What a cool place I stumbled on tonight. While looking for a place to eat, my app recommended a restaurant called Swensons Drive In. It was located nearby to my location and it reminded me of an ice cream parlor I used to frequent years ago. What I found was not the ice cream parlor that I once knew, but apparently a regional drive-in with the same name (spelled differently) Swensens (not the one I visited tonight) which is spelled Swensons. Today was a debut day for a new sandwich, which was a quarter pounder, pepperoni, mozzarella cheeseburger, complete with marinara sauce. I added a side of the mozzarella triangles (another debit today) with marinara sauce, and the Ohio, which is a specialized Gingerale soda flavored with cherry syrup. The service was outstanding, which included carhops who were running from vehicle to vehicle to ensure fast and prompt service (safely). There is no inside seating and customers can choose to eat in the vehicle complete with a tray provided or simply take the food home as a takeout option. Several desserts featuring ice cream and flavored sodas are available in addition to a strawberry shortcake and a fried cheesecake. The restaurant was well lit, with period decor for a drive-in and boosted service for over 80 years featuring their famous version of a burger. The food was served, hot and fresh with my flavored soda and I really enjoyed the experience. I may well be back soon! read more

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I came on Thursday 11-20-25 around 7pm for the Cavs offer. The workers at this location were WORKING VERY HARD. This is PREMIUM fast food, Swenson's has been around since 1934. The menu prices are lower than many national competitors. I will definitely be a regular customer. Swenson's is an old fashioned car hop restaurant. read more

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One thing I really appreciate about Swenson's is how consistent the food is. Because of that, my order has not changed at all since the first time I've visited - potato teezers and a Galley Boy. If you've never had this burger I can't recommend it enough (it's a double smash burger with cheese and their secret sauces on a toasted bun). The efficiency of service is kind of hit or miss depending on how many people are staffed. That said, whenever I've been here the workers are always hustling and seem to be doing their best. The parking lot is consistently pretty clean. read more

Quick service friendly staff. I feel bad for the workers that brave the winters. Ok I'm from in and out land, and IMHO I like the burgers here better. Galley burger, and now fried raviolis with a orange freeze yum! read more

Stopped by based on local recommendation, was warned that burgers were "a bit greasy", which I can confirm as accurate. Seems to be somewhat Culver-like, but without indoor seating and a couple of interesting menu differences. Won't confuse their crispy chicken sandwich with anything from Culver's, Wendy's or Chik-fil-a. Chicken patty very schnitzel like, about half breading and half chicken. Also, burgers are about 5/6ths size - looks like they use a smaller bun than most, which is a good bread/meat ratio, but looks a little underwhelming. Pickles are another interesting choice - might be the sweetest dill pickle I've ever eaten. Nothing sour about it. "Everything" on burger is mustard, good amount of raw onions and a good amount of different pickles - no ketchup. read more

Amazing service and amazing staff!!! Young black man with nose piercing sorry I don't know his name but his energy and soul is so uplifting and incredible. Thank you to him for being so kind and always on top of his job! Food is always fresh and delicious! read more

Milkshakes are always the best there, a bit pricey but I've never had to wait long for them. I agree that the Galley Boy is a bit overhyped for what it is/tastes like, but it's a really cheap burger. The fries and onion rings are always fresh though. It's a drive-up style chain, so the servers come right to your car! It's convenient if you're in a rush, or need to stay in your vehicle. Only downside I have noticed, is that they share all of the tips equally between servers equally. I find this to be a bit weird, as most places let individuals keep their own earnings usually. read more

Tasty fast food delivered to car by friendly servers. Well prepared to order. Mix and match your shakes. A little pricier than you'd expect for the size of sammiches but for the experience and joy of my son it was a nice visit. read more

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The young men that work here really hustled. After we pulled in and turned on our lights, they quickly took our order. I had a galley boy, a peanut butter milkshake and split a potato tweezers and potato puffs. The food came quickly and was piping hot, and the order was totally correct!!!! The potato tweezers were my favorite. Yummy goodness inside a fried potato like food. My milkshake was good, but all the peanut butter was at the bottom and I only really tasted it when I was down to the last quarter. I liked the burger, and the carmelized onions were tasty, but just a tad too sweet. I will definitely Italy return and try a different burger, but will definitely get the potato tweezers. read more

Swensons Drive-In - Burgers Near Me - North Olmsted, Ohio

Swensons is one of my must haves when returning to NE Ohio. There aren't a lot of burger places like this one left. See you on my next trip home! read more

I had to stop in for my annual Ohio visit to get a galley boy. Definitely a interesting take on a hamburger. My only complaint is it did take just a little bit longer than I thought it would for them to bring the sandwich out. read more

Not a good experience. We only ordered fries & eggnog shake & coleslaw. They forgot about our order since I turned on lights after about 12 mins and told server we've been waiting too long for just fries to be made & we saw cars come & go w/ bags of food. He runs inside & we see him grab our bag off the counter & comes out w/ order. We try fries & they are cold & mushy. So he says it'll be another 4 mins for new ones! Wow 20 mins b/c I wanted a stupid shake!! The shake coulda used more nog flavor. It was like milk w/ a touch of vanilla & custard. The funniest part was the coleslaw that came in a small plastic condiment cup like when you ask for a side of mayo. It was 2 tablespoons worth. Not really funny. read more

I love Swensons and was so excited for a west side location. I went at 11:30am for lunch and boy was it packed! Our order was taken quickly, but our food took forever. They definitely could have a few more people working given the current popularity. I ordered a galley boy and fries. The galley boy was awesome. Great taste, sauce, etc. I also added pickles which was a nice element/crunch. The fries were just okay. I added the salt packet that they provided, which made them better. read more

(Update 9/21 I had the BBQ pork sandwich again it wasnt as good. Kinda dry) 3 stars We'll try the galley boy next time. Pro tip pull in or back in so they can see ur headlights. Really helps out the bellhop said. read more

Swensons Drive-In - Oh dear - Burgers Near Me - North Olmsted, Ohio

why is swensons so mid. like i got a burger and onion rings and it just wasn't good. ill remember next time to just go to five guys

I had never been to Swensons before, but i would definitely go back again. It's a simple idea with a basic menu, but I had a great server and I had a well priced meal that tasted great. Food came very fast. I will be back the next time I choose to do fast food read more

Chocolate malt was good, fried mushrooms were good but the amount we got was pretty sad, pretty good burgers but we ordered them with ketchup, mustard, pickles and onions and all they had on them was ketchup. Our receipt shows the correct order but they made them wrong. Pretty disappointing, definitely would have been better with mustard, pickles and onions. Also not a fan of the nickel and diming for everything. They charge for whipped cream on a shake, BBQ sauce, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, etc. These are pretty standard things. read more

Swensons Drive-In - They forgot the mustard, pickles and onions. - Burgers Near Me - North Olmsted, Ohio

My fav Swenson location in NEO simply because of the customer service. The staff here are always engage in short conversation with us which makes the experience that much better. In general the food is ready in a timely manner, packaged well and always hot. read more

I have been eating Swenson for the last 20 years plus, although I now live in the Pacific Northwest, it is one of my first stops when I land and usually my last place I eat before I get back on the plane. Hands down, some of the best 5 dollar burgers in American. read more

Babysitting my niece and nephew and they wanted burgers. So since their house is close by my sister suggested we go here. I ordered our food via the mobile app. Drove over and parked in the numbered spot. The car hop was already outside taking another order so I didn't need to put my headlights on. She came right over when she was done with the previous customer. Super friendly girl. I told her I had a mobile order she said she would be right back. She ran inside and within a few minutes was back out with our order in hand. Pretty cool. We ordered 3 shakes 2 regular and 1 small. My nephew wanted to try cherry (I didn't care for the flavor) I almost got root beer but decided on mint, it was good. My niece also got mint. We all ordered a burger and I got some onion rings for us to share. The onion rings were really good and crunchy. The burger was eh, it wasn't bad just OK. Maybe next time I should get it with something other than pickles and ketchup haha my niece eats hers that way so I figured eh why not? Haha overall It was pretty good and I would eat here again. read more

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Wow. I was so excited to go to swensons for the first time in 10 years or so. I was even more surprised to see this one so close to my parents home. We pulled into the driveway late in the evening. There was one car who was ordering when we were. They took our order fairly promptly. We then sat and waited... and waited... and waited... and waited.. we watched the two workers lapping the restaurant and (empty) parking lot over and over again. Eventually we called them over. 25 minutes after ordering, we got our food. It was super cold and clearly had been sitting inside for a long while while the workers chatted it up and watched us hungry and waiting in the car. Definitely disappointed and we will not be returning. read more

Denny kill this s#%t took the order professionally and got the order out fast on top of that dropped some humor on taking our order making it an enjoyable ordering experience read more

I used to love Svenson's, especially the Galleyboy. It was my first burger the day I arrived in America 25 years ago, and I have been back many, many times. Then I moved to another town and there was no Svenson's, but they have a little while ago built one in North Olmsted. So I was able to have my favorite burger again. Not so much lately, and I really do not understand what happened. My husband brought home 3 burgers last night, one of them was a Galleyboy for me, two cheeseburger for him, one order of fries, one order of onion rings. Of course, when you order takeout, you do not see your food, it is wrapped until you unwrap it at home. All three buns have been way overbaked, almost burned, and they tasted burned. How can they even sell them that way? Did nobody else complain, did the people in the kitchen not notice? Are they trying to sell them anyways? I know they get delivered from another location, but that should have never happened, those had to go back to the bakery and replaced. read more

Jillian serves my friends and I almost every Wednesday night and is always amazing! such great service!

Swensons was over hyped to me. I got the galley boy burger it just tasted like bbq sauce to me & was pretty small. The potato teezers are good it's just mini hash browns with cheese and jalapeños. The xango was ok also. It's fried cheesecake and I got it with strawberry sauce. It was bigger than i expected so i got two and after too many bites it's hard to finish. Seemed a little overpriced for the quality. The workers were friendly that was the best part. read more

Swensons Drive-In - Xango - Burgers Near Me - North Olmsted, Ohio

If you like burgers, fries and milkshakes than you can't go wrong with Swenson's. They have plenty to chose from and food is always consistent. They serve classic carhop style and everyone is always hustling! read more

Swensons Drive-In - Burgers Near Me - North Olmsted, Ohio

Always super quick and efficient - I've never had bad service here and everything is always so good. Beats shake shack read more

Swensons Drive-In - Cheeseburger | Instagram: slimthiccarbs - Burgers Near Me - North Olmsted, Ohio

Food is always great, service is supposed to be great- in Akron / Montrose they hustle, every-time, they are awesome.. but in North Olmsted they move a little slower, I've ordered ahead multiple times with pick up times at "12pm" I have waited til 1230pm and longer on multiple occasions... i once ordered to the wrong location and the runner said basically "that sucks, what a bummer, we can't do anything for you" I paid for food at the Akron location and went to the wrong store as it was automatically in my system from Previous orders- totally understand that's my mistake but I was hoping they'd atleast provide some reconciling or even sympathy lol. I called the location and canceled the order and received a refund which was great but i didn't eat that day.... I have always loved skyway, once they closed the location near me I began going to Swensons.... unfortunately I have been let down by service in North Olmsted. Hoping they will really focus on the orders set ahead of time as there is a reason why people order ahead. I have worked in food service and absolutely understand things happen, however this is not a one time issues - it is consistent. read more

Swensons Drive-In - Menu outside - Burgers Near Me - North Olmsted, Ohio

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Update to my previous review: I have returned months later and the service has massively improved. I went today and received excellent service. It was freezing and the car hops were running their butts off and still friendly and it quick. I got my usual order - cheeseburger with all of the veggies and then I tried the onion rings for the first time and they were big crispy and delicious! I will definitely return :) read more

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Service was awesome! Our server, Sophia was the kindest person ever! So sweet! Even through the winter storm, they pushed through and were on top of it! We even had Santa visit our car! Awesome food, awesome service! read more

Swensons Drive-In - Burgers Near Me - North Olmsted, Ohio

Another fine Swenson's location. Fast car service is great on summer days. Halley Boy is my default order sometimes adding the jalapeño poppers. Shakes are good too. read more

I love burgers. I love fries. I love shakes. So I when a friend recommended Swensons, I knew I had to investigate. Didn't know this when I first arrived, so here's a tip. Pull into the parking lot. When you flip on your lights, they come to the car. I didn't realize this, and tried it get out of my car. Confusing for all. Disclaimer: I technically had it once before out of the foodtruck. It was also 5 star experience, but I had been drinking a lot of champagne that day so I felt it was my duty to give it a sober review. Pros: - Food is delicious! I got the double cheeseburger, with just ketchup. The cheese burger was a little sweet. Fries are solid, nothing to write home about. But the whole thing tasted fresh. - Service. The guys here were super friendly. Polished. Really hustled. I wonder if they have to run back inside. - Prices. Extremely reasonable! You do too the food runners, but still skated away well below other fast casual places. Cons: - None. Solid place. I will be back, I enjoyed it! read more

First time eating at Swensons in North Olmsted today. The service was quick. The food was very good!! The manager came out to me us with a little treat for being our 1st time here. Overall a very enjoyable experience. We will definitely be back. read more

Love everything about the Swensons experience. The food is great and love the nostalgic feeling.

It had been a long time since I had Swensons before this experience, and let me say I was reminded of the deliciousness. "America's Best Cheesebuger" might be a slight overstatement. Nonetheless, it was still very fresh for being considered fast food. read more

Firstly, if I could give 4.5 stars I would. We stopped in on a rainy Tuesday around 230. PROS: -we had Owen and Jake as our servers and they were friendly, knowledgeable about the menu, and quick. 5 star for service for sure. -the onion rings were perfect, real onions, not that nasty chopped up stuff other places use. - double cheeseburger and chicken nuggets were very good, my kids ate it all. - also had chocolate shake and lemonade which were both also good. -i felt the prices were very reasonable CONS: - the only con was the fries. They came out fresh and hot but were just not tasty. Unflavorful and boring. Overall I'd be happy to visit here again and try some different things on the menu, but will definitely be skipping the fries next time. The rest was very good and I'd recommend a visit! read more

Great burger and friendly service. I'll be back to taste my way through the menu when I'm the neighborhood. I love this buttery-bun diner taste like Beardens in Rocky River has (another great spot for burger lovers to check out!) read more

Awesome Key Lime Shake Visited Swensons after shopping. Tried the Key Lime shake. It was thick rich and great taste. Onion rings were good too. read more

The best people ever, so nice so amazing. Cole is the best server he's great and amazing.

Since they opened this location I've been three times. The food isn't terrible but nothing I would rave about. Their signature burger the Galley Boy is good but the long wait times on my first two visits definitely weren't worth it. The prices aren't terribly high but for less I can get my fast food in a significantly shorter time. The idea of a drive in is fun. The practice in real life isn't really that amazing. If you aren't taking this food home to eat, sitting in a parking lot and staring at a building isn't all too grand. My last visit will be just that-my last. After pulling in and sitting for five minutes with no service (or hope of any), then watching the food handler shove fries into his face before heading out the door with someone's order was too much for me. There are too many other options in the immediate vicinity that are faster and have comparable quality. read more