If you're going to put "Burgers" front and center on the sign at M. L. Rose Neighborhood Pub,…read moreyou're basically planting a flag. You're saying, this is our thing. This is what we do.
Bold move.
So I walk in thinking, alright, these folks have chosen their lane and they're cruising in it.
Server comes over and asks how I want my burger cooked. Not prompted. Their question. I say rare. Now we're in business. Expectations go up.
Burger hits the table. I build it out, get everything lined up, take the ceremonial first cut...
Brown. All the way through. Not a hint of pink. Not even a rumor. This burger wasn't rare, it wasn't medium, it wasn't even medium-well. This thing had been thoroughly introduced to fire and then reintroduced just to be sure.
I'm sitting there deciding if I just accept my fate when the server steps in, sees it, and shuts it down. Credit where it's due, she wasn't letting that slide.
Manager comes over, apologizes, and asks again if I want it cooked through or with pink. Again, their question. I stick with rare. Let's run it back.
Second burger arrives.
At this point I'm less diner, more detective.
Cut into it... and somehow, impressively, we have achieved the exact same result. Brown. Uniform. Committed. If consistency is the goal, congratulations, mission accomplished.
Manager sees it this time. Offers a third try. I decline. I'm not here for a burger trilogy. I tell her I'll eat it as-is and we can all move forward with our lives.
But wait, there's more.
My colleague orders the bacon cheeseburger. Key word here being bacon. Not implied. Not optional. Literally in the name.
Burger shows up... no bacon.
At this point I'm starting to think the menu is more of a suggestion than a contract.
Look, I don't get it. If you're going to ask how a burger should be cooked, cook it that way. If a burger has bacon in the name, maybe... include the bacon. Just a thought.
Now to be fair, the fries were actually good. Crispy, seasoned, showed up and did their job like professionals. And the front of house staff tried. You could see the effort. They cared, they responded, they did everything they could to fix what was coming out of the kitchen.
So here's where I land.
Three stars overall for service, effort, and fries that understood the assignment.
The kitchen gets one star. Not because they failed once, but because they proved, twice, that they can consistently ignore both temperature requests and basic burger ingredients.