Bobby's Burger Palace

My most recent adventure has been to Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, Long Island to the newest branch of the Bobby Burger Palace chain. This location recently opened, within December of 2011, and I was able to go twice within a week, and had varying experiences. The first thing about this restaurant is the concept behind it. It is semi fast food, with communal seating, meaning you order your food at the registers and have the option to sit in the restaurant at these long tables, or take the food to go. Both times I was in a party of 2, and had no trouble finding seating. The interior is really clean, and quite striking. There is a wait staff that will bring your order (they give you a number when they take your order) and clean the tables and even offer free refills. They were all extremely friendly and helped to add to the experience. This portion of the service both times was incredible. The menu for this place is relatively simple, burger, fries and milkshakes (which can even be spiked!) There are some non-burger options such as salad, and there is the option for a turkey or chicken burger instead of the beef patty. The surprise on this menu is the beverage selection, which includes beer, wine, and Bobby's famous margarita from his MESA Grill.

The first trip was below par in my opinion, and that was because of the register service of the person taking my order. I understand that when the place is packed and they're trying to take the orders as quickly as possible, however, skipping the most important question is a big No-No. He did not ask my how I would like my burger cooked (which is always rare) and when I reminded him, he made some movements on the computer and said that he fixed the order. When my original CrunchBurger arrived it was actually cooked to Medium (at best) it was still juicy and delicious, so I ate it anyway, but it detracts from my opinion of the place. I really could not get over the fact that my burger was not rare. So the CrunchBurger, (I got mine with bacon) Is a simple yellow american cheese burger with a stack of potato chips add on top. "Crunchifiying " your burger is a big thing being advertised at the joint, meaning you can add chips for no extra charge to any burger, it is even the slogan on the back of all the staff shirts. However, after eating a crunchified burger, I did not feel that it was worth it, and in reality after that first bite, the chips did not add anything special to the burger. That texture that should have been there from the chips became lacking after the initial bite and after holding the burger. I had the regular fries, they were good and came with the BBP Fry Sauce, which was interesting. The sauce had an unexpected kick to it, making it a tad spicy, but overall I was not a fan of the sauce, and the fries themselves were only OK. I would not order these again. I also had the dark chocolate shake, which was like drinking a thick and creamy version of hot fudge, which I really enjoyed. The shake variety is awesome, however, I did wish that the "adult" versions had better combinations of flavors and alcohol.

The second trip was even better than the first because my burger was cooked to a perfect rare, it was delicious. This burger was red throughout and juicy to the point that it was leaking from the burger. This was the burger of the month: Pacific Northwest Burger, which had white american cheese, cremini mushrooms, and a red wine BBQ Sauce. One word: AMAZING. I do wish there was more of the sauce on the burger, because not every bite had the complete flavor, but other than that, it was perfection. I had the onion rings, which were good and huge! I want to know where they find onions that big. Also had the sweet potato fries, which I think are the winning side here. They were perfection, they had the honey mustard horseradish sauce, which had a great taste, a little on the honey sweet side, but paired well with the sweet potato. I would absolutely order those sweet potato fries every time I come in.

If you missed the location of this great place, its in Roosevelt Field mall, need I say more? The only thing to do before and after (to work off all those calories) is SHOP! This in my humble opinion in the best mall on Long Island, has all stores from high to low end, and everything in between.

Overall this is a great concept restaurant, and perfect location, I expect it to do extremely well. The menu is affordable, and simple, it keeps to the basics (burgers, shakes and fries) and Bobby Flay threw a couple of well placed surprises as well. So when you need a break from shopping at Roosevelt Field Mall, grab a Burger of the Month and a side of sweet Potato Fries, and relax (and make sure you double check that order)!

Adventure On!

-Amanda