The Root Beer Stand

          This is probably the wrong time of year to be doing a review of The Root Beer Stand, a seasonal operation that serves between March 26 and September 26 each year. But I was in the area scouting locations for an upcoming short film that will be hitting the festival circuit and I hadn't been to this place in a while so I figured, what the heck.
          Opened in 1957 (which makes it almost as old as me), The Root Beer Stand was originally a classic diner with car hops that was right on the main route between Michigan and Florida. Located at 11566 Reading Rd. in Sharonville (on the web at http://www.therootbeerstand.com and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/therootbeerstand), The Root Beer Stand looks pretty much today the way it did when it opened. For a long time it was a franchise for A & W Root Beer which is when I first found it back in the 1970s. In 1982 the franchise expired as A & W was getting out of the restaurant game but The Root Beer Stand continued to serve a loyal group of customers.
                                                                       The Burger

          Right up front it's important to know, if you've never been to The Root Beer Stand, that they specialize in, obviously, root beer but also their chili and chili dogs. The burgers there are pretty pedestrian. But that doesn't matter. Sure, they're pretty typical frozen patties but if you order the quarter pound burger, as I did, they at least cook it up fresh, guaranteed.
          There are no tables at this place, just a counter and in a lot of places your view of the area beyond is blocked with various bits of memorabilia. Again, that doesn't matter. While there are some folks who do sit at the few counter seats and order up and eat, a whole host of people just stand around, grab their order and take it to go.

          The burgers here, as I have already noted, aren't great; maybe a slight step ahead of a McWendy's King burger. But you don't go to The Root Beer Stand for the burger. Go for the atmosphere, go for the root beer, go for a foot long chili dog. But you'll have to wait until March to go again.