Fatburger College Heights — Restaurant in Prince George

Who mourns for Fatburger, I ask you? The poor little burger bar squeezed by a much more successful family diner has its work cut out for it. I mean it’s named after both a choice and its consequence. The case is not helped given its location next to Rocky Mountain Fitness. No joke, a place called Fatburger shares a wall with one that sells fitness equipment. I’d call that genius marketing (actually, for a moment, I thought it was irony, but I’m pretty sure it’s not).

If memory recalls, this whole corner (hundreds of square feet of it) was once claimed solely by Fatburger (don’t believe me, check out Google Street View). Tough times obviously called for tough measures, and Fatburger now finds itself squeezed into a sliver of its former footprint, the remainder dominated by the larger and obviously more successful Ricky’s. My friend and I were originally setting our sights on Ricky’s. Correction, we had been aimed for Original Joes but they didn’t open until 11:00, so there we were, starving with few options on a Sunday morning. Alas, as this predictable story turned out, Ricky’s was packed tighter than an Alaskan Airlines flight (my alternate comparison claimed it denser than Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, but I figured that was a tad snobbish).

They’ve got going a strange situation here, with only one door leading into the complex, bringing one immediately into Ricky’s. For Fatburger, you have to take a left, with considerable noise pollution spilling through the openings between the two establishments. I suspect both businesses are owned by the same entrepreneur wishing to maximize his or her property. Fatburger has been punted to a lower rung like a middle child wanting to go into music. It barely fits more than a dozen people. My friend and I both ordered the bacon burger combo that came with a half-dozen topping, none of which were cheese. My fault for not checking. As we were the only customers in this side of the building, our meals arrived quickly—leading me to wonder that if both businesses were owned by the same person, why not expand customers to the empty side if Ricky’s is so overwhelmingly popular.

On the positive side, you do get a heaping side of fries, one of several options with your burger, and my Oreo milkshake was…wait…don’t look at me that way. Yes, I ordered an Oreo milkshake. I went to the gym later, if that makes up for it. Regardless, it was quite good. The criticism to be made about the meal would have to be the burger itself. In short, it was lackluster for the brief moment it could be identified as an actual hamburger. That’s because after starting the meal, despite it being held precariously together by a wax paper wrap like compression bandages on a guy that just underwent abdominoplasty, the burger quickly began to fall apart. The flimsy bun couldn’t withstand the compounded moisture of lettuce, tomato, pickles and grease. Even the patty itself began to crumble, and by the end, I was picking shrapnel from the base of my tiny plastic basket. Although some would claim this part and parcel of the experience in eating a burger, I’d beg to disagree. There’s a difference between eating a burger and enjoying a burger, between sitting down in a restaurant and having a well-made meal you can take time to appreciate and rushing against a slowly disintegrating sandwich. I like the idea of being able put my sandwich down and not race against a clock as if I’m diffusing a bomb. At the prices being charged, I do expect something a tad better than a meal pulled from thermal insulating foam packaging. Considering this, I wonder how long Fatburger will survive until its neighbor overgrows it like a moss. Who mourns for Fatburger, I ask you? Unfortunately, not I.

Food: 2/5 Service: 2.5/5 Presentation: 2.5/5 Value: ...

You know having just being at this location I can not see why anyone would have a bad thing to say about this place. These 3 ladies running this place are very good at their jobs. The food was cooked very fast and exactly like we wanted and the burgers are incredible. The staff was friendly and we were greeted with smiling faces. People eating next to us hot up and left after a great meal and one of them was on top of cleaning right away. When one of us needed anything they were on it. The service was better than most higher end restaurants my opinion. Well done fat burger staff and if anyone if driving through it’s well worth a stop. The burgers are big and well priced, you will leave full and wanting more later !

Only reason to leave the atmosphere as a 3 is because it’s not it’s two restaurants in one building. Not the biggest deal but there isn’t many tables to seat people. But as a stop and go it’s better than any other fast food...

We ate here today and it was disappointing for what we paid. Over $40 for a Burger, nacho cheese fries (which they messed up and gave us chilli cheese fries which weren't very good) 6 buffalo chicken nuggets and 2 fountain pop. The chicken came out almost 10 minutes before anything else. They didn't supply cutlery and it came with a single curled thin slice of carrot and a piddly little piece of celery. The table that came in after us then got their burgers and fries before me. After my food finally came we had to ask 2 more times for a fork for the nuggets which were cold by the time all of the food finally made it to the table. Overall a very poor experience. Unfortunately they prompt you for a tip prior to eating, otherwise I wouldn't have tipped...