Monday, July 13th, 2009 — View Comments
Double Wide Grill is a white-trash themed restaurant located in Pittsburgh’s South Side that offers a wide selection of beer and food, with many of the items being vegan/vegetarian. Double Wide burgers come with your choice of “burger” - beef, chicken breast, turkey burger, lentil veggie-burger, or portabella, and choice of serving style - kaiser roll or wrap. The burgers come with a pickle and a choice of one side item – fresh cut french fries, corn bread, cole slaw, vegetable of the day, or fruit cup. They have a few specialty burgers, but I wanted a regular cheeseburger with french fries. The menu listing:
DW Cheeseburger With American Cheese: Lettuce, tomatoes and onions on the side
After a ludicrous wait, my over-cooked burger finally came. This has been happening a lot recently.. and I have no idea why anyone would ask me how I’d like my burger cooked if they don’t actually intend to cook it that way. “Medium” isn’t really that easy to fuck up – as long as it’s cooked to temperature (140 -150 degrees) it should be fine. If you serve burgers on your menu, you should really know how to cook them to order, or don’t bother asking. Anyway, I had it sent back and received a properly cook burger about 10 minutes later.
(PHOTO COMING SOON actually probably never since I moved out of Pittsburgh.. )
I always have the misconception of thinking burgers here are good, since the ingredients are fresh and they use a wood fire grill, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually enjoyed one. Actually, I really don’t know why I continue to patronize the Double Wide Grill at all. The only time I have ever left feeling satisfied was perhaps my first ever visit a couple of years ago. Literally every single time afterward, I have left pissed off and wondering how it’s still in business. Service is unbelievably slow, the food is over-priced, and there must be some sort of hiring requirement for servers that ensures they are all assholes of the highest degree. Actually, I know why they’re still around: They offer a wide selection of mediocre vegan food, serve beer, and attract swarms of dickbags on motorcycles. That’s why.
Burger Ratings:
Burger: 3
Again, I really have no fucking clue why I continue to eat here. The burger seems like it will be good, but somehow never is. The beef is overly seasoned and ends up tasting too much like a meatball. Not into it.
Side: 7
The fries here are really good. They’re fried well – not too greasy, and very satisfying. The sides here are probably the only thing I can safely order here, and they also come at price that isn’t laughable like most of the other items.
Environment: 3
At first glance, the environment of the Double Wide Grill is pretty nice.. it’s unique, offers indoor, outdoor, and bar seating, and seems very clean. The place is inside a remodeled gas station, and the acoustics of the dining room really suffer from this. If it’s even slightly crowded, it’s impossible to hear anyone you’re with unless you’re shouting at each other, but that’s what everyone else is doing… so it’s just useless and infuriating. The outdoor seating is great when there aren’t groups of men on motorcycles trying to compete over who can make the loudest sound for the longest period of time.
Value: 3
$7.99 for a burger and a side. I would usually say that is a pretty good value, but factoring in the shockingly-awful service, it’s just not worth it. I’d rather pay more to have a nicer, more human-like server and reasonable wait-time.
10 Andrew Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15275
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 — View Comments
Quaker Steak & Lube is a casual dining restaurant chain that began in Sharon, PA in 1974. There are currently over 30 restaurants, based primarily on the East Coast. The original restaurant was located inside an abandoned gas station and had an automotive-themed decor. All of the restaurants have nearly the same exact decorations and look, though the menu offerings may differ. Quaker Steak is best known for its wings (“Best Wings USA”) and wing sauces, but their burgers, steaks, and ribs are also delicious.
Their menu dedicates an entire page to their burgers – offering 8 options to choose from. Each burger comes with a side included: Lube Chips, fries, Bourbon baked beans, cinnamon apples, fresh steamed broccoli or coleslaw.
We grill the finest 1/2 # USDA ground Steakburger*, lightly seasoned on a garlic toasted sesame seed bun with lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle.
I selected the All-American Steakburger with American/Swiss cheese cooked medium with a side of fries. We went on a Tuesday, which is All-You-Can-Eat wing night, so service was a lot different than usual. The food took about 25 minutes to arrive from the time we ordered it, and my burger came out way over-cooked. I sent it back and had the properly cooked burger arrive within 10 minutes.
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5503 Milan Road Sandusky, OH 44870
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 — View Comments
Applebee’s boasts being the country’s largest casual dining leader with having over 1,600 stores in 49 states. I’ve only eaten here a few times whenever my parents wanted to go out “someplace nice” and I don’t think I’ve ever ordered a burger. I have never in my life felt the need to eat at Applebee’s, but I was ravenously hungry after leaving Cedar Point and this was the first place I saw. Why not, right?
The menu has a bunch of specialty burgers with different shit on them, and this notice is at the top of the page:
We are proud to serve burgers crafted from 100% USDA-inspected ground beef. All burger patties (except the Brewtus Burger and Sliders) are grilled to your choice of pink or no-pink.
I found this interesting. Instead of telling them how exactly I’d like the burger cooked, I only have the choice of “pink” or “no-pink.” I ordered the Cowboy Burger with “pink”. Here’s the actual menu description:
I was really hungry and in the mood for something a little different than just a cheeseburger. It seemed like a really good idea at the time. After a short wait, my plate arrived.
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Sunday, June 21st, 2009 — View Comments
This weekend, I had the honor of staying at the Cyphert Family trailer perched atop the ever-magnificent Clarion River. Boat rides, water-tubing, swimming, and catering were also included. The burger:
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175 E. Waterfront Drive Homestead, PA 15120
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 — View Comments
Prior to roughly a year ago, Red Robin was considered my go-to guilty pleasure when I wanted a good and greasy cheeseburger and fries. Until.. “The Incident” happened.
The Incident being the time when I discovered a long, thick, artificial black hair that had droplets of grease attached to it on my plate. The hair was wrapped around a french fry at the bottom of the pile I had been eating, and I only discovered this hair 3/4ths of the way into my meal. My body immediately shut down and I had to struggle to hold back vomiting up my intestines until the check arrived and I was out of the building.
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(Artist Rendering)
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1828 East Carson Street Pittsburgh, PA 15203
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 — View Comments
Piper’s Pub offers a selection of Irish, Scottish, and British food and drink, using “A Taste of the British Isles” as their slogan. The beer selection is pretty extensive and supposedly changes weekly, though I would consider the prices a little high. Moving along, here’s the menu description of the burger:
Create A Burger
With your choice of American, provolone or Swiss on a Kaiser roll with a side of garlic dill mayonnaise… 7.95. Extras: Rashers, Sautéed mushrooms, Sautéed onions, Irish cheddar or Stilton cheese .50 each
The burgers/sandwiches also come with your choice of either french fries.. err, chips, or cole slaw. I ordered a burger with Irish cheddar cooked Medium with french fries. Unfortunately for me, I went here with a group of 6 which means gratuity is automatically included, and thus service was pretty shitty. Our server had a really weird attitude when we tried to order stuff, which I’m pretty sure is standard in a restaurant setting, so that automatically took my burger experience down a few notches. Anyway, service was ridiculously slow, and the worst of this was when my burger was brought out cooked WELL-DONE. There wasn’t so much of a hint of pink in my burger, and all remnants of juice were cooked out of the patty. Nothing can ruin a burger more than by being overcooked.
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2411 SE Belmont Street Portland, OR 97214
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 — View Comments
The outside of Wild Abandon is really weird, and you’d probably never guess it was a restaurant if it weren’t from the sandwich board sitting in front of the door. The indoor decor is supposed to be cozy/romantic (also referred to as “The Red Velvet Lounge”) but comes off as kind of cheesy due to the knickknacks and shit on the walls. It’s not that all that bad, but the outdoor seating is absolutely awesome. There’s a huge tree in the middle of the patio that provides a nice mix of shade and sunlight. Anyway, the menu description of the burger:
Wild Abandon Burger
Half-Pound Strawberry Mountain Farm free-range organic ground beef served medium rare on a Grand Central brioche bun with bacon, white cheddar, caramelized onions, and a lemon-garlic aioli.
Served with roasted red potatoes $ 12
The last time I was here I had the roasted red potatoes, which were very good. This time I substituted them for a side salad. The wait was rather long, but I didn’t mind because it was so pleasant to be outdoors on a gorgeous day in Portland. After a while, my plate finally arrived.
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