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| - I've always wanted to try a Red Robin, having seen enticing commercials about their gourmet burgers. I love a good "house" burger. On Monday of this week, Red Robin in Champaign opened for general service. They don't yet have call-in carry out, but they'll do carry out if you go in to order. TLDR: I'd give the experience 2.5 stars if I could; we're calling this a "weak 3" around the house. Given this rating, we don't anticipate becoming regulars.
Overview
Red Robin is not a fast food joint. There's no drive through. The default expectation is dine in. The fare is upgraded bar food (or pub grub) with a focus on good burgers made with fresh ingredients in tried and true flavor combinations. They also have turkey, veggie, and lettuce-wrapped burgers. Burgers come with a side; three of the sides are at no extra charge and these include garlic herb fries and coleslaw. Both of these items are just okay -- nothing special. I couldn't taste much garlic or herbs on my steak fries and the coleslaw was standard mayo-based restaurant coleslaw with a medium shred.
Red Robin serves more than burgers: salads, wraps, other sandwiches, soups, appetizers, and even a few entrees (like fish n chips and mac n cheese). There will probably be something on the menu that everyone in your party will enjoy. They also have a bar (separated from the restaurant) and for the bar seem to mainly promote their beer selection.
First Tastes
For burgers, we ordered the DGB (oven-roasted tomatoes, roasted garlic aioli, and fresh arugula tossed in citrus olive oil dressing on a toasted ciabatta bun) and a straightforward cheeseburger on a sesame seed bun with ketchup and pickles (yes, for the progeny, who doesn't care for novel culinary experiences). We asked for the burgers "pink" and added caramelized onions to the DGBs.
The progeny liked his burger and fries just fine. His single-word response was "good." For all that he's a teen with a picky palate, he also has a refined one. He can tell quality, and I've come to trust that his assessments are on point.
We thought our DGB gourmet burgers were slightly overcooked (they offer a choice of cooked all the way, slightly pink, or pink--we chose pink and got very nearly all the way), greasy (whether the grease came from the onions or the burger we couldn't be sure but the sandwich was greasy enough to soak the bottom bun and send runoff into the fries), and lacked balance. There was an astringent tart and sour note to the toppings. Was this note produced by the oven-roasted tomatoes or the citrus dressing on the arugula? Whatever caused it, the tart and sour note overwhelmed every other flavor: the savor of the beef, the pepper of the arugula, and the roasted garlic of the mayo. I suspect that whatever produced it broke the mayo, which dripped down loosely in curds off the patty. Even the caramelized onions couldn't stand up to the note, and that's too bad, because they really are caramelized and not just grilled onions. The manager told me their kitchen caramelizes the onions with brown sugar in batches and then reheats them on the grill to order. The flame-grilled burger patty itself, I should add, was of a square and somewhat compressed variety. It was thicker and heftier than a Wendy's patty, but also had a chewier consistency. It wasn't the hand-formed, soft, luscious patty I would have preferred.
Bottom Line
At $42 for a family of three (for one sandwich with one side each included, no drinks, no tip because carry-out) this was an expensive meal compared to fast food. Was it worth the price for the extra gourmet factor? No, I didn't think so. The burgers were of a generous size (half a pound), the meat (Black Angus beef) was decent quality, and the toppings were also made with fresh, good quality ingredients -- the price point is just too high for this to be satisfying, especially given the poor technique used in constructing our gourmet burgers.
Although we didn't dine in, I can say that this place was hopping. By 430, the parking lot and restaurant were packed. Inside it was incredibly, deafeningly loud. The music was loud. The several flat-screen TVs were loud. The staff was loud. The customers were loud. The decor suits an extroverted atmosphere like a better-lit, less cluttered TGIFriday's, with oversized toys (two 2' tall army men, a giant Rubic's cube) and pop art (two mosaics of Roy Lichtenstein portraits made out of crayola crayons and a vinyl stacked hamburger foot stool). The look is fun and energetic, but also modern.
Expect that in these early days, the new staff is still working out some kinks. I was initially told that there was no carryout option, but the manager was nearby and corrected the front desk staff. He made sure to accommodate us, and we're always glad of a place that shows it wants our business through good customer service.
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