Carolina Ale House - the burger before the storm

So how do you prepare for a snow day? Many people run out to purchase mass quantities of bread and milk for their French Toast or milk sandwiches or whatever they might feel the need to make in the two days that we end up without road access in the South. Some people gather their family and head out for cheeseburgers. We would be the latter. On this fine chilly pre-snowmageddon day here in North Carolina we decided to celebrate a pending snow day by heading out to one of our favorite places to eat, Carolina Ale House. There are several of these locations, but we normally go to the Wake Forest location. We have been to the Brier Creek one as well, which is about equal in terms of service and quality, in my opinion. Carolina Ale House is basically an upscale sports bar, with a bar and pool tables, but also complete meals that is family friendly. This location, on this particular night, was having a Carolina Hurricanes night with games and giveaways and a visit by their mascot Stormy. The beautiful and lovely K, C-Monster, J-Train and myself had a seat on their patio that was heated and covered on this blustery night. Our waitress came and took our drink orders promptly. C-Monster, through the sea of Carolina Hurricanes fans, politely asked the waitress to turn one of the many TVs showing the Hurricanes games on to the Philadelphia Flyers game. Surprisingly enough, she asked the manager and he switched the TV closest to the table to the Flyers game. This is one of the advantages of being a Philly fan in the South, because if this was the other way around we totally would have gotten booed or hit with a D-cell battery.

When it came time to order, we all decided that burgers were the standard fare for our family. K and I both ordered the Pub Burger, which is a standard burger with bacon, American cheese and "Papa Lou's secret sauce" on a standard burger bun. K ordered hers medium well and I ordered mine medium. I figured for the sake of consistency with this blog, I won't change up my method of ordering. You readers only deserve the best! And when that doesn't work, my mediocre will have to do for you guys. Both of the boys ordered off of the kids menu, both going with the Bobby Burgers, which are two mini cheeseburgers. Our wait for our food was short, which was great considering how busy they were this particular night. Our food looked fantastic when it came out. Big burgers, the fries looked great, everything was perfect. The only real issue was that they gave my burger to K and her burger to me. We realized this after we both took our first bite, so we just switched. This probably worked out to my advantage, because I take bigger bites and I scored some extra burger in this deal. These burgers were fantastic. My burger was cooked just how I like it with some pink in the middle. K's was cooked just how she liked it. Everything about it was great. If I was going to have any complaint at all, and this is searching here, it is that the burgers were not quite as juicy as I would have liked. K argued this point when I brought it up, but I felt that was the case. She is more than welcome to address my complaint on her burger blog. The fried onion straws were great, tied in the bacon taste in with the fresh bun and everything. And how about Papa Lou's special sauce? It was tasty, but not sure how special it is. Maybe Lou's last name is McDonald, or maybe his son is a large dude named Mack, because it is really just the same sauce they put on a Big Mac. Not that it makes it any less delicious. That stuff does wonders for a sad artificial burger like a Big Mac, so just imagine what the same stuff does for a delicious real burger like this one! It is wonderful.

So the final verdict? This one is good. Very good. Not quite Angus Barn good, though. And thinking back at previous burgers, it is still just a smidge below Bad Daddy's. Still fantastic and it gets the BTB stamp of approval. Burger was great, service was great, atmosphere was great, highly recommend. The kids even got to see Stormy, the mascot from the Hurricanes on their way out. So what rating do we bestow on this this burger? I am going to throw a 3.5 Angus Barn burger rating on this burger. So close to a 4, but not quite there. If Bad Daddy's got a 4, this is going to have to sit at a 3 and a half. Keep up the good cooking and we'll see you guys for the next Flyers game!

Carolina Ale House
11685 Northpark Dr
Wake Forest, NC 27587
(other locations as well)
919-556-8666
https://www.carolinaalehouse.com