Gala Restaurant & Bar at The Orchards Hotel

You might recall that I said in the criteria posting that our ratings were up to five burgers. A five burger burger is one where we would hear the angels sing and be catapulted into an apoplexy of burger ecstasy. We never expect to find that holy grail. Well.... at Gala, we actually heard the angels warming up. WOW!

Gala Restaurant & Bar is relatively new at the Orchards Hotel in Williamstown, MA. I am not sure what was the restaurant in the hotel previous to Gala. The only time I have ever been to the Orchards was for a Christmas party that the firm I used to work for held. Besides that, it is a very pricey trip and staying at the Orchards in high season, i.e. the Summer, would run you about 40 quality burgers!

Gala Restaurant & Bar has been advertising the bar as casual location where one can just relax and come as you are. This is pretty much to attract the locals and bring them in all year round. I checked out their bar menu on-line when I heard about their opening and was excited to see that they offered a burger. We were looking to go for a burger run, but I didn't want to drive too far, so we decided on this establishment.

We approached the hostess filled with trepidation, thinking that maybe we wouldn't be allowed in due to our casual attire. The other patrons going into the restaurant and bar were dressed to the nines. This is quite the fancy schmancy place you see and we are just the yokels from down the road. We were warmly greeted and seated as we requested in the bar.

The atmosphere is lovely and the server, while being a little flaky, was friendly. During the course of our stay, the bartender, and another server assisted in the serving of our table. The service was technically superb.

We perused the menu and saw that the burger was listed as "Angus Burger - 8oz. grilled certified Angus burger with lettuce, tomato, red onion, and Belgian style fries." The price was $9. So Beef Boy and I happily ordered the burger our traditional medium.

The burgers arrived as you see it above. The burger was hand formed in an imperfect square shape (our first)... no this is not a Wendy's Burger! The kaiser roll was beautifully toasted and lovingly hugged 2 fresh leaves of romaine lettuce, 1 slice of tomato (BB did get two slices), and a slice of red onion. The burger showed gorgeous evidence of grill marks and had a fabulous sear. Upon biting into this made to order burger, we experienced an excellent juicy pink. Absolutely delicious. Both burgers were cooked consistently. We always switch to taste so as to be fair and scientific in our tasting.

This burger had the freshest veggies we have had so far and the best looking, best tasting, and biggest ole kosher dill pickle to date. The fries were made in-house, skin on and were crispy and lightly salted. Fabulous for a non-seasoned fry.

As an aside, we did order the hummus plate, which came with pita chips, imported olives and artichokes. The plating was lovely and the drizzle of balsamic vinegar was a fine finish. This was THE best hummus we have ever had... Beef Boy was served his Earl Grey in a lovely, traditional English way. It was only after we got into the car to leave that we realized we didn't request American cheese nor were we offered. As you know, in the past, this would have ticked me off, but man, this certainly didn't need it!

As of today, this is easily the best burger we have found in the Berkshires. We still have faith, though, that it can be topped. We unanimously award it 4 3/4 burgers.

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

Gala Restaurant & Bar
at The Orchards Hotel
222 Adams Road
Williamstown, MA 01267
(413) 458-9611