Red Robin, Yuuummmm!..Or Not.

It is the 2nd year anniversary of our Grandfathers death. And what would've been his 90th birthday. This post, our first official one, is special. It wasn't just "Us Girls" at lunch. This time we also had our brother Philip, Jeri's husband Mike, Aunt Kathy (Mom's youngest sister) Aunt Wilma (one of Mom's younger sisters) and her husband Larry.

Restaurant: Red Robin

Location: Clinton Township, Michigan. Hall Rd.

Red Robin's main dish is burgers. All kinds of burgers. They also have never ending fries, which is a plus. Especially if your starving because you've been waiting to eat in anticipation of lunch with the girls. Just saying'.

Our waitress was Dawn and she was nice. We love it when the waiter or waitress is friendly, smiles and doesn't make you feel like you're imposing on their day. She took our orders and then asked if we wanted our fries brought out while we wait for our burgers. That elevated her to Waitress Goddess in our eyes.

Our food came out in a timely matter. It wasn't a very long wait at all. When we needed to re-fill our drinks or ask for mustard (Jeri. What's with you and mustard? Susie too. Remember the waffles in Daytona? OMG), it was easy to get her attention to ask for what we needed.

Highlights

Sand In My Shorts - Sound like something awful, doesn't it? It's actually a drink. It has Chambord, vodka, peach schnapps, Midori (or if you're Mom, Dora the Explorer. "Why is Dora in your drink? What about Sid the Science Guy?" -Mom "No Mom, not Dora, MIDORI. And it's Sid the Science Kid." - Terra and Susie "Then who was the guy?" - Mom "It was Bill Nye the Science Guy" - Terra [That was our actual conversation and I blame it on the Screaming Red Zombie. But more on that later]), triple sec, orange juice, cranberry juice, and sweet & sour. It was $7.49 and totally worth it. It tasted fabulous. Mom was surprised it didn't taste like sand. 

Sweet Jim Bean Bacon Swiss Burger - This was the favorite dish of the day. Marti ordered it and she let us each take a bite and we were jealous of her lunch. This burger is what would bring me back again and again. It's a Jim Bean bourbon-glazed burger with melted Swiss cheese, hardwood smoked bacon, caramelized onions and a garlic-buttered toasted brioche bun. Your mouth is watering now, isn't it? I know mine is. I can't remember how much it cost. But I don't care. It was worth whatever we paid.

Screaming Red Zombie - This isn't so much a highlight as a warning. Have a DD if you plan on partaking of this drink. It's strong and makes you ask odd questions.

The Ratings: On a Scale of 1 to 5

Waitstaff

Mom - 4; She had to order her drink twice but Dawn was very friendly. She joked with us and smiled a lot.

Jeri -  5; "She's practically our sister!"

Terra- 4; She was really friendly and easy to grab her attention. But if I wanted a re-fill I had to ask, she didn't ask me if I wanted one.

Susie - 4; She smiled and was friendly. That's important. She had a good technique for taking orders.

Marti- 3 1/2; I have no idea why a 3 1/2, but that's what she rated. 

Food Quality 
Mom - Tropical Sunburn Tavern Double; 3. I wasn't too impressed with the burger or the toppings.

Jeri - Tropical Sunburn Tavern Single; 2. I thought it was awful. The mango slaw wasn't very impressive.
Terra - Sauteed 'Shroom Burger; 2. It was bland. I had to add salt and even that didn't help much. I think if it had more of the garlic Parmesan spread (or any at all, since mine seemed to be missing) it would've been much better. 
Susie - Clucks and Fries; 5. It was really good chicken. The tenders were nice size and the ranch dressing for dipping was tasty.
Marti - Jim Bean Burger; 10. It was so good it far surpasses the rating scale. All of us except for mom had a bite and we loved it. This burger would be the sole reason to come back.

All of our burgers came with Bottomless Steak Fries. The fries were tasty. The seasoning salt that they had on the table was a good addition over regular table salt.

Value
Mom - $7.99 for her burger and her drink was $6.99. The cost of the food was not worth it.  
Jeri - $7.99 for the burger. It wasn't worth what we paid.
Terra- $9.99 for the burger and $7.49 for the drink. Definitely not worth what we paid.
Susie - $9.49 for the entree and $7.49 for the drink. The chicken was tasty but not worth almost 10 bucks.
Marti - We don't remember how much the burger cost. The drink was $7.49. We really don't care how much the burger cost. It was worth whatever we paid. Marti's lunch was the only one worth what we paid.

Bathroom
They fail at women's bathrooms. There was toilet paper shredded and all over the floor. The trash was overflowing with used paper towel and other things. And the floor was sticky. Do you know what has to be on the floor to be that sticky? It's nasty. Everyone rated the bathroom at 1.

Overall
Mom - 4
Jeri - 1; "I'd rather go to Steak N Shake"
Terra - 3; "The waitress made it tolerable and the Sand In My Shorts was really good."
Susie - 3
Marti - 3 1/2; (Again, with the half a point. I'm not sure what's up with that.)


We enjoyed our time mostly because of the company of our party and the waitress. We probably won't visit Red Robin again. Unless we are craving the Sweet Jim Bean burger.


Terra