So for this installment, we decided to try an old favorite of ours. While not a local establishment, they are well known for their burgers. Red Robin was going to be our target for the night. Our last Red Robin experience was slightly disappointing, so we decided to give it another shot. Will their claim that they serve the "finest gourmet burgers" stand up to these burger aficionados' standards? Well, we were definitely out to find out.
We arrived right at peak dinner time on a Friday night, but luckily got seated immediately. The restaurant was definitely packed though, so I would say that wait times would vary. Our server came up and was polite and helpful, got us our drinks and took our orders. We started with an appetizer, ordering the half stack of onion rings. Highly recommend this, it is really just some deliciously fried onion rings with two different dipping sauces that are equally delicious. For our entrees, C-Monster joined the burger crew and went with a bacon cheeseburger while J-Train took his meat in the spherical form for this night, ordering the meatballs off of the kids menu. The lovely and beautiful K and I were on the page with our palates and both ordered the Smoke and Pepper burger, which is a burger with black-pepper bacon, extra-sharp cheddar cheese covered in Smoke & Pepper™ ketchup sitting on a ciabatta bun. We weren't sure what smoke and pepper ketchup was, but it definitely sounded tasty. Of course, we ordered them medium, our BTB standard. Everyone also ordered fries as their side, which are bottomless. They will literally keep bringing you fries if you ask. OK, so J-train didn't get fries, he got apples. I don't get that kid sometimes.
Our food came out and it looked great. A little odd bacon presentation, but still looked good. Unfortunately, that's where the word "good" stopped for this meal. While they somehow managed to cook it how we ordered, pink in the middle right at our desired "medium" level, they also somehow managed to cook any semblance of flavor out of it. I am not quite sure how this was possible. The burger was juicy and gave every expectation that it would be delicious, but it lacked any hint of anything that could be considered delicious. It was almost like the burger had been boiled rather than grilled, and the lingering water was the juice that came forth in each bite. This burger was the equivalent of the little trophy that you get as a consolation prize for coming in last place. It looks good, but it really just is a junk piece of plastic that looks like real gold. And much like the plastic trophy, it is probably are equally flavorful. The only flavor came from the smoke and pepper ketchup, which wasn't bad but really not much more than regular ketchup. I honestly would have rather eaten 12 orders of fries with this smoke and pepper ketchup than eating this burger. K concurred with my assessment, stating that after this meal, she could honestly say that she has no desire to come to Red Robin again. The worst part of the whole experience was when we got the bill. Our burgers were a whopping $13.95 each. These sad excuses of red meat patties came out to be $2 more than one of our highest rated burgers at Bad Daddy's. So the final verdict on this consolation burger? While Red Robin uses the YUMMMM as their slogan, we give this a big giant UMMMMMM. As in ummmmm, where did you hide the flavor? Or maybe ummmmm, why is this burger $14? Or even ummmmm, how about making your menu less confusing so we realize that we are ordering a $14 burger before we get the check? Seriously, we can not recommend this place. The only high point was having a great server, who made sure we had everything we needed and took care of us fantastically. The burgers however, can not be spoken with the same enthusiasm. They get a down low one Angus Barn Burger rating. Save your money and your appetite for somewhere else!
Red Robin
7860 Alexander Promenade Place
Raleigh, NC 27617
919-957-2880
http://www.redrobin.com/
