Rate-A-Restaurant, #116 in a series

Restaurant: 25 Degrees

Location: 7000 Hollywood Blvd. (Hollywood)

Type of restaurant: Hamburgers

We stipulated:For our anniversary, we took the day off -- so a romantic dinner wasn't in the cards. How to celebrate via lunch? Let's be decadent. Gooey, piled-high hamburgers and fries in a cool setting sounded like the thing to do. We'd both been wanting to try 25 Degrees at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, so now was our chance.

They stipulated: Either order one of their three recommended hamburger creations, or create one yourself. (Although, keep reading: This is a bit of a trick on their part.)


Maria's hamburger

What we ordered: Hamburger with roasted tomatoes, crispy proscuitto, burrata cheese and pesto (Maria; $12); Turkey burger with green chili, chipotle sauce and avocado (Mike, $12); pomme frites ($5); Diet Coke, in Mexican bottles ($3 each)


Mexican Diet Coke ("Coca-Cola light")

High point: Maria's burger was fantastic and hit the spot, while the location itself is visually well done.


Mike's turkey burger

Low point: Here's the deal. Maria got the "#2" burger, which, as we wrote above, included roasted tomatoes, proscuitto, burrata chese and pesto. It came to $12. Fine, she ordered the #2, I get it. Meanwhile, I was intrigued by 25 Degrees' "#3" burger: Turkey burger with straus family jack cheese, green chili, chipotle sauce and avocado -- which also costs $12.

Except I didn't want cheese. So I ordered it a la carte: Turkey burger ($8), green chili ($1) and avocado ($1), along with the chipotle sauce (50 cents). That's right -- the cheese costs $1.50. So without it, my "build your own" burger should have cost $10.50.

But nope -- the sneaky bastards at 25 Degrees still charged me $12 for a "#3 without cheese." Whoa -- I specifically avoided calling it a "#3" in order to pay for it as a "build your own" and not get charged for the cheese I didn't get. But they pulled a fast one on me. Unfortunately, I didn't realize it until later.


Pomme frites -- uh, french fries

Overall impression: Up until I realized that I'd been cheated by them, I enjoyed 25 Degrees -- particularly Maria's excellent burger and the overall ambience. Now, I'm a tad miffed.

Chance we will go back: Again, I was planning on it -- but I'm not so sure now. I know, it's a piddly $1.50 I was cheated out of -- but it's the principle of the matter!

(For a full roster of Franklin Avenue's restaurant reviews, check out our companion Rate-A-Restaurant site.)