Holy Cow! Gourmet Burger Bar

Ambiance jeune et étudiante dans cet antre entièrement voué au culte du burger. La foule des habitués y est compacte — ce n’est pas sans raison.
Car Holy Cow, ce sont des ingrédients sélectionnés, souvent locaux, bien préparés et copieusement servis. On compte environ une douzaine de recettes de burger, servies au poulet ou au bœuf. Pour les habitués, de quoi se changer du train-​train grâce à une recette du moment également (en ce moment, le valaisan, à la tomme du Valais, au bacon et à la mayonnaise au safran). Seul regret: un bœuf excellent mais un peu trop cuit pour mon goût. On remarque également la présence d’une alternative végétarienne, pas testée. Les frites né sont pas mal non plus, à défaut d’être mes favorites.
Dans les boissons, pas de fontaine à Coca, mais des jus de fruits, des bières artisanales etc.
Malgré la forte affluence, le service est efficace.
On fait la queue longtemps, mais on reçoit très vite son burger !
Niveau tarif, c’est correct pour Genève. Il existe une formule étudiante qui peut aider à réduire l’addition, si on accepte de choisir une recette de burgers classiques.

Enfin, une bonne alternative au sempiternel Macdonald. Le choix affolant d’hamburgers émerveille, tout comme le fait que l’on voie les cuisiniers préparer les plats devant vous (ils n’ont pas peur de la transparence). Des produits et des boissons suisses (je suis une fan inconditionnelle du sirupier de Berne et je vous conseille le sirop «Meilleur que le Ystee»!), des prix très abordables et un menu étudiant, des frites très bonnes sont d’autant de raisons qui font de Holy Cow un bon fast-​food pour les hamburgers.

Great Veggie Chèvre burger. The only thing I would change is adding some grains to the patty in order to make its texture somewhat less «pasty.

Un bon fast-​food, dans l’air du temps. Les produits servis sont locaux (tant le pain, la viande, les légumes que les boissons); cool !
En revanche, je trouve les burgers globalement moins bons qu’un Inglewood, par exemple. C’est beaucoup moins fin.
Attention, à midi les places sont chères, surtout si on y vient en groupe.

Great burgers. Delicious fries. Local drinks (no pepsi, no coke). Typical menu (burger+fries+drink) at 19.90 CHF (JAN 2015). Young clients. Spartan tables. I like it a lot.

Pour résumer en une phrase: comment fast-​fooder SAIN!
Pourtant végétarienne et intolérante au lactose, autant dire que je suis dure à satisfaire niveau repas. Alors dans un «fast-​food», c’est quasiment mission impossible.
Mais Gilles G. me propose cette adresse qu’il veut tester. J’avais déjà été, il a longtemps et avais gardé ce souvenir de fast-​food sain qui me plaisait bien. Alors let’s go.
J’ai beaucoup aimé la réponse de la serveuse lorsque j’ai demandé un coca zéro. «On a pas. On a des jus de ci… de ça…» (pleins de choix).
Et ben ouai, ils vont vraiment jusqu’au bout Holy Cow. Ils mettent pas juste une affiche à l’entrée qui explique qu’il y a une feuille de salade locale dans les burgers pour rassurer les familles. Non, l’à-bas tu veux un coca, t’en aura pas. Et tu seras bien contente de goûter leur jus à choix ou de la simple et si pure EAU (c’est quoi déjà? ;-)
Ce que j’adore aussi, c’est les tables. On dirait comme si on piqué-​nickait à l’intérieur. Un bois qui montre qu’on y mange sain.
Bref, une chouette adresse pour les petits creux de midi et sympa entre potes ou étudiants aussi.

Pouring with rain, we were trudging around Carouge, not finding anywhere that really satisfied our idea for lunch. What about Holy Cow? Well, it’s only a short hop on the tram so off we went.
We weren’t disappointed. Service is fast and with a smile. A reasonable selection of veggie burgers and a great meat selection. The food was plentiful but not 5-​star amazing. The meat burgers aren’t the tastiest ever but on a day like this they were good enough.
Chips are the so called ancienne style so more like chunky chips than fries.
Ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard are all freely available but be warned — the yellow mustard is fairly weak.
On the set meal there’s a choice of drinks and we had the refillable sirops — raspberry, Alpine herbs, elderflower and apple & ginger. Pay a bit extra for beers (the legendary Dr Gab’s craft beers from Lausanne are well worth it).

Cowboy cafeteria feel bustling with students at rush hour for a 20 bucks burger meal. Perfectly cooked medium-​rare burger with delicious thick fries. The smoked sauce was a shame as there was too mch of it and it was too sweet, I would ask them to hold the sauce next time.

I like the place and the service over there.
The food is good but is not great.

Great burger place. Really fresh good burgers. Good, large crispy fries. Only downside is that there’s something sweet in the burger, sweetness is for dessert! Reminds me of Big Fernand in Lyon, they can almost compete with them…

Let me get started. In Geneva, good food has it’s price (tends to be rather expensive), but Holy Cow is relatively cheap for Geneva. For 20CHF you can get an entire menu with a burger, fries, a refillable drink as well as the sauce of your choice. The portions are a decent size, and the food is prepared surprisingly fast. The quality of the food is great, having fresh swiss product and ingredients. Basically, a good burger place in Geneva! Go check it out if you feel like a good hamburger!

Amazing hamburgers and fries! All swiss products. Staff very sympathetic and fast service!

I liked this place. Owner is a guy from Britain and was pretty nice. Anyways this place is pretty quick and I feel as if this is one of the better burgers that I’ve had compared to the US mainly because of the meat. There’s a lot of variety and even a student menu, which is a steal! Worth a try if you’re feeling gourmet burgers.

Holy Cow is good but it could be much better in my opinion. I am not sure if its the quality of the meat but as mentioned in another review the meat is dry and crumbly — to me it could be what’s stopping Holy Cow from being the best burger joint in Geneva. I am not sure if its the quality of the meat or the fact that they precook their burgers, or the fact that they commit the ultimate cardinal burger sin of squashing the burger down with a spatula which essentially squeezes all of the good juices that should be sealed in to the patty…
Their toppings are numerous, fresh and delicious — but I find there is something missing, or not quite right. For example, i think some nice sharp cheddar cheese would compliment the bacon avocado burgers perfectly… Similarily, when they added the Meixicana burger i was very excited, but then a bit disappointed to see that it somehow doesn’t include jalapenos but does include Spanish Chorizo… in my ideal world it would be oozing with cheddar or queso fresca and loaded with crunchy jalapenos… I guess I’m a bit of a freak when it comes to burgers…
The VG burger is hit or miss — it’s been very good sometimes, and other times it’s been too soft and mushy — but the flavor is very good…
Chicken has also been a bit hit or miss for me — sometimes it’s been one piece of delicious and juicy chicken and others its been dry and sometimes made up of several pieces of ‘emince’… The cranberry and brie chicken burger is a great flavor combination though and I have been very happy with this burger — it’s a shame they aren’t more consistent…
I think the meat quality (or juiciness) used to be better when they had first opened in Lausanne — maybe they were cooking the burgers to order? The burgers are prepared within minutes of ordering which is a plus — but personally I’d rather wait the extra 5−10min for a made-​to-​order burger…

The prices are definitely steep… but in Geneva its a relative bargain, especially when you can often get 2-​for-​1 vouchers on glocals.
Aside from solid burgers and an unpretentious atmosphere to this place, they also have a nice home labeled beer that’s worth a try!

Un concept rare à Genève mais tout à fait normal aux USA: Un fast food faisant des burgers plus haut de gamme que McDonalds et Burger King.
Ici le burger est plus grand, la viande de meilleure qualité ainsi que le pain. Il y a aussi un choix beaucoup plus large de burgers différents avec la possibilité de faire son propre burger. Au niveau des boissons il y a du sirop a volonté ou les boissons habituelles. Il faut s’attendre a débourser entre 15 – 20 Francs pour un burger avec frites et une boisson.
Au final j’ai trouvé les burgers acceptable, ils sont certainement mieux que McDonalds et Burger King, mais habitant aux USA depuis plus de 10 ans j’attendais quelque chose de mieux pour un restaurant de ce style.

If you’re feeling a little bit homesick for all good things American (and don’t feel like paying 30 bucks for a burger at McDonald’s in Switzerland), I suggest checking out Holy Cow. With an extensive menu for all you meat lovers (and all Swiss meat), my friends rave about their burgers. And for us veggies, I was pleasantly surprised to find three veggie burgers on the menu, which are in fact quite delicious! Big portions for the price and fast efficient service. Their catch-​phrase is «The Quickest Fast food in Geneva» and they seem to live up to it — even during the lunch rush between 12−1PM. If you’re really craving a good ol’ burger or just missing America, stop in to Holy Cow!

Holy Cow! It was freezing today (feels like –1f), and yet our group decided to take the 45 minute walk to try out this new burger joint.
Cute name, cute website, cute burgers. When you go to the website, you’re greeted by a little Che Guevara cow holding a spatula and a fork, inviting you to join the fast food revolution. I’m not sure what that’s about, but the website is fairly in tune with the ambiance of the restaurant. There are comic cow paintings on the walls, a hilly pasture painted onto the counter, and friendly servers who will deliver your burgers to your table.
There’s an extensive menu of creative burgers, and I had the Mexicana burger — a beef patty, swiss cheese, chorizo, red bean salsa, avocado mash, and hot chili. I was wondering how they would fit all of that in a single burger – it turns out, they use a humongous bun, even under American standards. I got the «menu» menu (a «menu» menu is essentially a «meal» menu that includes fries and a drink, but I like saying «menu» menu), and the fries were so thickly cut that they almost make the burger look normal-​sized in the photo.
The burger came together pretty well, but you can’t really go wrong with those ingredients. The bun was OK but not anything above standard (except for its size), and the beef patty was a bit dry and crumbly for my taste. The chorizo was a flat sheet of round sausage that tasted OK but had a rubbery texture. The hot chili was actually really spicy, and had me gasping a little bit for air. It was a fun burger to eat, overall, but probably not the best quality of ingredients.
I also had a fountain drink (cassis?), which I was told was made in-​house, but it was a little sweet for my taste.
I’d recommend a go if you haven’t been, but it probably wouldn’t end up becoming a favorite hangout or anything of that sort. Probably a good place to grab a pre-​movie bite, though.