BY JACKIE FENDER for WEEKLY VOLCANO 11/7/25 |
A hotel lobby might be the last place you expect to find one of Tacoma’s best burgers, but Secret Burger Kitchen is full of surprises. When you think of hidden gems, you might picture something tucked down an alleyway or behind an unassuming storefront, not nestled inside a hotel on Hosmer Street. But Tacoma’s full of surprises, and sometimes your next great bite is hiding right under your nose.
Enter Secret Burger Kitchen, located inside the Holiday Inn on Hosmer. Sure, there are banners waving out front, but in the day-to-day hustle, if you’re zipping down Hosmer, they’re easy to miss. With over 25,000 Instagram followers, it’s not exactly a secret, yet plenty of locals still drive by without realizing there’s a burger worth writing home about, or at least posting about.
Step inside the hotel lobby and take a left. You’ll be greeted not by a host but by a couple of sleek touchscreen kiosks where you can place your order. While the space still carries that hotel dining room vibe, don’t let it fool you. The branding is sleek and on point, and Secret Burger Kitchen is about the food, not the frills. And the food delivers.
The menu is a bold mash-up of classic comfort and creative flair: juicy smash burgers, island-inspired wings, and an arsenal of house-made sauces that come served in a syringe. Do the kids still use these for Jell-O shots? Being far enough removed from my twenties, I couldn’t tell you, but loading them up with delectable sauces is a brilliant invitation to play with your food. Sauce options include SBK Sauce, Ranch, Caribbean Jerk Sauce, Garlic Sauce, Peanut Butter Sauce, and more. Let your sauce syringe take the plunge for a full flavor injection.
Their Old School Box is a solid intro: two perfectly smashed cheeseburgers stacked with melty American cheese, fresh lettuce, onions, and the house Secret Sauce, plus a heap of crisp, beer-battered fries big enough to share (though you probably won’t want to). I opted for a Classic Cheeseburger and an order of Caribbean Jerk Wings with Fries. The fries were craveable, the burger excellently executed, and the wings an ideal balance of meatiness and crisp skin, drenched in sticky-sweet sauce full of flavors to tickle the taste buds.
This isn’t a well-kept secret anymore, as folks are trickling in throughout the day, but if you’ve been sleeping on SBK, consider this your wake-up call. Sometimes the best flavors aren’t hiding in trendy strip malls or on the hottest new food truck. Sometimes they’re just behind a hotel lobby door, waiting for you to stroll in, smash, eat, and repeat.
Secret Burger Kitchen
8402 S. Hosmer St., Tacoma, WA 98444
(253) 507-8653
secretburgerkitchen.com
