Sometimes things just don't work out the way you would like. That happened to us several times as we ventured into the unknown or little known reaches of burgerdom. Understand that we choose the places we visit based on a few different criteria. We started off by listing all of the places that have been on the various "best of" lists for the past couple of years. Then we added to that list whenever someone we knew suggested a place. Quite often, though, we look for a burger place that is in the vicinity of our destination, which for much of the summer, would be a car show (check out our car blog: http://turnerbudds-carblog.blogspot.com/).
So there will be times when we go to a restaurant with some knowledge of what to expect but quite often we go in either on a recommendation or just because we found it listed on Urbanspoon. So many times we're just taking our chances and trying to find some new and exciting hidden gem.
It doesn't always work out.
There may be any number of reasons why we come away from a place disappointed. It may be the quality of the burger, the service, the fact that a place just didn't live up to the high accolades that had been heaped on it. Whatever the case, these are the places that disappointed us this past year. In no way is this meant to be a list of places to avoid. In some instances we even pointed out that perhaps the burger we ordered was the cause and chalk up the disappointment to our personal taste (or lack thereof). You should always be the judge and check out a place for yourself. Oh, yeah, we're not really apologizing if one of your favs is on our list. This is our blog and feel perfectly free to disagree and even post nasty comments about us. That's just part of the "pink slime" of doing a burger blog.
915 Pub and Grill had gotten a lot of positive reviews on line and so when Mark went with a friend to discuss a video project he was disappointed by the quality of the meat. What looked and felt like a nice little neighborhood joint just didn't live up to expectations. http://turnerbudds-burgerblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/915-pub-and-grill.html.
The Blue Goose Sports Cafe was one of those destination hunt joints. Located in the Sharonville Loop, it was the perfect place for us to hit up during the big annual car show there each spring. Unfortunately the restaurant didn't live up to the excellent quality of the car show with a rather flavorless burger. http://turnerbudds-burgerblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/blue-goose-sports-cafe.html.
Cheeseburger In Paradise was a place where we had eaten before but found that our travels took us to the Eastgate area so we decided to do an official review. The restaurant closed shortly after our visit due to a redesigned cloverleaf ramp. So maybe the people at the place knew they were losing their jobs but our service was absolutely terrible. http://turnerbudds-burgerblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/cheeseburger-in-paradise.html
Culver's is one of those "quality" fast food chains that have begun to spring up around the country. It had come highly recommended by one of Mark's close friends and so when he was out of town on work and had the opportunity he stopped in only to be disappointed by the poor quality burger. http://turnerbudds-burgerblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/culvers.html.
Mama's Grill was another place that had come highly recommended by both the net and friends and so when an acquaintance of Mark's suggested they ride out for lunch, he was for it. While the place is homey and friendly the burger just didn't have anything to make him want to recommend it. Perhaps the breakfast which looked really good would be a better call. http://turnerbudds-burgerblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/mamas-grill.html.
The Oakley Pub and Grill is an interesting place for us. We had been there before and found the burgers to be lacking and the service to be pretty bland as well. When Mark went back at the suggestion of a friend he found the burger to be a bit better but the service to be just as..... plain. http://turnerbudds-burgerblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/oakley-pub-and-grill.html
The Pepper Pod is one of those iconic neighborhood joints that we want so badly to like. Unfortunately, it didn't matter whether the burger itself was any good because the service was absolutely terrible. http://turnerbudds-burgerblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/pepper-pod.html
Sammy's Gourmet Burgers was another place that came highly recommended. We found that the special sauce totally overpowered the beef which, even when tasted by itself seemed rather bland. http://turnerbudds-burgerblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/sammys-gourmet-burgers-and-beer.html
Smash Burger is still another of those "quality" fast food chains. For us, it was probably more about their special sauce that overpowered the burger dropping it into this category. We have vowed to give it another chance and order a different burger (without the sauce) but until then, here it sits. http://turnerbudds-burgerblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/smash-burger.html
Toot's is a chain in the T.G.I. Friday's or Applebee's vein but, for us, didn't live up to either of those places. The burger was rather tasteless. http://turnerbudds-burgerblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/toots.html
So there you have our year in review. Next week it's off to find some more great, and probably not so great, burger joints. As always, let us know what you think and feel free to tell us about places to try. You can post comments here or drop us an email at turnerbudds@gmail.com.
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