Place: Red Robin
Lunch: Barbecue burger, steak fries, chili, "Freckled" lemonade
I haven't been to a Red Robin in a decade or more. I remember them having ridiculously slow service and ridiculously high prices.
I remember correctly.
Burgers start at $7.99. Eight bucks for a BURGER. I don't care if it comes with unlimited steak fries (which translates to around 13 on the plate and more if you demand later). Strawberry lemonade is $3.99. It's a buck higher than a cup of chili. This is "cinema snack bar" bad. Red Robin makes Fuddruckers and Fatburger look like relative bargains.
Having said that, everything IS really good. There's a reason this place is as busy as it is. And I suppose if you just had a bowl of chili and water, you could get out of here for around $5 instead of the $20 I dropped after the tax and tip. A generous tip, mind you, but I couldn't wait around for change. I've had cheaper lunches at the Cheesecake Factory.
And what's with this "How do you want your burger cooked" crap? The guy a table across from me was asked this, ordered his burger "medium", and that's what he got. A pink center. He freaked out. "This is raw hamburger!" he exclaimed to the manager, who comped him, even if it IS what he ordered. Debate e-coli all you want...Even if there is minimal risk, a public terrorzied by the media doesn't want pink hamburger meat.
Ever notice that you can order chili at five different restaurants and have the results be five completely different tastes and textures?
It hasn't rained a day since last week's office lunch. Figures.
