Melba's Place — Restaurant in Brookhaven

Come to Brookhaven quite frequently. Have eaten at all of the beaten path restaurants. Decided to do a search for "the best burgers in Brookhaven." Melba' Place was one in the listings. The unique place is not on the main strips. I ordered the Shack burger and fries. It was the best burger I have had in a long time. It is one of those burgers that we with mustaches, or guys with besrds, get burger all in our facial hair. Gals with long hair not tied back, get it in their locks. Its one those hugh, sloppy burgers that the patty upstages the bun. I got bacon and grilled onions, which are add-ons, and yes at an additional cost. Well worth the money. One of my pet peeves is a resturaunt that reduces the amount and quality of their product to make their servings more affordable. I can understand that principle, yet do not agree. If you have a good product, people will pay the extra for quality and leave the restaurant fulfilled. I went in to dine at about lunch time. There were about 20 diners seated. Just one waitress and one cook in the kitchen. Within 15 mins, I received my order. To me, thats prompt service. For those that like beer wirh their meal, Melba's has a good selection of name brand beer and some I did not recognize. I chose to sit at the bar so as not to take up table space, I had good un-sweet tea, not much of a beer drinker. The atmosphere is new, clean, quiet. The diners? White collar, blue collar, and retired. Of race, an assortment. For years, I have tried my best to give a review of any place I dine. I have never given a 5 star review for all 3. Great...

I've heard that this place was the place to go for GREAT tasting shrimp at a good price, and they had the best mushrooms. Well, I'll never get to know. They were sold out of a few of the menu items. It happens, but hell, 4 things? Really? Everything I asked about was "sorry, sold out."

I went today with a buddy for a late lunch around 3ish. They had about 15 or so people outside just talking not eating or drinking and 9 or 10 inside with about 6 actuly being waited on. So it was a good crowd. The poor waitress looked stressed out because the manager or owner or whatever looked like he chewed the poor girl out. Her attitude looked like it went from happy when we were seated to upset but trying to keep her composure when she took our order.

The food took a while to get once the order was placed, but it was fresh, hot, and bland. The shrimp was overcooked for my liking. For a "southern" restaurant, I'd like to have more flavor for my meal than what a hospital would offer. Maybe they were so busy that they forgot to add the seasoning. I don't know.

The atmosphere, well, let's just say... If you like sports bars/biker bars, this is your place. Will I give them a 2nd chance, maybe? But for the price of the food... holy crap, I'd have to take out a 2nd mortgage. Oh, and one more thing... what's with the price of a coke. I mean, you can dang near buy a 12 pack for what y'all charge for 1 can. Lmao. The best part was when I went to McDonald's directly after to actually get a meal that was filling. Being sarcastic...

First visit - wait staff was very attentive and friendly. Food was "eh". I had the seafood boil - shrimp, corn, red potatoes and smoked sausage. Where I live, we call this "low country boil". I added a crab cluster. Sorry, but if you visit here, do not order this item. The shrimp were dry, the potatoes were overcooked, and the corn was chewy. Not worth the price especially after adding the cluster (which was fine). My friends had other items and blackened shrimp. Looked good, and they said it was. Next visit - wait staff ignored us, but I'm actually glad, because a roach decided to climb out of the napkin holder and dance across the table. Needless to say, we left right away. No one asked "may we help you" or even seemed to care why we suddenly vacated. Sorry, but I have to question the...