I went to Meat Heads today and would like to report back – above average, but with the potential to be pretty dang good. But let me qualify.
I wanted to start off with the basics, so I ordered a regular (double) Monterey Jack cheeseburger with raw onion and a regular fry. After a few minutes, and a couple reassurances from some of the kids bringing out other orders (more on them in a moment), this is what I got…
… yup, that looks like a tasty burger. For comparison, here are pictures of two other good-looking burgers – an
In-N-Out burger and a
Krabby Patty. Fairly similar, no?
The burger was pretty good, not exceptional, but again pretty good. First off, everything was extremely fresh. Fresh beef. Fresh, soft bun. Crisp lettuce and slightly biting onion. Top marks here. After a few bites though you can tell that they’re still working out a few kinks.
The patty is the thin Schoop’s / In-N-Out / Five Guys (presumably) burger that is best served well-done and almost crisp. My burger, while well-done, was sadly in need of a tan. Perhaps once they get the army of folks by the griddle trained up (again, more on them soon), they’ll get the courage to crank up the sucker and make Maillard a proud poppa.
I also found the patty to be a bit bland (similar to what's been said about the new Five Guys), but this may be by design. Looking at the menu, they have several accessorized burgers complete with City / State themes to get the point across (hint: the Hawaiian has pineapple). Kind of like Cold Stone Creamery they may be focused on “mix-ins”, where no one really buys just a vanilla ice cream, but vanilla mixed with M&Ms, and fudge, and candy corn, and… In fact, the Cajun Sunrise (IT HAS AN EGG ON IT) sounds great and I may give it a go next time around.
The fries were also quite fresh, but again a tad under seasoned and a bit limp. Not bad by any means, but again just a bit off mark.
In all, a decent meal that could be made great with a few tweaks.
Some other notes – I’m not entirely sure, but I think they were training employees today. First tip-off was the grill area, where no less than twelve folks were preparing essentially two menu items: burger & fries. Most of them could barely spin in a tight circle, let alone move from their assigned spot. So it kind of makes sense that they don’t start burning some burgers until they make sure no one… burns the burgers. Also there were a lot of uniformed staff roaming the grounds, checking up on seated customers, chatting with other staff, or eating burgers & fries. Including the grill staff, there may have been three times as many people working there as there were customers to eat. A bit chaotic, but at least everyone seemed really nice.
Lastly, I really liked that in front of the door, right next to the disabled parking was “Preferred Parking for Fuel Efficient Vehicles”. Nice touch. Of course when I walked out a Jeep was parked there, and since I drove my own Jeep there, I know it would be quite a stretch to call them “fuel efficient”. I desperately wanted to get a picture of that, but as I walked out, the Jeep pulled away, probably in shame…
Stickin' together is what good waffles do!