Representative photography. Actual appearance may vary.
The only Washington restaurant on The New York Times' 2024 list of 50 best restaurants in America. The Infatuation's #1 smashburger in Seattle. Eater Seattle's Best Burger of 2024. Not everyone agrees - but that's exactly what makes it worth finding out for yourself.
Representative photography. Actual appearance may vary.
Elmer Dulla opened familyfriend in December 2023 on Beacon Hill - a single-story building on Beacon Avenue South, behind a whitewashed brick facade of a 100-year-old structure. Drawing from his childhood growing up in Santa Rita, Guam, Dulla brought Seattle its only Guamanian restaurant. The concept is simple: clever riffs on Pacific comfort food, with Chamorro culture at the center. The burger wasn't supposed to become the main attraction.
The Double Kewpie Burger: two smashed patties pressed razor thin, with a frizzled lace overhang that crackles at the edge. The signature is the sauce - miso paste blended with Japanese Kewpie mayo, delivering what The New York Times called McCormick gravy-like richness. Chopped pickles and onions are folded into the sauce, suspended in a confetti that distributes their crunch evenly across every bite. The New York Times called it a paragon of the smashed double-cheese form. The Infatuation said all other burgers should bow down. The Seattle Times begged to differ. That debate is half the fun.
familyfriend is a Guamanian restaurant first and a burger destination second. This Smash Score reflects burger-specific source signals, including both major editorial praise and legitimate contrarian criticism.
Familyfriend's version - a paragon of the smashed double-cheese form plied heavily with Kewpie mayo, chopped pickles and onion - is already getting national renown. It's never a bad idea to start with a killer burger.
We can't think of a better burger in town than Familyfriend's smashed miso-y situation. One singular essence of burger that all others should bow down to.
This is the best burger in Seattle. A stack of juicy-salty patties that embody the beefiness of brown gravy, with a frizzled circumference that adds a nice crackle.
The Kewpie Burger is something special - artfully assembled, with a strong perspective that makes familyfriend more than just a place to get food.
The burger is the most overrated and the least interesting item on a compelling menu of small plates and street food informed by the cuisines of Guam and the Pacific islands.
The smashed patties had an impressively crisp sear throughout, tapering to a crunchy lace overhang that extended beyond the buns.