Brownifer Bites: Burger Queen - Albany, OR (Review)

Friday, May 12, 2017

Burger Queen - Albany, OR (Review)

This restaurant has been sitting empty for so long that when a new establishment opened - it was quite a buzz. Enter Burger Queen!

We are always happy to try new restaurants in our little town, it's exciting to watch the food culture explode here! So we decided to explore this new burger joint and see what they are offering we Albany-ites.

To say the menu is very simple is an overstatement. If I had to choose one word to describe the menu it would be: minimal. I don't even need to say more than: hamburger, cheeseburger, bacon cheeseburger, fries. Because those are literally your only options. You can order extra patties, extra bacon, etc. But those are your main choices. In a basket with a drink or a lone burger.  We pondered whether or not this was what they were striving for but we couldn't actually tell what this restaurant is trying to be.  Maybe they're just at a jumping off point?  Hard to know.


Brownie ordered the Bacon Cheeseburger and I had just a plain cheeseburger. We got the basket for the full experience and just filled our cups with water. Not soda fans.

Our food was served in tin baskets with a generous side of fries; there were very few condiments available.  We grabbed handfuls of mustard and ketchup packets and started in on our burgers.

The veggies were fresh, but they seemed to take up more room in my  bun than the actual burger did.  Size-wise the buns were comparable to our recent visit to Cheesy Stuffed Burgers but there was considerably less meat in the patty with much less flavor.  Brownie was disheartened with the thin bacon ring on his burger, I was less than thrilled with what looked to be a Kraft Single slice on our burgers instead of real cheese.

When we had finished our burgers with a shrug and a 'Meh..' we started emptying condiment packets into our basket to devour our fries.  The fries looked as if they were real cut potatoes, as Burger
Queen boasts.  They felt cold, however and were a bit soggy and chewy as if they'd been sitting out for quite a while.

When we finished our meal, I can honestly say we were sustained and no longer really hungry.  Satisfied?  Physically, yes.  Impressed? No. Better than McDonald's?  Yes.  I can't publish the word that Brownie uses to describe what we ate this evening, but suffice to say it's not a positive one.



The best I  can hope for is that this restaurant will expand its menu and branch out a bit more, but it doesn't seem likely.  They would be wise to ditch the burgers and buy a bank of blenders, selling smoothies to the local high school kids.  They were honestly hoping for a Jamba Juice anyway.

If you're stuck on the street corner in West Albany and can't get past Elm street, this will fill you up.  Otherwise, keep driving.

We gave Burger Queen 2 1/2 stars on our Brownifer scale; it was clean and the staff was polite.  But it wasn't hard to figure out why it was so slow on a weekday evening.  It pains us to give a bad review, we really want to like the places we visit.  Unfortunately, this just didn't do it for us.


5 comments:

  1. I struggled to find the words myself when reviewing this place. I wanted to like it. I wanted to love it. But, it was just, ok.... Still, I hope for the best for Burger Queen. That location needs a restaurant that will stick around for a while. LOVE the smoothie idea!

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    1. We wanted to love it as well, as always with new restaurants. We don't wish them ill-will by any means, we love competition with the big chains coming into our town!

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  2. I loved it and went back for a second Burger when I was done, my fries were delicious and my kid who was picky was raving about it.. I got no veggies on mine and loved the simple straight forward menu.. I believe they are going for a In&oiut feel.. I did not care for Cheesy stuffed burgers at all and have never went back to them, they are overpriced and are just to burger patties slapped together with stuff in the middle. I can make that at home.. I hope Burger Queen makes it. Staff was friendly and I did really enjoy there food

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    1. Everyone has different tastes - we always encourage people to try things for themselves! As the saying goes, there's no such thing as bad publicity! Our review has created quite a buzz - some may agree with us, others may not but I'm sure many will be motivated to try it for themselves now! And as we've said before - any competition with the big burger chains selling food-like products is more than fine with us!

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  3. I have tried it twice now. The frys are the best part but the burgers were fair. I think maybe their grill is too hot, both times The meat was over cooked from on one side before being turned, The burger doesnt seem to be of the best quality or at least not a low fat content,I found the best is to skip everything but the onions and add a patty. The bacon is very thin and flavorless not worth getting. All in all its quick and better then McDonald's which I refuse to eat at. If they are after the kids the menu will probably break them. Nothing has succeeded on that corner since Hoggie Haven closed its doors and it will never be The Dog House which a lot of you may have never even heard of. IF THE FOOD ISNT RIGHT TELL THEM. THEY CAN'T GET BETTER IF NO ONE TELLS THEM WHAT IS DESIRED BY THE CUSTOMERS!!!! Let's just say it's not bad and can get much better.

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