Hut’s Hamburgers — Restaurant in Austin

As a frequent flyer, I find myself in the Austin airport regularly. Over the last decade, I have seen many changes that have been made, some good and some bad. While sit-down restaurant choices have improved, I often make HUTs my restaurant of choice. This is based on the subjective opinion that when they have food, the food is pretty good. However, the underlying issue is the ongoing pattern of not having food. How can this seriously be the case for a business that relies on serving food to customers? Given flyers' limited options, you would think HUTs would want to ensure they stood above the rest. Lately, this has been proven not to be the case, and I wonder who could be to blame for running an establishment so poorly? Indeed, one could not blame the wait staff (Rebecca who keeps bar is amazing) who more than not face the backlash from upset customers, or the cook staff, whose job is to prepare the food they have available. Instead, it is arguably the fault of poor managers running the establishment. Why would one of the few sit-down restaurants continue to maintain managers who lack the proficiency to do what they were hired for? They allow their restaurant to run out of the primary source of customer demand, FOOD! I understand not having specific rare items, or maybe a liquor of choice, but not staples that one at their own house would not run out of. What are these staples? Are they the rare item that customers often ignore… no, they are eggs, sausage, and… well, sit down because, surprisingly, a restaurant that prides itself on hamburgers usually runs out of hamburgers! Is there a program to allow high school students with no experience to intern as the manager at this restaurant for expertise so they could ultimately get hired at the few other restaurants in the airport that always have food? Is nepotism the root cause of poor management, or do they not care enough to ensure they have the main staples required to run a restaurant? I don't have the answer, but I assure you I will not visit HUTs in the future. Instead, I will choose a restaurant I know has the one thing I wish to purchase: FOOD! Maybe HUTs has decided to save money and take advantage of the lack of options for patrons and therefore allows them to hire unqualified managers. However, I hope eventually, with the growth of the airport and the potential for more options, HUTs will make the intelligent decision and train the manager; starting as a hostess would probably be the...

I'll give two stars simply because the service was good. But regarding the food... absolutely skip this place. Being in an airport doesn't mean it should be the lowest quality possible.

I've never been to a "Hut's Hamburgers" but as I was passing by, I saw 'Mr. Blue Burger' on the menu and bleu cheese burgers are my absolute favorite type of burger. I was very hungry and had plenty of time before my slight so it was perfect. They weren't crowded so I figured service would be good. Someone came up right as I sat down; I already knew I wanted the Mr. Blue burger and to drink, just an iced tea.

I've read how others had to wait maybe 15 minutes for their burger. Mine was more like 15 seconds which really made me think this was going to be horrible. And it was; You simply cannot cook a quality burger in just a minute or two and I assure you, I waited no more than 2 minutes before my meal was delivered. The burger was cooked but clearly it wasn't hot off the grill. I mean I'm sure at some point it came hot off the grill, but by the taste of it, that time was probably an hour or so ago. As for bleu cheese crumbles... absolutely not! There were NO bleu cheese crumbles and maybe there was some store bought bleu cheese dressing but absolutely no blue cheese crumbles as advertised. All in all, I would have been better off going to the McDonalds in the airport for a better/fresher/hotter burger.

The fries much like the burger, had clearly been prepared quite some time ago and were neither hot nor fresh. Even the iced tea was quite a disappointment. The only way I can describe is to say it was cold brown water. I regularly drink freshly brewed iced tea and this was just brown water. Absolutely no flavor.

I can appreciate how some people might want a meal in a hurry because they are catching a flight. But that was not my case; additionally, I watched as other people sitting near me seemed to get burgers that were clearly freshly made and waited several minutes. I would gladly wait longer just to have a properly cooked, hot and fresh burger and not something that was cooked long before I ordered it. Honestly, too many choices at the airport to settle for this place and if you are really that hungry, just get some snacks from one of the little stores that sells books...

Their signature hamburger had no taste to speak of whatsoever. The chefs here must think people who salt their patties are cowards. The inside of the mystery meat was cold and likely in the freezer 5 minutes before being served to me. For some inexplicable reason there were about 30 unevenly sized slices of pickles and cucumbers on the burger which I needed to take out by hand or the burger would have been inedibly acidic. Store bought shredded cheese that had not melted at all thinly lined the top of the patty, and there was no kind of sauce anywhere, leading to each bite being a dry wasteland in your mouth. But none of that is as bad as the bun, which was so sterile and store bought I don’t think I would feed it to prisoners.

The 20oz amber ale was mildly flavored water at best. You pay about $14 for them to run the tap on your cup for about 5 seconds and dispense about $0.10 worth of liquid, if that. The whole thing didn’t even get me tipsy as a 145lb male.

Fries surprisingly had a hint, a whisper, of crunch which is the highlight of the meal but you could get much more enjoyment with $33 by setting fire to it.

I think they’re going for classic American diner with the red theme but it’s really half-hearted and not even the right shade. A tiny TV plays basketball highlights inaudibly as Ariana Grande plays in the background.

The staff don’t spare a single unnecessary syllable to acknowledge your humanity. The check is slipped next to your tray wordlessly, they have the audacity to ask for a...