Once the confusion was hashed out, they showed us to our table. Unlike Sullivan's Steak house, where we felt like we were ordering from the kids' menu, Yard House made us feel like we were sitting at the kids' table. This was seriously the shortest table I have ever had at a restaurant. Now, I'm a tall dude and have grown accustomed to furniture and normal human beings being smaller in comparison to myself, but this was one short table. It literally was sitting on my lap, like a giant TV dinner stand. We thought about using our menus to prop up the table a bit, but decided it would be better to just blog about it instead. Once the humor and uncomfortableness of the tiny table had faded a bit, we decided to get some drinks and scan over the menu. The beautiful and lovely K decided to get a mixed drink that probably tasted like Robitussin while FB, the Mathematician, and myself ordered some beers.
We decided against ordering an appetizer, which almost changed once we saw the table next to us order the chicken nachos, but we held strong. K decided that she was going to forgo the burger this time and went with a mix of tacos. We also learned that you can order your tacos "vampire style" here, which means they are coated in cheese or something like that. I wasn't totally following our server when she explained it. All I know is, I have never seen a vampire who required his meals to be covered in cheese. Not that I have ever personally known a vampire, but I'm just assuming. They also have a Vampire Taco on the menu that has garlic on it, so I'm pretty convinced they know nothing about vampires. The Mathematician also decided against a burger and went with the jambalaya with spicy rice. If you are wondering what spicy rice is - it is rice, and it is spicy. With half of our crew now unbloggable, FB and I chose our burgers. She decided to go with the Pepper Jack Burger which has roasted poblano pepper, pepper jack cheese, and chipotle mayo. Ordered medium with a side of fries. I somehow resisted the urge to be an annoying little brother and copy her and chose to go with a different burger. I went with something a little more offbeat, the Pastrami Benedict Burger. Once I confirmed that this was a burger with pastrami on it and not pastrami disguised as a burger, I placed my order. The Pastrami Benedict Burger is a burger with roasted tomatoes, fried onions, swiss cheese, béarnaise sauce, fried egg, and of course, pastrami. Ordered medium with a side of fries, per the usual.
Our orders came out promptly and looked delicious. Of course, that seems like a common thing I write. I guess when you are hungry most food looks good, especially burgers. My burger, well, it had a lot going on. The bun was struggling to hold up against the overflowing mound of toppings on the burger. They were piled high and each one of those toppings was adding a new level of sogginess to the weak little bun. The burger itself was overcooked, as seems to be standard in this area, but also really lacked much flavor. I initially thought that maybe the burger flavor was overpowered by the flavor of all the toppings, but FB agreed that her burger was also overcooked and lacked good flavor. We also both agreed that the bun was weak, and nothing special. It was the kind of bun you would buy because they were cheap and you had a lot of guests coming over for a cookout. Pretty much the only good part of this burger was the toppings. They all were all cooked perfectly and had great flavor. Remove the burger out of the equation and it may have been an extremely tasty sandwich, but all together it just was an odd combination. Good idea on the surface, poor execution. As far as our non-burger diners at the table, K commented that her tacos were ok but better could be had elsewhere, such as Gonza. The Mathematician had the best luck of the group though, and his jambalaya was delicious. Surely he calculated out the probability of deliciousness with the jambalaya. Of course, that meal is nothing more than a ton of tasty stuff thrown together, so hard to go wrong there.
So where does this burger stand on the Triangle burger hierarchy? Not that high up, unfortunately. It wasn't a horrible burger, but isn't something I'd care to order again. The hardest part of the meal was trying to figure out what to rate this burger. We talked about it being in the weak three Angus Barn burger rating, but that really makes no sense and I'm not about to create another graphic just for this burger. If the deliciousness that was the Carolina Ale House burger was a 3.5 burger, this one surely did not deserve a 3. With that being said, we bestow this burger with a 2 and a half Angus Barn Burger rating. Not highly recommended, and quite honestly I'm not in a huge hurry to go back to Yard House again all things considered. There are other restaurants that are just more comfortable, less crowded, and have better burgers than this place. Just save yourself the disappointment and find another place, especially if you are a vampire.
Yard House
4208 Six Forks Rd
Raleigh, NC 27609
(919) 881-2590
http://www.yardhouse.com/
