The Pub at Lake Timberline — Restaurant in Bonne Terre

I saw a post on my towns Facebook page talking about the BEST burgers around at The Pub at Lake Timberline. Being a sucker for a fantastic burger, the wife and I made the drive to visit them for lunch and to have a few beers and maybe shoot some pool.

Walking in, we were immediately greeted with a warm hello and friendly smiles! I wish I could say that the warm atmosphere continued from there, but it was FREEZING in there. After sitting there for a bit after ordering, my wife made the comment that IF we hadn't already ordered food, we would leave. She was shivering from being so cold. Luckily, she was wearing her heated vest, which helped. Another thing that wasn't expected, but should have been I guess, considering this is a pub.... if you dont like a smoky atmosphere, this isn't a place for you. We walked out of there reeking of cigarette smoke, which we find displeasing. Outside of that, the place is nice inside with video slot machines, pool tables, and cool guns lining the walls!

We each ordered their advertised "Best burger and fries" for $10/each, both with 'All the fixins'. I had my first beer and the wife had a water.

Wait time to get our food was actually pretty quick. The burgers were good, and the portion sizes were larger than expected. "Best burger around is a bit of a stretch but definitely not the worst . I prefer my burger more on the medium side, and they were both well done. Less juicy and less flavorful than you would get out of a medium or medium well burger from a place that will prepare them how you like. Both burgers came with more than enough lettuce for a burger. We ended up leaving most of the lettuce on the tray. My wife had to ask for more water when her cup was empty, and other than bringing our check, it was the only time the waitress came to the table. She asked if I wanted another beer when she refilled the water, but we were both so cold, I opted to just leave it at only having 1 and we skipped the shooting pool entirely.

What they did well: Advertising on Facebook to draw in new customers. Social media is a great resource for advertising.

A "combo meal" for $10 is also great because you can't find many places where you can get large portion size burger and fries for only $10.

Where they could improve: Definitely could turn the heat up inside. I understand that we visited in January, but customers shouldn't have to wear coats while they eat. Turning the heat up will invite them to "Take their coat off and stay a while." The longer a customer is there, the more money they will spend if they are there to shoot pool and drink beer.

The waitress definitely could visit the tables a little more. We were 1 of 2 tables that were there eating and maybe 6 to 8 people sitting at the...

Ignorent bar went there because a friend of mine was playing when he took a brake like most players do they cranked up the jute box one his already playing music on his speaker then opened the sliding doors trying to rush him out so I helped him pack up and half the bar witch was there for him did to ant much popularity here he went to get what he was owed for playing and they tried screwing him out of a $100 ya remember that players not a good bar not a good place and not...

I've known this bar was there for years but never went there, until last night. I'm only giving them 4 stars because: a friend made sense when he told me he never gives any place 5 stars because there is always room for some type of improvement, everywhere and because they made us feel like we were regulars and it was just comfortable and fun night. Wish I had stopped in...