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 | 	- First impressions were hard to make. Coworkers (and Google) had told us the place was called "The Burger Lab". When we arrived, we saw it was called "La Parilla -- The Lab." There was confusion but we still settled in. I thought that The Burger Lab was a cool upstart that fizzled out and was replaced by another business that kind of did the same thing.
This put me at at disadvantage. I didn't get a burger. Why? I wasn't sure if it would actually be good. I thought it was a Salvadoran restaurant that served burgers because you need the appeal to your audience and Salvadoran food isn't a grab like burgers are. 
I was skeptical of the Bulgogi burger, Korean meat served as part of an American hamburger in this Salvadoran restaurant. Coworker swore by it, but I thought it was too risky. I went with some shredded meat with peppers meal. It was something I envisioned close to what "Ropa Vieja" is in Cuban cuisine (shredded beef in delicious sauce over tasted black beans and rice).
Well stick to burgers. Meet wasn't super warm and it's in a bit of it's own sauces. Beef had subdued flavor, expecting more of a variety of spices to the dish. It came with some rice which was bland. Mixing the rice with the meat sauce is not optional, it's mandatory. There was what I assumed to be Salvadoran potato salad, but if I was skeptical of burgers here, you know I wasn't eating something with what I assumed was made of mayonnaise in it. Hey, I tried it and it was not something I wanted to continue eating. 
As for the restaurant, it's a lot bigger than you would think. Plenty of TVs around the place. There is a Touch Tunes jukebox that was set to Jet Engine levels of loud when I operated it. Luckily the staff gave me the remote to turn it down. I figure this place is pretty crazy on the weekend.
The unfortunate thing that ended our visit was the fact that the restaurant's credit card machine system was down. This was a serious problem for a lot of us, well pretty much anyone, since carrying cash is a novelty at this point. Great thing was, I'm a novel guy so I was able to pay for my meal and walk out. The rest of my coworkers were not as fortunate. The restaurant was not prepared to handle something like this. Not sure it occurs often but bringing cash wouldn't hurt.
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