Surprisingly enough, they were not that busy on this particular night. Normally they are very crowded, but this night it was pleasantly slow. We were able to walk right up to the counter and order our food without any wait. I ordered the Bacon BBQ Burger, which is a burger with cheddar, bacon, BBQ sauce and onion rings, and J-Train ordered the bacon cheeseburger. Now, at this point I was intrigued. The atmosphere and service had me thinking this was going to be a lunch burger, we were in a glorified arcade after all, but the prices had me thinking it might be a good dinner burger. Our two burgers and two drinks came to $24 and change after taxes. I didn't realize this at the time, but this was burger only, we would have had to drop an extra $3.50 each if we wanted fries. We would have been sitting at over $30 for our total if we added fries. My burger alone would have come to $13.50 before taxes if I had fries. For comparison, one of my highest rated burgers from Bad Daddy's Burger Bar would come in at $11.95 before taxes and came with fries. So needless to say, I was very intrigued to see if this pricing was justified.
We grabbed our drinks and found a seat, waiting way longer than I would have expected considering the absence of diners in the restaurant. It was ok though, I was getting an earful from J-train about how Madonna looked weird in the music video on the TV and how one of his classmates eats with her mouth open. There were other kindergarten items covered as well. Finally our food came and it was at this point I realized that our order did not come with fries. I held high hope that this burger was going to be delicious and make up for the lack of fries. Unfortunately, that was not the case. It was a marginal lunch burger at best. The best part of it was the bacon and the onion straws. Not sure how they got off calling these onion rings, because they were merely a tumbleweed of fried onion shavings, but they were tasty so it was not a huge issue. The burger itself was cooked through but not terribly tasty and not overly juicy. More than likely it was just a premade burger that they threw on the grille. The worst part was the bun. I was unsure if it was an actual bun or two tiny Frisbees that I could have gotten for 45 tickets in the arcade. It was as if someone took dry bread crumbs and somehow managed to sculpt them into bun shaped halves. Maybe the burger itself actually started out more juicy, but the bun soaked any moisture out of them. Kind of like when it rains in the desert, it just disappears. J-train on the other hand, was thoroughly enjoying his burger. Just watching him eat his made me want to rate this burger higher. He honestly could make anything look tasty, I think he could be eating a cactus and you'd think "that looks painful but delicious!" So overall, all things considered, this burger is not one that we can ever recommend. Quality was not there, price was way too expensive, and atmosphere makes you feel like you were in a kid's birthday party. Well, we actually were because we sat in the wrong section, but still. Maybe if the bun was better it may have changed things, but I just left feeling disappointed. I would have rather taken our $20 and stuck it into one of those claw games. At least then you know you aren't going to win and you don't get your hopes up. So folks, this burger get a lowly one Angus Barn Burger rating. Thanks for playing Frankie's, try again next time.
Frankie's Fun Park
11190 Fun Park Drive
Raleigh, NC 27617
(919) 433-7888
http://www.frankiesfunpark.com/raleigh/frankies-cafe/
