After our morning’s shopping both Donna and I needed a little snack. At the exit road of the shopping center was a little gas-n-go place, so we pulled in and got me a Coke and her a bag of chips. As we leaned on the fender of the car we both could smell charbroiling hamburgers, mmmm. Sharing the building with the quick shop was a Backyard Burger place.
It was a little early for lunch at 10:15 AM, but we had an early breakfast. The smell of cooking burgers was too much, we were now hungry. Dang, they didn’t even open until 10:30. We left and started our way back to Aiken. As we drove we tried to come to a consensus as to what to have for lunch when we got home, but we kept coming back to those burgers.
So we drove around Augusta aimlessly for a while and by the time we got back, the Backyard Burger place was open for business. We were actually their first customers of the day and it took a minute or so before someone came from out back to take our order which consisted of two 1/3lb. burgers and a small fountain drink. The fellow gave me a receipt and told me my ticket number was 134, the time was 10:34 AM. I almost made a smart ass remark about good thing he gave me a number, what with all the people in here, I’d hate to get the wrong order, but held my tongue. I sat down and Donna went off to use the rest room. It seemed like it was taking her a while, but they had a TV in the corner, so I watched some inane college football pregame show for a bit. Donna came back and we chatted for a few more minutes, we were still the only ones in the place. What could be taking so long? Finally, not wanting to shout out “134” to a nearly empty room and/or perhaps to give himself something to do, our order taker brought the two burgers to our table.
While tasty, the burger was not really hot or fresh and it should have been considering the amount of time it took to get it to us. I think the patties we were eating were probably the ones we smelled cooking at 10:15 and they had been lazing about under a heat lamp for the last 40 or so minutes.
You have a lousy time of it with restaurants doncha? I was at a Backyard Burger in Erie and the service was great and the food was wonderful and it was at a busy time of day, and from what my niece told me the place had just opened.
That is usually the secret to get a hot burger at these places, go at lunch when there is a big turnover.