Player's Retreat - is a chill place to eat!

Monday afternoon Maddie and I headed over to the roundabout that connects Oberlin Road and Hillsborough Street and we stumbled upon the awesome bar that is Player's Retreat (located at 105 Oberlin Street).

Player's Retreat Facebook Page.

The place was pretty much empty but since it was such a pretty day, we sat outside. "There is no way I would sit inside on a day like today," said Maddie.

This is what the patio usually looks like.
Player's Retreat Facebook Page.

Our waiter came over to us almost immediately and we ordered two waters and two Bud Lights (STAT!). Since neither one of us had ever been to PR  we asked our server what was good and he said that "the burgers are great and I'm literally eating a turkey club sandwich as we speak." With his suggestions in mind, we had a pretty good idea as to what we were having for lunch.
Player's Retreat has a pretty extensive menu which includes "Lunch Meals under $6.00". At the very top of this menu - there it was "Cheeseburger - $5.95". The cheeseburger came with chips and I decided I'd upgrade to french fries.
In absolutely no time at all my burger was placed smack, dab in front of me.

The "Black Angus Beef: ground on site" that they boasted was insanely good. It was juicy and tender and bursting with flavor. This burger was huge, definitely a cut in half kind of thing. The bun was perfectly toasted and the french fries were totally crispy as well - just the way Maddie likes them! For a total of $8.10 - this burger adventure was a success.
My only advice is - DO NOT GET WATER. IT WILL NOT BE REFILLED.

Maddie insisted that I take this picture.

I would just stick to beer.

Brewmasters' burger is delishhh.

A good friend of mine recommended Brewmasters', located at 301 West Martin Street - so I decided I would give them a try!
Angel and I arrived around 2 p.m. which was apparently right after the lunch crowd left because the place was dead.

 

The place was super inviting and friendly and the bartender, Derek, came right over to us. We asked him his favorite things and he told us "the burgers are what we're famous for" and that was the exact moment that I knew I came to the right place. 

As an appetizer we decided to get the chips and queso and studied over the menu some more.

The menu boasted plenty of original items and titles. I of course was there for one thing and one thing only. 

I went BYOB on this one and built my own burger. I got it exactly how I usually do and Angel went with a lettuce/chicken wrap. The chips came out pretty quick. 

In theory they had the right idea but the chips were quite stale/chewy/not so delicious. Regardless, they were eaten and "enjoyed". ALAS, my burger arrived...

IT WAS DELICIOUS. The burger itself had it's own freshness and uniqueness to it that I really enjoyed. It was great. The bun was pretty amazing as well. It was toasted just right with the perfect amount of bread and the  fries, oh the french fries - they were mouth watering. The texture and proportion on this burger was the best part. The Brewmasters' burger was a definite win. It had the perfect amount of flavor and still kept it's integrity as one of the best burger's I've eaten should.
Furthermore, Brewmasters was a total success - all the way around. The service and hospitality of the people working there was completely on par. Between the atmosphere and the burger - Brewmasters will be seeing this girl again. Yes, indeed.

Street Meat is Pretty Sweet.

Background Info.

When I told my mom, who grew up predominately in the Northeast and is no stranger to street food that I was going to blog about a burger off of a food truck - she was a little skeptical.

OnlyBurger food truck is located at the heart of North Carolina State's Centennial Campus on [most if not every] Wednesday between the hours of 11a.m. and 2p.m.

Nicole and I got to the food truck around 11:30 and the line wasn't too bad.

Most people seemed like professionals when it came to ordering/knowing what they wanted. The food truck seemed like a weekly ritual. 

WARNING: PEOPLE WILL CUT YOU IN LINE. 

So be aggressive.

I got the usual. (: Single Combo - ketchup/mayo/cheddar and an ice cold Coca-Cola. After about 5-10 minutes the nice gentleman who was one out of the three men on the truck, screamed out "BRIT" and my [only]burger was in hand! 

For visual aid purposes.

We found a quiet place to sit and the chowing down followed. 

For most people - this burger wouldn't look very appetizing. For Nicole and I - this burger was the bee's knees. Squished and all, this burger hit the spot. Nicole said "this is the best burger I've ever had." 

For "street meat" this burger was above par and a total surprise - It was downright delicious. It had the best consistency of cooked all the way and juicy. I can totally understand why people wait in line for an OnlyBurger. The french fries were "fresh cut Idaho potatoes" with a seriously insane amount of cracked pepper [yuck]. Overall - I'm a fan. Next time I'm going to get a handful of burgers and no fries (and a coke!!).

The Village Grill - not a huge thrill.

The Village Grill located at 8470 Honeycutt Road in Raleigh is tucked away in a shopping center that could seriously be mistaken for "Busch Gardens". We were so hungry and could NOT wait to get there! So with our $25 gift card in hand Maddie and I headed out to North Raleigh to give this place a try.

On a rainy Monday afternoon the place was relatively dead. We were seated right away and gazed down at the one page front and back menu.

We ordered waters and decided to get a starter and agreed on:

Menu.

Those came out amazing and we, for lack of a better word, demolished them.

We put our orders in and Maddie ordered some insanely popular London Broil sandwich and I went with the $10 "Village Grill Burger" and ordered it well done with cheddar/ketchup/mayo. After waiting a seemingly long time for our meals - they finally arrived.

My burger was cooked the way I wanted it and pretty good. It was not the best burger  I've ever had but I would give it a solid B[or B- for good measure]. Maddie said "I love when fries are super crispy" and these fries were definitely that. The bun was probably the best part of this burger. It was fluffy and perfect. In the places defense - the food portions were legitimate and they were seriously huge. In hindsight the appetizer might have been a bad idea.
Although the place was relatively empty, the service seemed sub-par. On more than one occasion we had to look around to see where our server was because our glasses were empty. All in all I have had worse burgers and even worse service so The Village Grill was a pretty okay place to go and eat. The prices were a little steep and we were far too generous with our tip, but we left happy. (:

Tyler's for beer, not for burgers.

After more than a few recommendations, I had to give Tyler's Restaurant & Taproom's burger a try. I had some family in town from New Jersey and decided to bring them along! 

Tyler's Restaurant & Taproom, located at 18 Seaboard Avenue Suite 150 in Raleigh is the newest location in the Tyler's Restaurant & Taproom gang. Other locations are Carrboro, Apex and Durham. Tyler's is known for it intense amount of beers on tap. Jeremy Blankenship, the chef at Tyler's said "we have 80 beers on tap, and around another 60 in bottles and cans" and that "we will be adding more taps when we open our outdoor patio this spring."

I ordered the "Taproom Burger" - mayo and ketchup only [of course] with a side of garlic fries.

The burger came out just as I ordered it but it lacked something. There was nothing special about this burger. It lacked flavor and a "wow" factor. There was nothing about this burger that would stop me from going to any other burger place when a craving hit. The patty itself was just lacking - in every department. This burger is not the kind of burger that you'd "remember" after leaving the place. The rest of my family got other dishes like the BBQ pulled pork sandwich and said that their dish was delicious!

Pros: FRIED MAC AND CHEESE. [OH YES. GET THEM. THEY'RE TO DIE FOR.] The atmosphere was amazing. Everywhere you looked, the place was full of fun and different beer logos and brands on the wall.

Cons: Besides the obvious, the service was not so great. Our waiter had absolutely no tables and my glass along with my mom and aunt's drinks were not refilled often at all.

My Recommendation - go for the beer, not the burger. Also, go at night - when the place is alive and in it's prime.

Mojoe's is a go-go.

On the windiest Sunday in February, Maddie and I decided we would go to Mojoe's Burger Joint, located at 620 Glenwood Ave. at the Peace St. intersection. Mojoe's is probably the most unassuming, unpretentious burger place in all of Raleigh. 

When we got there we walked through the side/front door and sat ourselves. While the environment was super laid back - we were spoken to immediately and asked what we'd like to drink. We ordered our drinks and began to stare down at the one page, front and back, super detailed menu.

They had all kinds of different toppings and sides that you could add onto your burger to make it absolute heaven on a bun.

Even though the fried egg was TOTALLY tempting, true to form I stuck with the, from what I am hearing, not so crowd pleaser of mayo/ketchup/cheddar cheese ensemble. I built my own single burger and with that our burger and fries order was in!

Not so long after, the burger arrived - in all of it's glory.

Yeah, I know.

This burger was straight from the gods. This "single" burger consisted of 1/3 lb. of beef. The burger as a whole was quite big, if Maddie would not have been there, I would not  have cut it in half. This burger was seriously delicious. It was the perfect amount of taste and texture and cooked to honest to goodness perfection. I'm not the kind of girl that likes my burgers still mooing and this burger was definitely cooked all the way. It was the perfect burger, especially for the money. All in all it was around $8.00 with a tip. The staff was super friendly and refills galore! [Ya'll know I like when the staff is friendly.] To top it all of, the french fries were to die for. 

For emphasis.

By the end of the meal we were so full we didn't know what to do with ourselves. I asked Maddie what she thought and she said "I really liked the laid back atmosphere here and how helpful the waiters were." All in all Mojoe's was great. The food was good, the staff was friendly and the company was even better.

Raleigh Times Bar - no thanks.

UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!

2/09/12 - Arno Halna, Manager at Raleigh Times Bar is absolutely amazing. He has completely made sure that I am satisfied. Blog or not, his dedication to making customer service his priority could lead to a part two. I plan to give it another try soon... Stay tuned.

2/05/12 - Friday night Nicole and I went to Raleigh Times Bar located at 14 E. Hargett St. I was really excited about going to the Times since I hadn't been there in about a year. My first experience was one for the books, little did I know - the atmosphere had changed drastically.

There was absolutely no hostess to sit you - it's a seat yourself kind of place and don't expect the waitresses to stop and come to your rescue if you look completely lost. I forgot that if you don't show up really early, you will not be sitting inside. Lastly and most importantly, I forgot that if you don't sit at the bar, you weren't going to get anything that resembles decent service - I remembered this way too late.

At 7:30 on a Friday night there is absolutely no place to sit - especially at the bar. Nicole and I decided we'd sit outside. After about 15 minutes of sitting outside (in the cold) a waitress finally showed up to give us our menus. Before we could even mumble a word she was already walking away.

Another 15 minutes or so later another server came around and asked us if the other server had gotten us drinks. We replied with a polite "no" and she brought us two waters about 10 minutes later. She asked us what we'd like to eat and without writing it down she used her apparent amazing memory skills and nodding ability to let us know that she got our order down exactly as we were saying it. 

We proceeded to tell her that we wanted the nachos with absolutely no jalapenos for an appetizer along with loaded fries and a burger with ONLY mayo, ketchup and cheddar cheese. She nodded and left us with the confidence that she was good at her job.

We got our nachos in a semi-timely manner but they came out all wrong. 

Jalapenos are NOT fun.

After a while our burger and fries came out and they were absolutely not the way we ordered it - go figure.

That is not mayo/ketchup only.

I thought it looked delicious, too.

The burger patty itself was okay and the bun seemed a little stale. The burger overall was plain and I'm not talking about just the condiments. There was nothing special and WOW about this burger. I've had better burger and fry combinations at fast-food restaurants and in the same breath, I have paid a lot less.
After we got our food, there was no sign of our waitress. Especially one that was asking if we needed any refills on our drinks or how our food was. She finally showed up when it came time to put the bill down on our table. 

On the receipt our server's name was listed as "I'll never tell!!!!" and towards the bottom there seemed to be a separate tagline or description of the bar in which they seemed particularly proud of - it read:

"The Most Arrogant Bar in America"

Around $25.00 later with tip included - they certainly lived up to that title!

Arrogance, for me is certainly not palatable.

2/06/12 - UPDATE: I gave feedback on the Raleigh Times Website and a manager, Arno Halna, got back to me that same afternoon. He apologized for everything. He was very friendly, receptive and wanted to know exactly what happened and how he could help. He wanted to make it up to me and let me know that a gift card was on it's way to my house.