A Burger Worth Waiting For: Holeman & Finch, Atlanta

a burger and fries on a plate
Holeman & Finch Burger

Burgers rank up their as my favorite food just behind pizza. When visiting a new city, I always try to seek out what’s considered to be the best burger out there.

Since starting my blog, I’ve written about burgers many times. (There are links to some of them at the end of this post.)

I heard about Holeman & Finch Public House a few years back on one of the food-related television shows. I wasn’t sure which show featured it so I went to the trusty TV Food Maps app to look it up.

Holeman and Finch can be a very hard burger to get your hands on. Each night only 24 burgers are made. Burger time is at 10:00 PM but you can reserve your burger at any time during service.

This sounded like a good gimmick and great  way to drum up interest in a restaurant to me. However, I heard mostly great things about this burger so I had to try it and find out for myself. The thing is,  since we travel with a toddler,  getting to a restaurant early to reserve a burger which wouldn’t be served until 10 wasn’t an option. Luckily there was another way…

While checking out H&F’s site I found out that the burger is served as a mainstay of the brunch menu on Sundays! This was great news! I planned the day around getting to the restaurant before opening time since I anticipated a line to get in.

a group of people standing in a line
An early line

After touring CNN’s headquarters in the morning, we headed straight to H&F. We arrived around 10:45 (they open at 11:30) and saw 7-8 people already waiting. This was good- I knew we would get right in once the doors opened. The line started getting longer relatively fast. If you plan to go to H&F for Sunday brunch, be sure to get there early!

a chef preparing food in a kitchen
Top right- Burger prep

One you step inside Holeman & Finch you can see right into the open kitchen. Lots of appetizers were already plated and burger prep was going on right behind them. There had to be over 20 plates with buns and sauces waiting to be completed.

a menu of food and drinks
Brunch Menu

We ordered our meal relatively fast. The brunch menu has limited options but just about all of them sounded great. Kim and I each ordered one of the burgers and we also ordered two small appetizers to share.

Here is what we got:

a bowl of caramel popcorn
Bacon-Caramel Popcorn

I read great things about the Bacon-Caramel Popcorn and had to give it a try. The small bowl seemed a bit pricey at $6.00. I didn’t notice the bacon at first but after eating a couple of pieces, I started to notice the salty and smokey taste of it. This went really well with the sweet flavor of the caramel on the popcorn. I thought it was a really yummy snack and Lucas really enjoyed it too. Don’t forget- if you give popcorn to toddlers, give them very tiny pieces since popcorn is a choking hazard.

devil deviled eggs on a plate
Deviled Eggs Three Ways

I usually love Deviled Eggs but H&F’s version, while creative just didn’t hit the mark. Maybe it was me since I am a very picky eater. The eggs come three ways- Ham, Bird’s Eye Chili & Pickle.

The best one by far to me was the Bird’s Eye Chili. The egg had good flavor and wasn’t too spicy. As for the other two, I am not a big fan of ham but the egg version was OK. I don’t eat pickles but had a tiny taste of the egg. I really didn’t like this one but Kim enjoyed.

And now onto the main event.

a close-up of a burger
The Burger

When the burgers came out I was impressed and couldn’t wait to dig in. I removed the house-made pickles since (like stated above) they aren’t my thing. The burger is a double patty cheeseburger on a house-made bun with fries and homemade ketchup and mustard on the side.

The burger was a nice size but not massive. The meat seemed to be perfectly cooked, was juicy and tasted great. The bun and homemade ketchup were also really good helping to create a really awesome burger. One thing I didn’t really love was the onions. I tried to take as many off as possible which wasn’t an easy thing to do.

If I return to Atlanta, I’d definitely like to try out the burger again. If I was asked if the wait was worth it, I’d say for sure, if burgers are your thing!

Find out all of the details about Holeman and Finch here.

Here are some other burger-inspired posts:

5 thoughts on “A Burger Worth Waiting For: Holeman & Finch, Atlanta

  1. By the way, I was at the game earlier tonight; and I asked an employee what H&F meant. It was Holeman and Finch; and the aroma of the hamburgers was enticing. I did not even know they had an establishment in the stadium; and I told my brother about your article, which is one reason why we decided to try it. Thank you for the recommendation, Michael!

    1. Hey Brian- Glad that you liked the burger! We went to the Braves game the day after visiting Holeman & Finch and I had the burger there too! The best bet if you want to eat at the restaurant is to go for brunch on a Sunday. Try to arrive 30 minutes to an hour before opening and you should be in without a problem when the doors open. As for the comparison between the burgers, I remember the stadium verson being very good but I enjoyed it a bit more at the restaurant.

  2. If you really wanted a hamburger and only 24 are made each night, consider going to the stadium to watch the Atlanta Braves play baseball. There is what is called an H&F in the Braves Plaza location of the stadium; and all they sell are hamburgers, french fries and aluminum bottles of Coca-Cola. The price for all three items is $15.00 — not exactly inexpensive; but when you consider that that includes tax, it is really not a bad deal for what I thought was a rather good meal at a baseball stadium. I will have to try the hamburgers at the actual restaurant to see if there is a difference; but my hamburger looked just like the one in the photograph in your article — without the cheese, of course, as I do not like cheeseburgers.

  3. Ryan- Sounds like you got to sample lots of food in Atlanta! I was really hoping to go to the Vortex but 2 year olds are not allowed in! I also didn’t get to try any BBQ while there. There’s always next time…

    If you have limited time, I’d probably go to Stone Mountain although why not do both! The burger is only available at night unless you happen to be around for Sunday brunch when it is part of the regular menu!

  4. I am in Atlanta right now, and it is my last night oddly enough (for a little while at least). Tried a lot of burgers, bbq, and am pretty over it. Vortex Burger, Fat Matts, Killer Burger, US Cafe, and the list goes on to include other greats such as yours (I haven’t tried it yet).

    I have tried Felinas Pizza (but not their mexican place next to it). I have been thinking Park Tavern might be a good fit (dining program member and decent looking menu).

    At this point though, a cup of soup – or a naked chipotle burrito ironically enough sounds good. Versus the salty food I have been bombarded with.

    Plus, wouldn’t it be better use of my time to see Stone Mountain vs. go wait for a burger?

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