Great piece by Josh Constine on TechCrunch:

Whether you call it a side menu, navigation drawer, or a hamburger, hiding your features off-screen behind a nondescript icon in the corner is usually a poor mobile design choice. Interaction theory, A/B tests, and the evolution of some of the top apps in the world all support the same thesis: The hamburger button is bad for engagement, and you should probably replace it with a tab bar or other navigation scheme.

I don’t use many applications that utilize the hamburger button, but every one of them bugs me. Adding an additional tap to reach a menu that should be persistent obscures users from features that they would likely use if it was always in front of their face.