Nuttys junkyard Grill — Restaurant in Arlington

After years of hearing how great Nuttys is, I finally had a chance to eat there on a week day afternoon. I had a Junk Trunk burger which sounds great with grilled onions and mushrooms. I expected a messy burger and it was. Unfortunately the onions were the center of the onion which made it very thick and so I had to discard those onion pyramids. The mushrooms could be counted on one hand. The burger meat was flattened to about 1/4-inch thick so no worries about it being undercooked. It didn't appear to have any special seasoning; just basic hamburger. The worst part of the burger was the American Cheese. It is standard on most of their burgers and is my least favorite "cheese". A sign at the register implied that substitutions were discouraged, and after observing the staff at work I didn't feel like risking any substitutions. The onion rings -another raved about menu item, were ok. They are tempura style and a bit greasy, but unlike my burger, there were none left at the end of the meal. The orange cream-cicle shake was great! The staff who brought out our order was obviously perturbed that he has to say our name more than once. Like it's our fault he was looking in the wrong direction for half a minute. There is no direction on bussing your table and no indication of where to put the tray. Again the staff seemed perturbed that I asked where to put the dirty, empty tray. The decor was good and kept us entertained while we waited for our food.

So, would I go again? Not likely. My partner liked their burger so maybe we'd go again but I'd order something besides a hamburger. $45 for two burgers, an order of onion rings, a fountain drink and a shake. That money and all the raves: I just expected to be wowed...

Writing to tell you about a horrible experience I had a Nuttys tonight! My husband and I LOVE Nuttys and usually get it at least once a month! But this time I had a horrible experience and they lost a repeat customer who's favorite burger came from them! I went in to order shakes and some fries cause that's what sounded good. The teenager at the counter was NOT friendly. She wasn't rude but she was kinda short and had a bad attitude so I didn't give them a large tip. I work in customer service and most customer service jobs don't even get tips. I expect friendly service if you want a bigger tip 🤷‍♀️ I gave her back the reciept after putting the tip on and signing it and she looks at the tip and double takes. Her friend looks at her, says something along the lines of "how much did she give?" And the first girl says, I heard this perfectly, the EXACT amount I had just given in tip. They then laugh and make a dirty face at each other and glance that dirty face at me before realizing I was watching. After being upset for a good couple minutes waiting for my food, I got the attention of a manager, POLITELY explained what happened and he had the GALL to tell me I'm a liar, I made it up and they don't feel that way about tips. TELL YOUR GIRLS THAT. I will not be going back to Nuttys and I suggest if you don't want to have rude teenagers serve you, that you don't either. I'll be driving extra time to get a better burger elsewhere. And if anyone knows me they know I'm the friendliest person ever so I did NOTHING to...

We've been coming to Nutty's a long time and the food is still good. However, we're starting to see some signs of deterioration and lack of maintenance. This is a cold place to sit because of the rollup doors and to compensate they have powerful electric heaters installed in the ceiling. Unfortunately, one of the in the main sitting area has been broken for at least a couple of months. When we sat here last week we were glad we had jackets on. Also, the fountain drink machine was broken. Small signs, admittedly, but the fact that they remain unfixed is indicative of lack of maintenance. In my experience with other places, this also may indicate a lack of other things, such as cleanliness and adherence to good overall food standards. I hope I'm wrong and we'll see if they improve their maintenance. Otherwise, we'll stop going here and look for another good burger place.

Update July 20, 2022 Well, they've gotten worse. The fountain drink machine was broken again, as it has been in two out of our last three visits. Also, no onion rings again, which is the second time out of our last four visits (did I mention the onion rings are the reason we come here?). Burgers were still good, but the staff all look like teenagers and service is definitely going downhill. We live 14 miles away, so we doubt that we'll return, given the downward spiral they seem to be on. Too bad, they were a local legend, but no more, at least...