Andres Drive In — Restaurant in Bakersfield

I want a quest to find the best burger in town. This place has an amazing history and a sterling reputation. There was a recent SF Gate article about it that convinced me to give it a try. Unfortunately, after sampling the food, it's easy to see why it's slowly going out of business. The current owners apparently think that they can ride on the reputation of the previous management/owners rather than providing a good product. My first visit was for a double cheeseburger. It could best be described as a lot of lettuce and a lot of bread and hardly any beef patty. I decided it must be a fluke, based on how famous this place is. My second visit was to try the famous French Burger, "the biggest in town." I opened up the wrapper and found a truly enormous loaf of bread, aromatic and perfectly toasted. I thought to myself, "now we're going places." After a few bites though, I started to wonder if I've been given the vegetarian option. The burger is 80% bread, 18% lettuce and Thousand Island dressing, and 2% Kraft cheese and ground beef. There were two patties, but they were so thin it was as if somebody had taken a McDonald's hamburger patty and split it in half. To be honest, I initially thought that the ground beef was not even a patty, but some kind of meat spread, but no, there was amazingly thin and define the laws of physics as to how it was staying together in a single piece. The thickness of the Burger was about the thickness of one slice of individually wrapped American cheese. Clearly, anyone who goes to Andre's and orders this is not there for the meat, but is doing so for nostalgia, remembering when they were a child going with a loved one and associating good memories with the current food offerings. While I understand that times are tough for restaurant owners, you can't expect people to come back after they fork over $10 for a dollar's worth of bread $0.50 worth of lettuce, and 25 cents worth of ground beef. For the same price you could go to Five Guys, or the Habit, or Happy Jacks, or a dozen other places and not get get a burger that leaves you hungrier for beef after you eat it then before you started. Maybe the fried giant burrito or the Fried Pies are what draw people. It certainly cannot be...

I used to eat here as a kid in the 70's and every time I came home to visit my family after I moved away. It was a must have to get the Big Big Burrito and a jumbo Cherry Hi. No matter what we ate as a family I had a BBB on the way home to LA. The indigestion was worth it.

I gave up on the place when it changed ownership years ago but I was talking to my son who also moved away and he was asking me if it was still there and if the burrito was still on the menu. So I told him that I would drive by and look when I was in town next doing some work. I couldn't believe it. The place looked the same as though time had stood still and even the sign advertising the BBB was still up. So nostalgia got the best of me and I drove up to the drive thru and ordered the usual - BBB, fries and a large Cherry Hi.

The drink tasted the same. One star for that. The burrito was definitely not the same as the original but half a star for the sheer size of the thing. It's much longer than the original but not as fat. Even though it was different it was pretty good so half a star for that. But, my guys... the oil used to fry that thing as well as the fries must have expired in 2023. There was no eating it. And believe me, I wanted to eat it and I tried, but I got more grossed out with every bite. When I got home I still hadn't really eaten dinner but I was so disgusted that I couldn't eat.

I have so many happy memories driving into town and picking up two burritos, one for me and one for my dad, or eating one on the drive home, that I will probably give it another try someday. I hope they read this review and straighten up the oil situation....

I have never tried this place before but was willing to give it a shot. What I can see from the outside just 2 employee's nothing fancy. Pro was it looked clean, when i brought the food back as much as it was smelling good, i was slight disappointed they didn't cut it in half like i asked. No big deal to do it myself.

Con #1 The sandwich I got was a Pastrami which they recommended, bread was very soggy at the bottom. Fries well just missing more Ketchup but nothing big. Con #2 I did ask for a large drink, and when it was handed to me it was a small, when i asked she said that was the large drink but i wasn't going to argue.

It was a good Sandwich but not the greatest, unfortunately the meat was kinda all over the place when comes to slim slices, then big slices (very thick) where it kinda made it out of control.

The place was good, i will try it again but i wont get the Pastrami. definitely worth the try if on...