Rouge Restaurant & Bistro

Rouge Restaurant & Bistro was one of the most recommended burger locations in our query amongst our friends and co-workers. People absolutely raved about this place, so with this in mind I decided to not let the expectations get the better of us. I find that sometimes when an event, movie, restaurant, etc. is puffed up by massive recommendations that I am always disappointed.

We went down in the evening and were quickly greeted and were led to the dining room. Beef Boy and I perused the menu and saw that no burger was listed. This is when we realized that the bar and the dining area had different menus. Oops! We let the wait staff know we were there to try the burger and since it wasn't as yet busy, they were happy to accommodate us.

We ordered the "Rouge Burger with Fontina & Tomato & Field Greens" that is listed at a cost of $8.

The burger arrived as you see it above. The ciabatta bun was nicely grilled as was the hand formed beef patty. The patty had a lovely crusty sear with grill marks. As you can see, the fontina cheese was nicely melted. There were two slices of tomatoes and a slice of red onion that was about the thickness of one of the tomatoes. There were field greens used for lettuce on the bun. The watercress salad was extremely fresh. The french fries were made on premises, lightly salted, skin on, and tasted good. The plate was finished off with two tiny gherkin pickles.

Now about the donnybrook that Beef Boy and I almost had... He thought it was outstanding and it appeared to have been cooked beautifully medium to an angelic light pink and had an excellent juicy bite. Unfortunately, we did not receive the same burger. My burger arrived just past medium and was moist with a nice flavor. The inconsistency was proven after I made him switch burgers, so that he could experience my patty. I actually think he thought I was over reacting, but he agreed with my assessment after his bite, but was still quite happy with his burger. Taking into account our criteria and after much discussion, his 4 1/2 rating and my 3 3/4 rating was averaged to a 4.

The atmosphere was excellent and we will definitely go back to try something off the dinner menu. All in all, we had a very nice experience. This is just the way the burger flipped!

We are happy to report it is a Coca-Cola establishment.

Rouge Restaurant & Bistro
3 Center Street
West Stockbridge, MA 01266
(413) 232-4111