Red Robin…Yum! NOT!

After years of seeing commercials for this US fast food chain and hearing from others about how great their burgers were, I finally gave in to see if there was one en route or near to where we were headed on vacation.  I finally talked my family into stopping at one for lunch just so I could check them out.

I was told to try their strawberry lemonade as it was THE BESTEST EVER.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a connoisseur of lemonade but their strawberry lemonade being ‘the bestest’?  After I ordered it, I saw that you could get a light version of it (sugar free). Do you know how sad I was about that?

Strawberry Lemonade
(full sugared lemonade with strawberry jam…and syrup?)

After perusing the menu for what seemed like eons, I decided on a regular bacon cheeseburger with onion rings instead of the bottomless fries.   The presentation was ‘pretty’ but its just a burger with 5 onion rings or 5 beefsteak fries.

Bacon Cheeseburger w/onion rings

Overall, I wasn’t impressed. It was average. Edible. It was only a bacon cheeseburger with onion rings.  I did try a few of the hubster’s fries and he did order another round since they were bottomless. When it arrived, it was another wax paper lined plastic basket with 5 beefsteak fries arrived. Seriously?

Have the hubster and I become burger snobs?  He confessed that it wasn’t as good as he recalled was when he was younger, having frequented the chain.  The decor is still the same but the food has definitely gone downhill. Their slogan is catchy but now I’ll know better.   In a roundabout way, I felt like we ate at a sit down version of McDonald’s but with sub par food. Is that even possible?  Would I eat there again? Probably but it won’t be my first choice.

Red Robin!! Yum!!! – NOT!

Have you been to Red Robin? Did you enjoy it?

Burger Bar & Tequila Tavern

A close girlfriend and I subscribe to those deal sites and yes, our in-boxes get flooded junk basically. But every so often a pretty good deal pops up.   The one that caught our eye was a ‘Spend $10 for $20 worth of food”.  The bonus of us buying/using this deal are that we get to spend QT together w/o life getting in the way (*knock on wood*),  we actually get to go out into the city and explore the neighbourhood where the restaurant is AND we get to try a new restaurant/cuisine.

Would I recommend this place? Definitely b/c its a one off mom & pop type place, its in a hipster type neighbourhood with a simple menu, moderately priced (even w/o a coupon or deal voucher) and a great locale for an afternoon / evening out 🙂

$5 for an afternoon out seems pretty worth it if you ask me!

(Well, OK it cost a bit more b/c of parking & additional impulse shopping along the way – nothing fun, just produce LOL)

And here, the pics of the afternoon are shared – enjoy 🙂

Cheeseburger springrolls – um…we didn’t taste any cheese, nor see any but it was still tasty nonetheless!

This is their ‘Market Burger’  (naturally raised beef blended with chipotle chorizo &toasted rice, topped w/ arugula pesto, chevre and blue cheese) and buttermilk soaked, panko crusted onion rings.

Loved the table settings – newspapers under the place mats.

The decor was kinda kitchy but really worked!

Their actual ‘bar’ – how awesome is that?! I’d love to have a side bar or dining table made out that if I could.

And on our way out, my girlfriend had to make a rest stop.   I was waiting by the bar until I saw her frantically trying to flag me down. She wanted to show me how cool the ladies’ room decor was and ya know, she was right!

(Visit their website: http://theburgerbar.ca/)