"Eating my Words"...a tale of Cheeseburgers

You know it's bad when you've got cheeseburgers on the brain. In Greenwood, a small city with a population that hovers around 20,000, we have several small joints that serve Cheeseburger specials every day for $5 and some change, including drink, fries and/or onion rings. Even though I have lived in Greenwood for over two years, I have only eaten at one of these establishments.

So with this in mind, I am surrounding myself with a few burger aficionados and we will conquer the small joints in town, thereby reviewing each places' "Cheeseburger Plate Special."

Last Friday Kathy, Karen and I visited the Garden Grille at 12:05 pm. The parking lot was full and the smell of grease hung in the air.

We each ordered the lunch plate, with drink and fries or half-and-half (that would be half fries and half onion rings for you Yankees that need assistance with local lingo). Comments were jotted down on a PRO/CON notepad between bites. Karen used many adjectives in her review. Kathy loved the burger, commenting that it needed pickles and had a little too much mayo. We all agreed it was a freshly made whole beef burger (not a frozen patty) and made for a messy lunch. The burger literally slid off the bun.

The staff scored huge points for hospitality, refilling drink glasses and serving hot, hot food. I am very particular about my meal arriving hot. At the Garden Grille your fries and onion rings are brought to the table piping hot!!

So, Karen's notes are as follows:

PROS: Real Beef, not prefab, but a hand-patted burger !!-- She ordered a cheeseburger all the way with 1/2 and 1/2. Her meal cost $7.24.

Crispy Fries

Friendly Environment

CONS:

Only that it was a messy burger, but, oh yes... a roll of paper towels was provided for our table.

Kathy agreed with all of the above but added the following comments:

Burger was messy due to a little excess mayo. She forgot to order pickles on her cheeseburger and this was very important. She had the cheeseburger special with fries, no onion rings. Her tab came in under $6 bucks.

Denine: Cheeseburger plate with 1/2 and 1/2, no onions on my burger.

PROS: Real beef! Super good fries and onion rings. Friendliest restaurant staff I've met in a long time.

CONS: Mayo caused burger to slide off of bun. Forgot the pickles too and prefer, ketchup, mustard and mayo combo. The beef had a slightly salty taste, not bad just different.

We must compare to other joints, but this was a great first experiment. And none of us southern gals could finish the food on our plates. So, Garden Grille gets high marks for fast service, hot food, hospitality and a tab of $7.24 for the Cheeseburger Special 1/2 and 1/2.

Next up: The Dixie where they serve a pickle Coke!!