915 N. Fort Thomas Avenue
I have been wanting to try out this Burger spot for many years, but just have never made it here, it's been in the top 10 of many Burger reviews in the Cincinnati and N. Kentucky areas for a long time, so I was excited to try it out, as I always look forward to a good Burger, especially when it comes with such high reviews from other sources, but I never let that influence me or any of our group.
This one is located in Fort Thomas Kentucky, it's a bit tricky to find, we took the exit right across from the shopping center where Target & Kroger is located, take Grand Ave. and go up the Hill away from Kroger, N. Fort Thomas Ave. will be to your left, and I did not see a street sign, only a route number, so pay attention or use your GPS to find it, you may need it, it's located to the right at a tricky intersection and tucked away in a local neighborhood. It's a little small local Bar, and for sure, Off the beaten path. Definitely a neighborhood hang out
We arrived for lunch on a busy December Christmas Shopping day with the temps today near 70*, they open at Noon, so we arrived about 12:30pm and were able to park right out front.
It's a nice looking nice clean Sports bar, but I can see on weekends, that it can get crowded in here very quickly and fill up, they have booths and tables and a few Tv's, so for a sporting event on TV, I'm sure it will fill fast, they have Daily specials, and 60cent wing specials during the week, so check on those if your in the area.
Onto the Review, the Bartender was also the waitress, she seemed very friendly and talkative to the customers, there were a few already there when we arrived, it was fairly dark inside, and even with my glasses, I had a little trouble reading the Menu, but the Menu did look nice and well laid out, they have at least 10 or more different burgers, something for every taste, we ordered the 915 Burger, $8.50 I think was the price, it comes with a slice of Ham, American Cheese, Mayo, Onion, Mushrooms, Bacon, lettuce, tomato, and I can't even remember what all, but it's loaded.
All Burgers Are Over 1/2 Pound Choice Black Angus Chuck Grilled The Way You Like. Served On A Toasted Kaiser Bun With Fresh Tomato, Lettuce, Mayo, Onion Slice Or Grilled Onion And Your Choice Of French Or Our Unique Slaw, I got the Fries.
My Wife ordered the Pulled Pork Sandwich, it was also around $8.50 or so.,
The Burger was one of the Biggest, if not the Biggest Piece of meat, I've ever had on a Burger anywhere, and in over 60+ reviews, I had some large Burgers, but this one could be the biggest, the flavor of the Beef was very good, the Waitress did ask how I wanted it cooked, I got Medium-Well as always, the Beef definitely had some spices in it, salt & pepper and not quite sure of the others, but it sure tasted like it had more than that in it, but overall the Beef was very good, normally, in fact almost never I don't argue with the size of the Beef, but this one was just a bit too big, I never bring home left overs, but I did a small portion of this one, the Kaiser Bun was huge, too big in fact, I've read many other Burger reviews from many other websites and reviewers, and some have said that a particular review of a Burger that the Bun overshadowed the Beef, and this did, hard to believe that the largest piece of Burger I've ever had, was overshadowed by the bun, but it was, the Bun overwhelmed the big burger, also the Bun cracked and fell apart with every bite, and if you've read some of my other reviews, the Bun to me has to at least stay together, and not be a cheap bun, the flavor was ok, but it fell apart and was too big, I've had other Kaiser Buns that did not fall apart and tasted good, so please 915 get new buns, either that, or this batch of buns you served us was old, and therefore the reason they fell apart.
The Ham on it, was just ok in the Flavor Dept. the Bacon on it was good, the Onion was almost as good as the Meat, very good fresh flavor in the onion, mushrooms were also good on it, if it had a tomato I did not see one or taste it, also did not see any lettuce, which I thought was suppose to be on it.
with My 1st bite, I thought wow, this is going to be an excellent burger and make our top 10, but after the bun began to crack and fall apart with every bite, which in my book will definitely lower a rating on a burger, and with every bite of the beef, which was good, it slowly dropped out of my top 10, we both agreed it was not a top 10 Burger, my eager anticipation of trying this place out, came to a crash, Very good Beef on the Burger, terrible bun that fell apart, and you know from my other reviews, I ABSOLUTELY hate a bun that falls apart and also one that overwhelms the Burger, How about trying a good Brioche Bun from GFS, they have some excellent Brioche buns, it would elevate these Burgers into my top 10, I can see how it does make other top 10 lists, the beef is very good, the toppings fresh and tasty, the Bun has some flavor, so I can see it making other lists, but not Mine, the Bun takes it out of the top of our list.
The Fries are Excellent, now for my Wifes Pulled Pork Sandwich, it came with the same Bun, hers fell apart also, and with the place not being very crowded, her Pork was cold, and my Burger was not hot as if just coming off the Grill, so our food must have sat a bit while she served others, we got a pop and Iced Tea, we needed refills, but she never came back to ask until we were finished and ready for a to go box, my wife even tried to stop her as she passed on the trip by our table, I also placed our empty glassed on the edge of our booth where she culd clearly see them when she walked by several times, she never stopped to ask if we needed anything or even look at our cups for refills, this was very disappointing, especially with it not being crowded, she seemed to be keeping up with her customers, we assumed that many if not most or all of the others, may have been regulars, everyone that came in acted as if they had been there before, and she talked and joked with all the others but us, so she clearly ignored us as new customers, we also used a Groupon coupon, and I've seen several places do this to customers that are either not regulars or that use Coupons, again this was very disappointing.
I can't recommend and won't recommend this place to anyone, if your not a Regular, then you could end up with the same experience as ours, the reason places go with these coupons is to attract new customers and get them to return and to recommend there place to their friends, but we can't do that, based on the cold food, the cold shoulder from the waitress, the falling apart bun, and the Tad too bit big of a burger, and the huge overwhelming Bun, also please turn up a little more lighting so people can read your nice looking Menu.
Final Thoughts: Good tasting beef, bad bun, bad service if your not a regular, bad lighting during the daytime, overall I can't recommend this place and we will never return here again, if you read this review and are a regular, then I'm sure the service will be much better I'm sure, but that probably won't help the overall burger, but places like this usually are sacred to locals, and they most always give these small local businesses a much higher rating than anyone else does, that's why I do not always trust locals reviews of their own locations in their areas.
Final Rating: 6.5* (Try it-above Avg/Good to VG)
Next Tasty Review: Willie's Sports Cafe
