In this Game of Life* rare opportunities arise to try so many different flavors under one roof. Let me give you some Clue*'s as to why Game is the next best Louisville staple in town.
1. On one side of the menu you are allowed to Scrabble* all the meats and toppings to make a custom burger. On the other side are the Chef creations.
2. Game has the Monopoly* on different meats including Elk, Rabbit, Deer, Kanagroo, Duck, Lamb and Boar. There are even meatball samplers for the meat so patrons can get a smaller taste.
3. The Twister* is that for a place called Game they have vegetarian options. I tried the Poblano Corn Garbonzo burger and still felt every savory juicy flavor as if I was eating a true meat based burger.
4. There was a Candy Land* of beer selection offered. My friend and I paired our burgers with a stout on tap and bottle of Belgian wheat. Check out the Game Facebook page for picture of their beer cage.
5. This is the same owner that started Hammer Heads, a staple for BBQ. You can catch many of the great service staff at Hammerheads playing Chinese Checkers* between these two restaurants and helping out at both venues.
6. It was like a Chess* strategy figuring out all we could eat on our first visit. We also tried the grilled Caesar. The grilled romaine leaves were not limp and not over charred. The salad was large enough for a meal or two to share. For a side we got the truffle oil shoestring fries, the description alone is making me salivate again.
7. Game is a different concept then any I have seen in greater Louisville. Trust me you will not be Sorry* to be adventurous and order the special of the day or any non-angus meal. We tried the Rabbit Special and I was amazed how little game flavor I tasted. It was cooked perfectly and topped with a delicious aioli. This restaurant is a unique flavor experience for everyone to try.
*All games are trademarked...however this review is not so feel free to share!
I had the pleasure of trying out Game last weekend. I've heard a bunch of my friends talking about this place and I was excited to try it out. One of the owners actually used to train Brazilian Jiu-jitsu with me before he opened Hammerheads.
Anyways I had a taste of the camel burger and I had the elk burger for myself (as recommended on the menu along). With the burger I had with truffle fries and the cider that the waitress recommended.
Everything was great and service was fantastic. The flavors are wildly crazy like you might expect when eating something like. . . camel. There is a slight gaminess to the food which adds a certain level of novelty to food, plus how often do you get to tell someone you ate elk? If you like burgers and want something a little different give Game a try.
The one thing I did notice was that it was already packed and me and my friends purposely went during non peak hours (6pm). I had read a lot of reviews where people knocked the service saying it was poor. I'm sure there are instances of bad service but I would venture to say it was more of a product of being slammed with a huge amount of guests all at once. Maybe I'm just sympathetic to servers because I was one years ago but. . . Â give them a break. :)
Best burgers. Already becoming a regular here. First, before getting to the food, let me address the parking situation for those reviewers complaining: there is extra parking across the street. I've never been unable to find a space.
The food is awesome, never had a unsatisfactory meal. I've created my own burger combo and I've chosen from the chef recommendations; always good. Kangaroo, ostrich, duck, salmon, wild boar, salmon and antelope have all been perfect. Pretzel bun is my recommended bread of choice. Sweet potato fries with tomato jam, bone marrow mayo on everything. Two people can get great burgers and sides of fries for $25.
I've had the scotch eggs as a starter before (one reviewer seemed confused that "starters" meant "appetizers." Really, dude?) Anyway, best scotch eggs ever. These made the ones at Irish Rover taste like an appetizer in your grocery store freezer.
The service is great. Chris at the bar is a rad dude. The servers are nice. Seriously people who complain about service - are you expecting hand on foot service - someone standing by your table for your every need? This is a burger joint. Also, some dude that said this place is expensive - this isn't Applebee's $9.99 platter special. You can eat cheap here or eat pricey. You have that option. As long as I get a burger and beverage without any asshole attitude, I don't care too much. All is good here!
Don't hassle the bartender - he'll get to you when he gets to you. You'll get your drink. Also, if you're waiting for a table and want a drink at the bar, have cash unless you're getting $10+ worth of drinks.
Summary: rad burgers. That's all. Not recommended for kids. There is no kids menu, it's not kids food, and I also don't like kids and would rather not eat my awesome burger with your kid dancing around my booth. Go to McDonalds.
My taste buds say wow but my wallet says ouch! I paid close to $20 for the wagyu beef burger after adding the jalapeño jam sauce and grilled mushrooms. It tasted amazing with the pickles (the cucumber still green, sweet and tart) and all the fancy greens. So eating here is a treat and an adventure but definitely not an every day thing. My advice is try the other more exotic and relatively reasonably priced burgers first.
My husband enjoyed the kangaroo Burger and my Japanese cow meat was soft and juicy. Â We enjoyed the soft chewy pretzel buns, just like your soft pretzel just softer and less doughy. Â Maybe my taste buds are not refined but I can't tell the difference between these two meats. But the anticipation of bragging to someone that you had kangaroo meat is part of the appeal of this place!
The food is definitely delicious and worth checking out so be patient. Â The wait will be long, the appetizer might come right after your main dish, waiters/hosts might be slow to come to the rescue, and your order might be mixed up a few times. But service doesn't make a happy stomach, good food does! And isn't that the whole reason for eating out?
Good food. Not Great Service. Had a great Wild Boar Burger per chef recommendation. It was tasty and paired perfectly. Ordered a glass of Malbec - tasted terrible & I would swear the bottle had spent some time sitting on a concrete floor absorbing THAT flavor. Stick to the beer menu.
I will probably try this place again but I will get a different waitress because even though she tried to explain what a Malbec was suppose to taste like, she didn't do it in order to educate me (which she need not do since I KNOW what a Malbec is supposed to taste like and it is not stone/concrete undertones), it was more like she was trying to educate me to the fact that I was a dumba**. So, in conclusion, I will go back but not to be seated in her section. Kthxbi!
My rating in one sentence: Good food, unique options, hip atmosphere, shit service.
Pros
I enjoyed the quality of the food and the menu offers a great variety for both meat eaters and not. The food was very well prepared on wood planks and was also visually appealing. The scotch eggs are awesome! They also have a good variety of beer and running specials on both booze and food.
Cons
Not wanting to wait 45 minutes for a table, I have been lucky enough to sit at the bar the three times I've been here. I'm happy for that because there is not a formal waiting area. I sympathize with the awkward standing guests who are waiting with their parties of four to be seated. But honestly the whole experience made me feel awkward as a customer.
I watch as the bartender franticly takes orders and pours drinks. Meanwhile he is trying to communicate with the dazed and confused servers and kitchen staff. All three visits he took my order 45 minutes after I was ready to give it. He gave me serious attitude when I wanted to customize my burger, further making me feel stupid. Maybe I am stupid, but I don't want bone marrow mayo. I got more attitude when I asked to have our bill split between my card and my friend's card. Speaking of my bill, I had the elk burger and two beers at $45.... ouch. In all fairness I didn't know that I would be charged for the fries that were given to me when a server messed up someone else's order. I guess a disclaimer would have been nice. But they have to make money some how since the server messed up about 3 other orders that night.
I work two jobs in the food service industry- server/bartender. I understand how crazy a packed restaurant can be. I also understand how much of a setback a naive customer can be. But I know the importance of making a customer feel welcome and appreciated. Especially with that level of pretentiously overpriced food.
I will recommend the food to anyone, but most likely will give them a good 6 months to create a less hostile atmosphere before going back.
Who doesn't want to eat all the animals?That's what Game promises. But what they don't tell you is that you're gonna have to get savage if you want to get a table.
They don't take reservations. Hell, they don't even answer their phone. It's all asses and elbows any given night. What's with that trend? It makes customers feel like the contents of their wallet, not their dining experience, is what's important.
And, really, the food at Game is good enough and interesting enough that they can get away with it. I had the meatball sampler, containing kangaroo, antelope and wild boar. It was different and delicious. And gave me the poops of a mighty lion for the next few days. I also had the duck burger, medium rare, with foie gras. Because I'm a decadent mo-fo, a'ight.? They also have a bone marrow appetizer that you can eat right out of the bone, which obviously, is super cool.
But, it took over an hour to get a table and forever to order. Once we were able to get someone to pay attention to us, the food did come out relatively quickly. But damn, you have to fight for your right to get fed up in there.
Although the food was great, and I would recommend it to a friend, I probably won't be going back any time soon because of the aforementioned shortcomings in customer service. Yeah, I get it, let's be trendy and woo! Louisville restaurants, we're so cool. But one of the things that makes Louisville awesome is not having to be all pretentious while eating a slab of exotic animal.
I've also recently heard that the proprietors offer half-off foie gras when the animal rights protesters are out and about. The snark shark in me loves that.
When I first heard that the guys at Hammerheads were opening a new restaurant I was super psyched to try it out. After eating at Game twice, the first time, the first week it opened and the second time, about a month later, I feel confident enough to give it my stamp of approval.
With servers all clad in plaid flannel shirts, along with wood furnishings, it reminds me of a hipster diner. I thought the burgers were delicious. They were  juicy, flavorful, very well seasoned and quite sizable. I had the Kangaroo burger which I really enjoyed. The meat had a unique, kind of sweet flavor. My boyfriend had the Wagyu burger which was also excellent (honestly, I would be pissed if wasn't for $20). We also had that Wagyu beef tar tar appetizer which was delicious, although I thought the bone marrow mayo was unnecessary.
Other Yelpers have complained about the service but I thought the service was great both times I came. The first time I sat at a table and the second I sat at the bar. I arrived around 8:30 pm both times and, despite the restaurant being pretty packed, There was no wait to be seated.
My only qualm is this: If you're going to charge top dollar for a burger it should come with a side. I find it insulting to have to pay $2 extra for a side of fries when my burger is already priced in the mid teens. I don't care if it's chips, fries, or cole slaw. None of these cost a lot, but they can really make a huge difference in a customer's experience.
While the burgers are great, I really think Game's appetizers are where its at. When I return I plan on sampling several of the different game meatballs and then splitting a couple of appetizers. The couple sitting next to us ordered the bone marrow and it looked killer. I'll definitely be back to try it.
To be straightfoward, I like Hammerheads more.
The food didn't blow me away like it did at Hammerheads. We tried the wild boar and elk burgers. I felt the wild boar was a little too heavily spiced on some bites for me to really taste the meat. If I didn't want to taste some wild game, I wouldn't have come! I felt the same with the elk. Though I am big fan of the cranberry-jalapeno jam that came with my burger...it complimented the burger well. Sweet potato fries were average, nothing to write home about.
My recommendation is to give this place a few months to work out the timing kinks. Â The food is excellent, but for now, I'd recommend showing up on a weeknight, early on the weekend, or not at all. Â I think the turnaround will get significantly faster over time, but for now, avoid this place on Friday and Saturday nights unless you want to turn your gourmet burger and fry fix into a 2.5 hour outing.
Along with the likely to improve turn around time, they have not figured out the demand for each type of burger, so if you show up on Saturday night (like I did), some of the burgers on the menu may not be available.
I'll give the place a little more time to get all the kinks worked out before I try a Friday or Saturday night again. Â
Note, this isn't about the service, the staff were as friendly as you could want, they just didn't prepare for this type of demand.
I'm gonna go ahead and weigh in here even though I plan on revisiting a few more times, aka these four stars are not the final tally.
Like any frequenter of Hammerheads I was more than psyched to see what those folks' brilliant minds would dream up for this restaurant called simply but intriguingly, Game. After my first visit, lets see we've got...truffle oil fries, check. Craft beers, check. Customers and servers clad in plaid, check. The beloved elk burger, check. A la carte menu, check. Food comes out as it's ready, check... Sound familiar? Yeah, Game is essentially a Hammerheads part 2.
Like I said I absolutely love Hammerheads so that's great news for me. But lets talk about where these two differ?
-less of a wait time (at least on this one particular weeknight visit)
-cider options
-small parking lot instead of simply street parking
-flexibility to build your own burger
-huge array of meat options, as expected
-pricier menu options overall
Also of note, our particular server did a fabulous job of talking through the meat options ranking how game-y each type of meat tastes. So don't worry if you have no clue.
If you want a different experience than Hammerheads you might have to spend a bit more money here. I had the venison burger for $12 and it was superb as always but next time I think I'll splurge for the Ostrich for almost twenty bucks. If you're not going to try out these new options Game is bringing to the table, well why not just go to Hammerheads?
As excellent as the burgers are (and they're really, really good), nothing could come close to compensating for the rude conduct of the owner, who came storming out of the kitchen to "solve" a problem with our order and was so offensive in his words & demeanor we walked out. No amount of venison or elk or marrow mayo can lure us back.
Sorry Game, we wanted so much to love you.
A burger place by the guys who brought you Hammerheads. Burger options include Angus, bison, duck, wild boar (?), ostrich (?!), kangaroo (???!?), and more random animals plus 3 house made veggie burgers. You have a similarly varied choice of breads (pretzel, brioche, focaccia....), cheeses (American, herbed goat, brie...), condiments and "extras" (grilled romaine, foie gras, pork belly, egg...).
For the indecisive, there are chef's suggestions of different burger combinations on the back of the menu. You also can make your own meatball sampler, which allows you to try hefty balls of different meats without the commitment of an entire burger. Â In the Hammerheads style, they have fries, with or without truffle oil or duck fat.
Ambience is rustic yet upscale, reclaimed wood, etc. Limited seating. Noisy. They have a patio. Parking kind of sucks but there's a lot across the street. Pretty good beer list. Dessert sounded delicious. All in a very tasty and interesting dining experience.
Just like a previous reviewer mentioned, I wanted to give them a higher star review but there were major issues that the delicious food couldn't overcome. Â I really hope they get on their A-game (see what I did there?).
My husband and I went to Game with a group of 6. Â We arrived around 6:30 and waited for an hour in the bar area (there are only 3 tables that accommodate parties of 6). Â There isn't much of a place to wait (3 chairs against a wall.....) so we were huddled at the end of the bar. Â It was a giant tease watching all the food walk past us.
Finally, we were seated on the patio area. Â While it is enclosed, it is NOT insulated, so come prepared to sit basically outside. Â They have small overhead heat lamps, but they were totally insufficient.
We ordered quickly after being seated, as we were all starving by that point. Â As a group, we ordered 3 meatball platters - 2 of which were supposed to be the same. Â One of them (of course mine) was not what I had ordered - but still delicious, nonetheless. Â We got the waygu (spelling?) beef and kangaroo (even though I ordered ostrich). Â The food runner also was not able to tell us which one was which, which was another bummer. Â Nonetheless, they were both delicious.
Now, on the menu it states that things leave the kitchen as they are ready. Â That's all good and well, but when multiple people in the party order the same thing (kangaroo burger) and one receives their food 20 minutes later, that is just ridiculous. Â Also ridiculous is having fries show up 45 minutes after the first food was dropped - well after everyone finished eating. Â They were good, but COME ON. Â It appeared that servers were just taking other tables' food for their own instead of checking tickets. Â
I know it's growing pains, but with their resumes sporting Hammerheads and Seviche, I expected better service from this place. Â
In short: Â Give Game a chance. Â Eat the kangaroo burger.
Game is the brainchild Hammerheads co-owners. Â If you love Hammerheads more than likely you'll like this place. I tried to check Game last Saturday night and was faced with over an hour wait so I decided to check it out during the week so the wait wouldn't be so bad. Â I ended up going to Game on a Tuesday night (2/19). Â We got there about 6:30 and had a small wait of 15 mins or so. Â Someone quickly came up and told us there was a wait, put our name on the list, and offered to get us a drink while we wait. Â I thought that was a nice thing to do to make our wait go by faster. Â After milling over the selection of burgers and the plethora of things you can do to it, I decided to go with the kangaroo burger with cheddar, greens, and garlic aioli. Â It was de-lish-ous. Â If you've never had kangaroo before I think it kinda taste like a sweet filet mignon. Â It's not gamey at all. Â Don't be scared to try it out. Â Also, I was glad to see that Game has the same addicting truffle fries that Hammerheads offers. Â A few things to note about Game that hasn't really been said yet: 1) Game, just like Hammerheads, has fairly limited seating (maybe a 100 give or take), so be prepared to wait. 2) On the back of their menu they offer recommendations of what burger pairs with what toppings. Â It's a nice place to start if you're unsure what to get or if all of the choices are a little too overwhelming. 3) Parking is limited, so if their parking lot is full park across the street on Etley Ave. Â August Moon has signs posted that Game parking is not allowed.
I am already thinking of the next burger combination I will get next time I go to game.
(This review only gives them two stars but its due to service problems which Im sure they will soon work out. The food is amazing!)
So I turned 41 today, and given my love for all things Hammerheads I veered off my plans to do Charim (Korean) tonight and instead went by Game to see if we could grab a seat.
We managed to get in with only a ten minute wait, which was awesome. And the food was as good as its always been at Hammerheads. Their shtick here seems to be burgers done with wild and unusual meats such as antelope, ostrich, elk, kangaroo, etc etc.
They had the signature Hammerheads fries which you can order with a side of the same house made sauces used to dress the burgers with. They had house made onion rings on the menu which I was eager to try, but our waitress claimed they werent offering those anymore. To difficult to make.
As I said the food was as good as always.
I would however suggest waiting a few weeks to go, while they get the service details ironed out.
We initially waited on by a young man, who then seemed to abandon us after getting us water. Later watching what he was doing it seemed he was only supposed to be bussing and greeting people at the door.
A new waitress appeared, apologized and took our drink and food orders. We ordered the Scotch eggs, which appear in the menu under the heading "Starters". Which would lead one to believe they are appetizers?
We also ordered two burgers, two orders of fries and two custom dipping sauces.
My order of fries came out far before anything else. When I told the waiter (not our waitress) dropping them at our table that we had ordered the Scotch Eggs as an appetizer, his response was "we bring the food out while its hot and fresh. You will get the eggs eventually." My thought was, well damn good thing I didnt order dessert then! They might have brought that out first!
Come to find out the waitress never fired the order for our eggs. Which finally came long after we had our burgers and everything else. I had them still bring them simply so I could try them.
Finally our bill came and none of our alcoholic beverages were on our check. I assumed the waitress comped them due to the problems with our order? Luckily for her I was an honest guy and asked first though. Nope, she hadnt comped them. For whatever reason they simply hadnt put them on the bill. She added one beer and comped the other two rewarding my karma and honesty at least partially.
Quite simply the food is just as good as it was at Hammerheads and they have a hellacious beer menu. But give them a week or two to work out the service kinks.
Delicious! Yummy! We arrived around 7 and was lucky to find a parking space. Once we got inside we had to wait in a line that ended at the door (poor folks behind us had to wait outside). We waited around 10 minutes for a waitress to approach us and add our name to the list. We were given the option of indoors with a 30-45 minute wait or enclosed patio with heating lamps. We chose enclosed patio and it wasn't that bad temperature wise. Our server came over not to long after we sat and went over the menu with us. I ordered the meatball samples of elk, venison and kangaroo and grilled ceasar salad (divine).I wanted antelope but they were out. One of my brothers ordered angus with foie gras and the other spring salad and lamb burger. We were very pleased with the food. I would suggest smaller wood plates because the table we sat at could not accommodate them comfortably along with drinks. I will come back and try more meatballs! Game on.....
Review Source:This place rules. Â Great service, great food.... just outstanding. Â Go. Now. Â
I don't personally eat Fois Gras but they have a Fois Gras funnel cake dessert that is not on the menu that everyone was raving about.
My husband got the Ostrich burger and says it is "rich, aromatic, and savory." Â He loved every bite of it.
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