Published by Jeremy. Last Updated on November 13, 2021.
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MoonLit Burger is one of those restaurant concepts that has taken Pittsburgh by storm starting from their very first event. In just one year the concept went from having somewhat infrequent popups around the city to opening a dedicated restaurant to sling their popular LA-style smash burgers in Dormont.
While we, unfortunately, never made it to a pop-up event, we made sure to be one of the first people in the door when the restaurant opened in November 2021.
It was worth the wait, but admittedly with some kinks that we couldn't completely overlook as well.
Go for the Loaded Bacon Burger at MoonLit Burgers
MoonLit Burger's menu reads like a fairly straightforward burger joint with just a few options that make ordering quite easy. The Classic Burger comes with double patties, griddled onions, cheese, pickles, and Moon sauce and alternative options include a Half Moon Burger (one patty), Bacon Double Cheeseburger (adding on bacon, tomato, sweet onion, and garlic dijonnaise to the base burger), or a Veggie Burger using Beyond patties.
The menu is rounded out with a chicken sandwich, chicken tenders, a few sides, and salads to name a few. But as the bread-and-butter of this restaurant is smash burgers, we knew what we had to get and opted for one Classic Burger and one Bacon Double Cheeseburger to effectively try the entire burger menu.
We have to admit, this one was a bit hit or miss- some of which we attribute to how insanely busy they were in the opening week and hopefully will be improved upon as time goes by.
The Classic Burger was the problem point if we are to be honest. It felt like it was a bit haphazardly put together over what we expected from the glorious-looking burgers we saw on social media from the pop-ups. The meat was a bit overcooked, past the desired crispy stage for a smash burger and almost to the point of being charred, and the toppings that we expected to be overflowing were paltry dollops at best (including missing onions outright). This was not the case on just one burger, but also on a friend's burger who joined us for the evening too.
So while we'd say that the flavors were good, we were a bit let down in that the burger was disproportionately meat and meat alone. It just needed more of literally everything else.
The Bacon Double Cheeseburger, on the other hand, was practically perfect. This one came overflowing with cheese, bacon, lettuce, onion, and the garlic dijonnaise and came together for a killer combination all around. So while we may write off the differences to the fact that the restaurant is still so new, there were definitely some eyes longing at the bacon burger over the classic one during our visit- the difference was truly striking.
Now there was another dish we ordered at MoonLit Burgers that was true perfection, and that was the Smash Fries. You won't want to miss these.
The Smash Fries effectively take a classic burger and put it on top of a bed of fries with a heaping mound of cheese sauce and pickled jalapenos for good measure. Yes, we're talking two burger patties, onions, and more topped on fries, and yes, this means that between the two of us we ate about six burger patties in our visit, but bear with us here because these calories were worth it.
What was perfect about this dish is that we had a massive amount of toppings in every single bite. Burger? Yep. Melted cheese and moon sauce? Yep (and oh do we wish the burger had that amount on it). Jalapeno? You know it. Even the last bits of fries still came soaked in sauce, and when compared to the classic burger, we were there for it.
Overall, apart from the toppings-miss on the Classic Burger, MoonLit Burgers is going to be satisfying a need for tasty burgers in Dormont and smash burgers in Pittsburgh at large. But on our next visit, we have to admit, we're going to try the chicken and the milkshakes just to give the entire menu a complete run-through!
MoonLit Burgers is located at 1426 Potomac Avenue in Dormont.
