gabutto Burger may be able to fulfill that desire.

Their concept is simple: American burgers with a Japanese twist. It sounded interesting, but I had to go what all the fuss was about. So, after a stale start to my Saturday, I decided to go check out the new joint with a couple of my fellow editors.

After scooping up seniors Sahil Shah and Sam Svoboda, we made our way over to Gabutto Burger, lying in between Starbucks and Potbelly on Golf Road. First note: the location makes Gabutto Burger easily accessible during lunchtime. The restaurant, a relatively small venue, can hold around 20 people comfortably. Luckily, we had a variety of tables to choose from, so we approached the cashier with our orders in mind.

Second note: the service was slacking. Shah, not having the biggest appetite, ordered a strawberry smoothie and some plain fries. Upon closer review, he noticed that the words on the receipt didn’t match his order; the cashier put down an apple smoothie instead of his intended strawberry smoothie. Not a problem; the staff happily corrected their mistake. The second time Shah went up to the cashier, she seemed confused. This time, Shah caught that they were charging him an extra dollar for the fries; so, he returned to our table with a dollar in hand. Almost immediately after, we saw a staff worker rewrite the price of fries on the menu. Once we noticed that the staff members were unfamiliar with each other and were introducing themselves to each other, we decided that these issues were likely related to the fact that Gabutto Burger just recently opened (Sep 6).

Third note: the food came out quick and was super savory. Putting aside the early service complications, we got our food in less than 15 minutes. I ordered the BBQ pork rice burger, persuaded by a suggestion from the friendly cashier. The burger looked interesting but the smell was even more enticing. The burger’s buns were entirely made of rice, which made it more chewy than a traditional burger. The meat, however, was cooked perfectly and packed with rich flavor. To complement the Japanese twist, there were two unique condiments: spicy mayo and wasabi mayo. Both went well with the food.

Having a teenage appetite, I also treated myself to some good-old chicken wings that unfortunately underperformed compared to the sandwich. They were cooked decently, but lacked the punch of flavor that I got from the burger. Not wanting to waste the food, I slathered on the spicy mayo, while also tapping in Svoboda to help me finish.

The prices were nothing to complain about. My order came to a total of around $13, while most of the burgers were around $7 each.

On the list of best places to eat around, the Rolling Meadows Gabutto Burger is definitely not at the top. However, this doesn’t mean that it’s that bad. I would still happily enjoy the unique flavors of Gabutto Burger, but maybe just every so often.