There are a whole slew of restaurants (typically the best in town) that are all the way on the other side of the city. For one reason or another we don’t get over there too much, but when we do we will usually stop somewhere and pick up dinner since there are some options we either haven’t tried or don’t get to normally enjoy. Just a couple of days ago we had a chance to get over there and after much deliberation (and I mean much, since my mother isn’t easy to please) we finally ended up at our area’s local Red Robin.
It was a visit to their website that really clenched the decision. I knew my mom would like a lot of their food options, including things like fish and chips, onion rings, and gourmet burgers. I didn’t know if I would be able to sell her on a burger (she’s picky about when she wants one), but I knew the fish and chips with onion rings instead of fries, would be a super simple selling point. So, off to Red Robin we went.
I have to say the inside is quite swanky. I really liked the basic motif with the celebrity pictures on the wall and the past moments of pop culture (Campbell’s Soup can, anyone?). It was a cute restaurant and a nice environment all around. They didn’t have smoking, which was a negative for my mom, but she was willing to forgive them because they had Coke and if the food was good, there would be no problem. If I could have gotten her out of there without seeing the bill I think she would have been in love. Of course, my mom can’t imagine spending anything over McDonald’s prices for a meal out to eat, so that was to be expected.
I didn’t find the prices to be too bad, but it’s not somewhere that we will be going a lot just for the fact that it is a bit more than your average burger joint. For a family of four with meals and one appetizer it came to just over $66, not including tip. The service was excellent, by the way.
Below I have included a list of what we had and prices for each:
Fresh-Fried Cheese Sticks ($7.99) – Most everyone in the family is a cheese stick fanatic, but then it is one of the most popular appetizers ever, these days. Our son just had to have these or we probably would have skipped them. I am glad he insisted. The sticks were plumped, filled with cheese, lightly breaded, and perfectly crisped up as they should be. The marinara, on the other hand, was fresh tasting, cool, and provided an excellent sauce for this cheesy, fried appetizer.
Red Robin Gourmet Cheeseburger ($8.29) – The standard burger comes with your choice of cheese (Cheddar, Swiss, American, Bleu, Pepper Jack, Provolone, or Monterey Jack), tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, onions, mayo, and Red’s pickle relish. I got mine with cheddar, no lettuce, and everything else. I wasn’t sure about the relish before I ordered it, but decided to live on the wild side. Normally, this comes with bottomless fries (all you can eat). However, I opted to pay the $1.50 charge and get onion rings instead of fries. The onion rings were crisp and some of the best I’ve ever tasted. They were perfect. I had them with tartar sauce for dipping (something that’s always been done since I was little). The tartar sauce was really good, too. My mom was partial to my homemade tartar, but what can you do?
The burger on the other hand was huge! I don’t tend to order burgers a lot when I go out to eat. I tend to end up getting chicken. However, when I saw the burgers I couldn’t resist. There wasn’t too much mayo on mine (next time I would ask for more), but the relish served as an interesting sauce. Each item was fresh and managed to blend together to make the perfect burger. It was fabulous and far too much food for one sitting. I took half home and was still stuffed, which makes it somewhat of a bargain since it lasted for two meals (or more).
Sautéed ’Shroom Burger ($8.99) – Dom chose this burger, which was interesting because I almost ordered this one myself. Great minds, I suppose. This burger comes with the standard necessities of a mushroom, Swiss burger. It has mushrooms (and I mean a ton of them), some garlic Parmesan butter, and melted Swiss cheese. This also came with the steak fries, which he chose. I was lucky enough to have a fiancé that knows how to share. He gave me a bite and I think I had a foodgasm or a mouthgasm…There was a food orgasm in there; call it whatever you want. The mushrooms were plump, the Swiss was delicious, and the combination of everything on a plump burger with the most excellent garlic Parmesan butter was far better than I could have ever imagined. The steak fries weren’t half bad either.
Clucks & Fries ($8.99) – This one was all for my son. He’s got a disorder on the Autistic Spectrum so he is a finicky eater. We can normally get him to eat chicken tenders and fries though. I was a little nervous because these are a little different than his usual option. I offered to get him Burger King (his normal restaurant of choice), but he said he wanted to give them a go. The chicken tenders were fried crispy, but the white meat chicken was plump and juicy. He loved them and he liked the fries, too, though he is normally a fan of the thinner fries. All in all, he ate most of his food and some leftovers later, which is not his normal style.
Arctic Cod Fish & Chips ($10.79) – Mom received four pieces of cod filets that were battered in a tempura batter, making it light and crisp, but still moist and delicious inside. Normally, she complains that her fish is not done enough, but she loved this. No complaints as far as the fish went. She opted for the onion rings, too, and though she liked my tartar better, she gave this one flying colors, too. As far as the meal as a whole, she did enjoy it greatly. Her one complaint had to do with the price. The average restaurant gives you a roll or some type of bread and a salad or cole slaw with this type of meal and Red Robin does not. So, this was a negative for her, making the meal something she might think twice about before ordering next time. She did enjoy the quality of the food quite a bit though.
3 Milkshakes (1 Banana, 1 Chocolate, & 1 Vanilla) ($3.99 each) – I can’t speak for the other two shakes, but the banana shake was the best banana shake that I’ve ever had. It came with whipped cream and sprinkles on top and it was just perfect. They serve it in a shake glass with the shake cup on the side that has nearly a whole shake inside it, so it’s a fair deal at the end of the day. On taste alone, it’s worth buying.
1 Coke – Obviously the Coke tasted like Coke, but the glass it was served in was a nice touch since so many restaurants use cheap glasses these days.
If you haven’t figured it out already there is a high chance that we will be back. It was definitely worth a second visit.
Technorati Tags: Red Robin, Food Review, Restaurant, Gourmet Burgers, Bottomless Fries, Onion Rings, Cheeseburger, Fish and Chips, Shake, Coke, Chicken Tenders, Excellent Food
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