I’ve been to Red Robin once, and while I agree that their food is good, both my companion and I thought that it’s a bit overpriced.
Probably true, but in especially in smaller towns, finding a good burger can be very difficult. Red Robin can usually deliver if you don’t know the local place to go.
Its location means it’ll be perfect to pick up to-go burgers on my way home from work. It’s close enough that the fries will still be crisp when we start to eat. I don’t intend to endure a wretchedly noisy restaurant! We do also have an In-n-Out, but I like to vary the burger styles.
Thanks for the input, everyone.
Awesome!
My husband’s mom moved to Chandler a couple of years ago. Damn, we visited a for Christmas right after she settled in.
If I’d known about this place we would have so been there.
Well, I’ll be sure to keep it on the ‘Must Do’ list.
More or less… when I had my first In-n-out burger (in Irvine, CA, by the college), I thought “This is good, but not up to the hype. I think I prefer Whataburger.”
Freebird is from San Jose, CA, originally. Or at least that’s what the sign on the wall said on the one in College Station in 1991.
I think it’s more of a taste of home kind of thing. Californians move somewhere else; they miss In-n-Out. Texans move, they miss Shiner, Whataburger and Freebird’s.
You rarely hear non-Californians raving about In-n-Out any more than you hear non-Texans raving about Shiner Bock.
(I must be the exception; I really liked Yuengling when I visited a buddy in New York, and wouldn’t have had a Shiner even if they’d have had it)
It’s ten kinds of awesome. It’ll take three years off your life, but it’s so, so worth it.
Can you still get bumper stickers that can be doctored to say “IN-N-OUT URGE”?
Has anyone here had Cook Out, North Carolina’s own burger chain?
According to the website, no. However, I could swear that I’ve seen them for sale in the restaurant recently.
From what I understand, the Freebirds in CA and the ones in TX are run rather differently from each other, but if I come across one, I’ll probably check it out.
Aw, in that link I was expecting something along the lines of, “Our bumper stickers are no longer available due to numerous persons altering our name to form an inappropriate, suggestive phrase”.
I live in the Chicago area
Last year I was in Vegas and decided to try a In-n-out burger.
I gotta say - total letdown.
There was nothing bad about the the food - but it was just terribly average. Nothing to justify the hype.
What was crazy was that there was an honest-to-goodness line waiting at the particular joint I went to.
I chalked it up to West Coast noobs not knowing what a real burger was. So it goes. I don’t try to tell them what good seafood is; they have absolutely nothing to say about what a good burger is.
If you get to the one near me any time after about 10:45 AM (they open @ 10:30), you will be fifth in line at best. I’ve seen cars snaked up the street in the drive-thru line - at least 25 cars, at least 2 or 3 times. About 8-12 cars is more usual.
Joe
Interesting. I would say California is among the best states for a burger in the US (I would go so far as to say that Los Angeles is an absolute mecca for the classic American hamburger). Chicago, as much of a beef processing town as it is, and as much as it should be a great burger town, for some reason isn’t.
Actually, here’s an interesting article (on a Chicago-based food forum) wondering in-depth what I allude to above.
There’s nothing wrong with that; most people like that stuff. It means you’re more normal than us.
I haven’t seen Indy 4 but What-A-Burger and Everybody Loves Raymond give me chills, in a very bad way.
Where/How old is it? I grew up in NC (Greensboro for awhile, actually, but mostly around Charlotte) and I’ve never heard of it.
Eh. Like I said, In-n-Out was terribly average and unremarkable.
Even if California was settled by Midwesterners, they aren’t cooking the burgers today. And today, the burgers are very pedestrian.
That’s fine. And, like I said, as much as I’m not a fan of LA, one thing they know how to make is a burger. I wish I could find burgers like those here in Chicago.
I should add, maybe we’re looking for two different things in a burger. I like smaller patties (1/4 pound), cheese, mustard, onion, tomato, and perhaps lettuce or pickles on my burger, nothing else. The patties must be fresh and loosely hand-formed. It should taste of beef, not be obscured by too many other flavorings, and preferably cooked medium rare. Top Notch and Fuddruckers are the closest I could find to this style in Chicago.
I just take exception to the statement that California has nothing to say about what a good burger is. I think they have a lot more to say than Chicago, for sure. It pains me to say that, but it’s true.