JLB Eatery yet another winner in Katy’s increasingly exceptional burger scene

Saturday, February 17, 2024 — With my birthday coming up I knew I wanted to knock a few more new burger spots off of my to-do list. Not that I ever need an excuse to seek new hamburgers out, but the celebratory vibe of one’s day of birth ensured my attention was focused at the top of my spreadsheet to see which highly-regarded joints would make the cut. 

At a 4.8 on both Yelp and Google, JLB Eatery (which has 12 Houston-area locations) is the highest-rated burger place in Katy. The only reason I hadn’t been sooner is that, in some regards, I figured I’d already had their food. Being the burger obsessive that I am, naturally I’ve previously eaten at Joy Love Burger numerous times (and have always loved it), but JLB Eatery appears to technically be a separate entity from Joy Love Burger. 

I’m generally a pretty successful internet sleuth, but information around what exactly occurred to lead Chef Joon Jeon to leave the restaurant he founded — the original Joy Love Burger — and open a new one called JLB Eatery is surprisingly hard to come by, but as best I can tell the two establishments operate independently and despite Chef Jeon’s utilization of the JLB acronym, appear to have completely distinct ownership groups. Aside from that, the menus are very, very similar. 

Which means I wasn’t surprised for one moment that I absolutely loved JLB Eatery! The only slight hiccup was that ordering at the counter and the subsequent arrival of the food was a bit more sluggish than I’d prefer (would definitely order ahead online next time), but the staff was so lovely and accommodating during what was clearly a busy Friday night that it was no big deal.

I ordered the Crazy Burger, which consists of two MASSIVE double certified Angus beef patties, double cheese, mayonnaise, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, bacon, grilled onions, and thousand island dressing. This thing is absolutely GARGANTUAN (unfortunately my photo does not do it justice) — no joke it is probably a 2,000-calorie hamburger sandwich.

And holy crap was it delicious! Everything I recall loving about Joy Love Burger is beyond represented in JLB Eatery’s loving ode to beefy extravagance. I know I keep mentioning the size, but if you like gigantic, juicy melt-in-your mouth hamburgers, I’m not sure you’ll find a happier place than JLB. I thought the beef flavor might get overwhelmed by all of the delicious accoutrement — the thousand-island dressing is off the charts, and it is absolutely slathered in bacon, pickles and onions — but it remained the star of the show throughout, resplendent in savory, soft, beefy deliciousness. Texturally exquisite and cooked to perfection. And no conversation about JLB Eatery is complete without highlighting the bun — in addition to cooking insanely great hamburgers, Chef Jeon is also a pattisier and so JLB bakes all of their buns fresh daily. We’ve all had experiences where the bun can occasionally be an afterthought, but at JLB it’s almost as big a draw as the meat itself. I inhaled this thing and didn’t look back. 

And I also ordered the Steak Fries, because how can you not when they come smothered in philly steak, cheese, onions, lettuce, and jalapeños? Similar to Crypto Burger’s Spicy Metaverse Monster Fries, this enormous side could easily be a meal unto its own, and I took the whole thing down as well (thank goodness I knew I had an 8-mile run ahead of me the next morning 😂). 

Overall, I was utterly delighted (and beyond satiated!) by my experience at JLB Eatery, and it absolutely lives up to its aggregated online ratings as Katy’s best burger. Just make sure you go there on the emptiest stomach possible! And my goodness is Katy currently flush with exceptional hamburger choices these days—between Old School Burger,  Fusion, Kowbell, JLB (and even original Joy Love), elevated options for the beef-loving denizens of Katy are plentiful. 

Five out five patties. 🍔🍔🍔🍔🍔