still the bestiest best. went there for my fifth visit last night. my two dining companions and i had a grand evening. not only were the burgers better than ever but our server and the general manager were so friendly and personable, none of us wanted to leave but alas, it was a weeknight. if there was a fan club for this place i would run for president, well maybe i would walk for president cause it's real hot out there and i'm a pretty chunky guy and well, you get the idea. anyway, i already did a review for this place in biblical proportions (see way, way below) but i did want to update by saying that this place is still my all-time personal favorite for burgers and now service………………….. can't wait for visit number 6……….
-----09 feb, 2011-----
cheeseburger in harrydise. the thing about getting excited over anything is the risk of being disappointed. you know, you've been there. on the way down to providence my food guru announced that a few of the places we were hitting on a ri burger and bbq crawl were owned by the same corporation. so? what did i care? i just heard of a place called harry's bar burger only a week before and here we were heading down there. i was psyched. not wanting to go their first ( i wanted to build up the anticipation) we stopped at another burger bar indeed owned by the same conglomerate. well, that place was a ginormous disappointment. so now what? i tried to take my enthusiasm for harry's down a notch but well, i couldn't. i was willing to risk it. a few minutes and a few blocks later, there we were. the full size plastic cow on the sidewalk storefront told us we found it (no, not literally, plastic cows can't talk silly, only wooden ones can). you have to wonder, is the plastic herd on rt 1 in saugus missing anything?
we were taken up to the second floor by a; never mind, i'll mention her later. i'm now both stoked and cautious at the same time. the third member of our party who has much more restraint than the two of us ordered a single burger. know however, that every order is doubled. yup, you order a burger and you get two. you order a double and you get two doubles. cool hugh? our sides of choice were regularfriesand onion strings. our food arrives and playing it safe i sample the sides first. thefriesare shoe string cut, probably frozen but cooked to a crispy non greasy perfection. the onion strings were excellently seasoned and crispy. the fallen crispies on the bottom were addicting. ok, enough-z-nuff it's time to dig in. "hey!" shouts my chow hound bud, "our burgers are only single patties!" "freak'n a". well, i damn sure am going to get what i ordered so we called for the server. by the time our new ones arrive the other dude had already finished his. a bit slow for fast food but then again we were a whole floor up from the kitchen.
so there they were, two little bacon cheese beauties starring me in the face. i grabbed one of those succulent little gobblers and was instantly a worshiper of this morsel of excellence. the juices flowed like a watermelon in summertime. the char on the outside was down-right crunchy and the potato bun made it worthy of a last meal request. the special sauce was there but not very noticeable. the lettuce and pickle were average but in a good way and onions? well, that's part of the magic of this burger. they are smashed into the meat as it cooks; now that's the way to do it.
usually on a food run i'm the first one to overindulge. i knew however that we were not done for the day so i thought for once i'd be good and not even suggest ordering more. well guess what? the "g" man himself said, "ya know; we need to order more." so we went for one more "double wide" to share. this time they got the double patties right. unfortunately they did not double the cheese which is the way it's listed on the menu.
ok, so there's the rub. the food is freak'en, fraken, fantastic. the service however could stand some improvement. no! i don't mean the server, "hey! you leave that spandex wearing cutie alone." i mean the kitchen staff. it's not like they are doing burgers and orange spiced duck at the same time. it's a burger bar so focus on the plating, you can afford too. actually i really don't care that much, the burgers are so good that i'll tolerate some mistakes, i'd just rather not. go c 4 yourself. i guarantee you'll love it. that's right, if your not satisfied just mail me the unfinished portion of your burger and i'll eat it myself.