Rainbow Lodge is a match made in Friday Burger Adventure heaven

(Alternative title: Taste the Rainbow of Meat Flavors)

Friday, February 7, 2025 — Rainbow Lodge is a Houston institution with nearly 50 years of serving the city. I became aware of their mouth-watering burger when I first began compiling my ratings / to-do list over a year ago, and after the Houston Chronicle named it one of its Top 18 Burgers in Houston back in November, I knew I needed to finally give it a shot.

In some regards it almost feels like this was put on a tee for me—a restaurant that only sells its burger during one meal service a week, on Fridays at lunchtime? A match made in heaven for a Friday Burger Adventure™️.

The official name of the sandwich is Wild Game Burger Friday, where the star of the show is a delicious blend of elk, bison and ribeye. While anticipation was already high heading into the proceedings, I am delighted to say that Rainbow Lodge wildly exceeded my expectations. 

For starters, I can’t say I’ve ever had a patty blend containing these three ingredients—a truly savory and exceptional meat-consuming experience. But that was only the start. The burger comes standard with a chef-inspired topping each week—today it was pimento and pepper jack cheese—and smoked creole mustard, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and onions. 

What they don’t tell you on the menu is that you can add a slew of extra toppings, which for this burger-stacking obsessive absolutely made my day. A fried egg, bacon, and fresh jalapeños immediately entered the equation, and lo and behold, I found myself staring down a behemoth akin to the meat towers I make at home. 

All of the components sang in perfect harmony, and the bun was generous enough to (mostly) keep everything together. Though as is my wont, several toppings did start falling out as we crossed the halfway mark. Even so, I was impressed with the integrity of the bun.

I’ve been favoring spots that specifically specialize in just burgers during the majority of my Houston Burger Exploits, and so it’s been a minute since I ate at a regular establishment that also has a notable burger (that I was also wowed by), but I have to say—Rainbow Lodge’s Wild Game Burger Friday might be the best restaurant burger in town (as a reminder, I categorize my burger reviews in several buckets: Hamburger Joints, Smashburger Places, Restaurant with a Notable Burger, and Food Trucks).

And thus, Houston’s burger scene continues to absolutely slay. It boggles the mind that we have a seemingly endless number of incredible options. I have no idea how Rainbow Lodge only has a 3.9 on Yelp—maybe the flavors of the components of the rest of the menu aren’t as endorphin-releasing as that burger?—but this was pretty easily a 4.75 for me.