Lag's Eatery — Restaurant in Birmingham

19 years ago, I stopped in for a cheeseburger on toast at the oldest general store in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The purveyor of the general store, whose name was Robert but that all the locals knew simply as "Bourbon Bob", recounted to me how, despite a sea of "Chef driven" burger joints that had popped up as of late, his business was as thriving as ever. He accredited his success to a simple mantra that his father before him and that guys father before him had christened: "Make the first bite as good as the last". All too often, you encounter a joint whose back line simply does not care. They slap a dab of mayo or mustard on a slice of bread faster than a walnut can roll off a hen house roof and then move it on down the line. There's no regard for principal, there's no personal dedication, there's no investment for return on the future of that sandwich. What Robert, or "Bourbon Bob" (or really his dads dad) believed, was that if you cover your ends completely with spread, if you properly portion out your lettuce, align your tomatoes, onions, pickle or what not, that each bite of sandwich, from the first to the last, will contain each ingredient, just as the sandwich was intended to. And since the practice is so rarely observed in the "fast casual" dining establishments, if you do this, you'll stand out like a Christmas tree in July. And who doesn't love Christmas Tree's? It wasn't so much to him that you give the customer a reason to come back, it's that you don't give them a reason not to. When you think about this standard of procedure, you can probably quickly imagine any number of spots you've ordered a sandwich where this protocol was not in practice. Where it takes 4 bites to get to the flagship ingredients in a sandwich, and then that flagship ingredient is entirely consumed when you still have 4 bites to go. I've carried Bourbon Bob's philosophy with me everywhere I've gone and tried to find unique ways to apply that same principal in all aspects of my professional life.

Now. I told you that story so I could tell you this one...

From the moment I arrived at Lag's Eatery, it was as if every person here had been waiting their whole life for me to walk through the door. I've eaten places with 20 front of house staff and not one of them was as caring as all five they have here. As for the menu, while the old adage may be completely true that in Hollywood, "nobody knows anything", let me assure you that at Lag's Eatery -- everybody knows everything. There wasn't a single question I had about the meats, toppings, breads or spreads that wasn't swiftly answered in detail -- and I'm known to ask a question or ten. In but one of many instances, the purveyor of Lag's himself relayed to me, with great affinity, that he and his chef's tested more than 20 varieties of Bologna before they found one they could be proud to serve. And I dare you to even inquire about which chicken nugget sauce is better — least your basket arrive with a sampling of every single option like mine did.

Through my years and my travels, I've had the pleasure of countless interactions with friendly, "small town folk", stretching all the way from the cattle herders in Cheyenne to the leather-smiths of Bitter Root Valley to the catfish farmers in South Dakota to the custom hat makers in Lockhart. Yet somehow, someway, sitting on a different stool on a different day in a different year and in bustling downtown Birmingham, Alabama of all places, I was right back at each one of these places.

While the spirit of hospitality and customer service is as dead and buried as a rabid fawn in 99% of the fruity ass "chef driven" burger spots in Birmingham, it is alive and well at Lag's Eatery. A+, with...

What a unique burger joint! Been wanting to try this place for a while, and finally made it for lunch on a late summer Saturday. Wasn't jam packed, but they were doing a good business. Inside there is a single booth and two long counters. Plentiful tables, more than half of which are covered, outside, though! Staff were exceedingly friendly and helpful, and food was ready quickly.

Be advised, the menu for Lag's is a bit of a mystery at any given time. The online ordering through their website doesn't match the printed menus on site, there are clearly "hidden" items or old items not on the current menu that are still available. They also do not reliably list what items are out of stock. Be prepared to be flexible when ordering.

We got a Lag's burger w/ fries, a chicken burger w/ tots, a Swiss Roll shake, and a Thin Mint shake. They mixed up which sides went with which sandwich, but that was only a minor inconvenience. The burger was fantastic, very cheesy and full of flavor. The fried chicken was clearly hand-done, thick and fried well. Fries were great shoestring variety. Tots were a bit salty as well as a little loose and easily came apart, but we much prefer that to how so many other places overfry them. Both shakes were great and tasted like their namesakes (we're pretty sure actual Swiss Rolls were blended into that one), though not worth $9 in our opinion. Everything else, though, was quite reasonably priced, made fresh, and served piping hot. Can't wait to go back and try their...

Forgot to take photos of the food unfortunately, but we had an interesting experience today. We came in around 12pm and my girlfriend ordered pancakes with bacon. Right after we ordered, they announced they were out of pancakes. We waited about 5 minutes before what I assume was a manager asked if we were still waiting for something and we said we had ordered pancakes, to which he told us they were out of pancakes. We heard, but we assumed we grabbed the last order. He explained it was just a miscommunication with the front, took care of our re-order for free, and had our food out ahead of the large crowd that had just come in between our orders. The food was delicious, arrived quickly, and they handled a situation that could have been very frustrating or stressful with care and open communication. It’s clear they care about their customers here at Lag’s, and we’ll...