Beef Burger Barrel — Restaurant in Amarillo

Great find while travelling thru town! They told us that the building was constructed near the High School in 1930, and was moved later to the present location. The place does seem a little grungy, but as my grandfather used to say "You'd have to eat a peck of dirt to kill you." We took a gamble and ordered the bacon cheese burger, french fries, and fried mushrooms. The beef was fresh and was seasoned nicely. The vegetables were all crisp and fresh as well. The fries seemed to be your standard frozen crinkle-cut variety, but were fried perfectly. Both burger and fries were delicious, but nothing really unique about them... BUT the fried mushrooms were really spectacular! Eating them just out of the fryer, those were seriously the best fried mushrooms I've ever had. Golden and crispy with a fantastic flavor. I'm not sure what they do to their mushrooms, but they almost seemed like sautéed steak mushrooms. The entire experience felt a bit like venturing back in time to me for a few reasons. First, the old barrel itself. Second, they have a couple of picnic tables to eat outside if you want to dig in immediately, which we did. Third, one employee was smoking outside during a break. Lastly, peeking inside, the barrel had that old sort of greasy diner look. I took all of the above as part of the fun experience, and would recommend you try Beef Burger Barrel if you get the chance. With just a bit less grunginess, I would have rated...

People were driving up and then leaving straight away as the cook would tell people it was a 25 minute wait to get a burger. I bet the owner doesn't know that is what is happening. We tried to order bacon burgers but they were out of bacon. Good food though. We got a cheeseburger and a double cheeseburger with tots. The cow and big burger sign are gone and nowhere is there a sign telling the history of the barrel shaped drive-in. We had to get off the highway to find this place.... In hopes of finding a Route 66 lost treasure but this place needs love and attention before it could ever be THAT. This historic landmark had been relocated multiple times... And they picked an of the beaten path location... They should have arranged for this place to be put at the Cadillac Ranch where food and drink is absent and the tourists are plenty. It could have been a win win for everyone instead of this sad sad place. Because the food was just another greasy spoon hamburger and tots, I just don't see us referring anyone or seeking this place out again. Kudos to the owner for trying to save this place, but he needs to put a bit of money into the presentation and marketing of the billing and history of the landmark... and get more customer service...

I really wish I could give this place a higher score as I've heard good things about it and have been eager to try it. My first experience wasn't as great as I'd hoped. First off they got our order wrong. We were shorted an order of tots and an order of fries. The fries were pretty bland and nothing special. Burgers were tasty but were not very warm when we got them. Not as great as expected from what I had heard about the place. That being said , it was close to closing time and they were kind of being slammed so I'll chalk some of it up to that effecting the quality. I will give them another try when it's earlier in the day and they...