Does Brisk Stand Have the Best Burger in Tokyo?

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please read our affiliate disclosure.

While we tend to veer toward health food these days, I still enjoy a good burger when I can get one. It’s the getting that’s tough in Japan: most burger places either put way too much emphasis on gross toppings and use hardly any beef, or they make their patties weird and mushy and it’s generally tasteless. That’s why when we find a good place like Grateful’s in Kobe or Henry’s Burger in Tokyo, it’s worth commenting on. We’ve long been on a search for the best burger in Japan, and so far, Henry’s has been the champion.

For some time, I’ve wanted to visit Brisk Stand, which has several locations in Tokyo and is a YouTube/social media favorite for its burger that’s cut in half and regrilled for maximum crispiness. We even tried to go to their Kabukicho location last July, but sadly, we were unable to try the burger.

See, Eriko has a special power: often, when we look up a restaurant and really want to try it, by the time we get there, we find that it’s closed. Sometimes it’s just closed that day, but other times it’s closed for good. She has an unexplained ability to close down businesses. When we were in Europe, the leaning tower of Pisa was blocked off on the day we went, and the Palace of Versailles staff went on strike the morning we showed up. She closed down Brisk Stand and wasn’t sorry.

This past week was White Day, and since we were on our way to the Sompo Museum and the market at Tokyo Vintage Fashion Week, Eriko wanted to try the Shinjuku location of Brisk Stand. This time, it was actually open!

Brisk Stand at reDine in Shinjuku

Brisk Stand is located only a few minutes from Shinjuku station (provided you choose the right exit). The entrance was mislabeled on Google Maps - it says you enter off a side street, but you actually have to go inside a nerd palace and take the elevator up to the fifth floor, where the food court is.

Known as re:Dine, this food court is different from others you’ve seen. Most shopping complexes in Japan have standard food courts where you go up to a counter, get a tray, and carry your food to a table. This is not that.

When you enter, there’s a kiosk with a man behind it. You tell him which place you’re going to and how many you have, and he summons a server to take you to a table. Not only can you not just walk in and seat yourself, but the areas near the entrance are practically empty. It was a little weird and slow.

We were taken to a nice carpeted area where the tables were decently far apart. Maybe because it was White Day, there were many pairs of girls eating fancy sundaes with chocolate and strawberries. The whole place was pretty quiet, and the bathroom was not too far away. The decor had the feel of a mid-quality hotel breakfast area.

The nice thing about re:Dine is how ordering works. There’s table service, meaning you don’t go up to a counter. Ordering is done through QR code, and you can order from any of the eateries there, mixing and matching items from the various vendors. This would be perfect if you had a big group and everyone wanted something different, since you wouldn’t even need to get up from the table; everyone could just order what thy wanted from their devices.

Because of this convenience, we ordered smoothies to go with our burgers. Eriko got a green smoothie, which was okay and reminded me of the juice I used to make when I was a juicer boy. I got a strawberry milk smoothie, which was delicious but led to an immediate brain freeze. But you didn’t come here for smoothie talk. You came here for burgers.

The Brisk Stand cut burger with crisp ends

This is the reason we came: the burger that’s cut in half and cooked on the ends to add extra crispiness. this one had cheese and caramelized onions, along with a portion of potatoes that I would call “too small.” The potatoes were fine, but nothing to write home about. I expected a lot from the burger, since this is the thing everyone raves about and that they boast was named 2025’s best burger in Japan.

I took a bite, and tasted… toasted bread. The bun is thick, and all I got from the initial taste was toast. I took another bite, and tasted the caramelized onions. They were sweet and soft; I don’t normally like onions, but these were pretty good. I took a few more bites, and all I tasted was onion and bread. Finally, I just pulled the patty out and took a bite of that. It was completely flavorless. Not exceptional beef, no seasoning whatsoever.

Have to admit, I was kind of disappointed. The toasting gimmick didn’t really add anything at all, and I would have thought a place with this kind of prestige would use better beef.

Single burger from Brisk Stand Shinjuku

We also got a regular burger with no cheese and no toasting. It pretty much tasted like the other one: okay, decent onion taste, not much beef taste. I felt pretty let down. This is what we’d waited a year to try? Couldn’t they have given us salt and pepper so we could add some flavor? At least the smoothies were good.

Conclusion: is Brisk Stand actually good?

I haven’t had the burgers at any of the other Brisk Stand locations. Maybe the Asakusa one is the one the judges for the burger contest went to. I don’t know. But I know this burger was not that good. It was fine; but does it compare to Henry’s Burger? Not a chance. I don’t even think it was as good as Shogun Burger or Shake Shack.

However, reDine was a nice surprise, and somewhere I’d be happy to eat at again. Since you can order from anywhere, it’s great for groups with different tastes. Eriko said that with the smoothies, she’d give this meal a 4/5. I said 3/5 because I don’t think the smoothies count. In short: we were let down by Brisk Stand, but if you’re in the neighborhood, try re:Dine.

Where to find Brisk Stand at re:Dine Shinjuku

Address: 〒160-0022 Tokyo, Shinjuku City, Shinjuku, 3 Chome−15−11 アドホック新宿ビル 5F

Hours: 11am-11pm

Instagram: re:Dine and Brisk Stand

Again, Google Maps on my phone said the entrance was on a side street, but it’s not. Go inside the main entrance, find the elevator, and take it up to the 5th floor. There are only two elevators, so leaving may be a slow process. Once you leave, you’ll be very close to a cookie store.