Red Robin

Critic's Review

Back in the Day, Red Robin was cool. Before they morphed into a bad version of TGI Fridays (which was also cool back in the day), They had buzzard wings (giant chicken wings) and a really good chicken sandwich. I used to watch Sunday Football at a Red Robin. Beers and Buzzard Wings. It was the first place I was ever a "regular" at a restaurant bar.

They've re-tooled into a kids-oriented fast food restaurants. But if you're on their mailing list, you get a free burger for your birthday. Literally any burger you want. And you have the whole month to get it. They closed the nearby location near where I used to live, but this year I decided to cash in.

I ordered on their web site as it's easier to apply the reward; I gave myself a half hour to get there. I arrived 15 minutes early and my food wasn't ready when I walked in.

The waiting area clearly isn't designed for adults; it's almost as if TGI Fridays and Red Robin had the same dumb ideas people.

The entire place is encased in glass. I don't know if it's leftover from Covid or what, but the place has a very closed feeling. I'm glad I wasn't eating in.

When the food was ready I headed over to the food court, where I could eat i peace without having someone come over and ask if I needed anything. The chairs are less comfortable, but there's a lot more space.

The food comes in a big bag. The girl who handed it to me was very animated and seemed like it was important to her that she got my order right. I probably should have left a tip; but I never tip for take out.

Solid packaging. Lemons on the side. Ketchup and "seasonings", which I hoped was salt.

I guess the paper holds it togther. but it make it look like fast food.

I opened it up and applied ketchup to the burger and salt to the fries.

Something I didn't notice was that the default was "No Pink". Who would knowingly choose that? So I guess the burger was medium well. Note that I also chose the "Big" option, which is supposed to give you 1 big patty instead of 2 skinnier ones. This patty looked pretty skinny.

I'd added red onion and pickle which elevated this to something better than Carl Jr's, but the burger itself was a hockey puck.

It was literally breaking apart..

Also, considering that I ate this 2 minutes after they put it in a bag, the fries were particularly lousy. Not crispy, not all that hot.

Conclusion

Something things aren't even worth it for free, and this burger fits that mold. I thought there was a chance that they'd improved since the last burger I had at a Red Robin, but it's really only a tiny step above any other fast food burger that costs 1/2 the price.