Humdinger Drive-In

8250 Southwest Barbur Boulevard Portland, OR 97219

Humdinger is a classic burger & milkshake type drive-in located in SW Portland on Barbur Blvd. The “deluxe” burgers here come with your choice of french fries, tater tots, chili, or cole saw as a side item, or you could get a non-deluxe burger for about a buck less.  For being such a tiny place, with an even tinier space as a kitchen, they have a surprisingly large menu.

In fact, their kitchen is as wide as the menu board itself:

I ordered the 1/4 lb. cheeseburger with a side of french fries. All 5 booths inside were taken,  so I went outside to wait. I decided to go back in to take the above photo of the menu, and right as I did, my order was already finished. It seriously took 2 minutes – at most – to receive my order.

Mmm… undercooked potato.

The cheeseburger comes with 3 slices of partially melted Kraft singles. I removed most of the excess cheese, as it was completely unnecessary.  Although you can’t really tell in these photos, this burger was fucking LOADED with ketchup. It was like a volcano of ketchup that erupted after my first bite. I had ketchup all over my hands and dripping down the side of the bun.  And I know that sounds gross, but it tastes even worse because holy shit, ketchup sucks.  I guess you can blame me for getting only the 1/4 lb patty, but Stanich’s makes a superior burger with the same size patty. This burger could be greatly improved by opting for no ketchup and a new bun.

Burger Ratings:

Burger: 5

After hearing a lot of hype about this place, I was rather disappointed. I wouldn’t say the burger is bad, but it was just overly mediocre.  The bun is super low quality and my burger was absolutely fucking slathered in ketchup, and who the hell would ever want that?

Side: 2

The french fries were terribly undercooked and barely warm. I was absolutely starving after biking to this place from SE Portland, and even then I still didn’t want anything to do with them. I almost felt bad when I threw the majority of them in the trash, but I didn’t because they were that bad.

Environment: 6

The inside of Humdinger is tiny and cramped. There were 5 booths that were full, but luckily it was a nice day so I was able to make use of the outdoor seating. On a nice day, this place is a really good place to stop by for milkshakes and ice cream, or for burgers and fries if your standards are low.

Value: 5

The value and selection is pretty good, but the quality and execution levels out to be about average.

Humdinger
8250 Southwest Barbur Boulevard Portland, OR 97219
(503) 246.8132

Tags: cash only, drive-in, humdinger, ketchup lovers, kraft singles, old fashioned, portland

Listed Under: 6 - Good