Zack's Hot Dogs — Restaurant in Burlington

Our State Magazine has some beautiful photos and enjoyable folksy articles, but as time has gone on and I’ve tried some of their restaurant recommendations, I feel pretty strongly that they’ve missed the mark on some things. I’m thinking perhaps they’ve gotten lost and enamored with the historical aspects of some places rather than focusing on the food. Perhaps that is their intent. It’s their magazine. They can do what they want. But one example where I really think they missed the mark is Zack‘s hot dogs in Burlington. In 2016 they put Zack’s on the top 10 hotdogs in the state list. It’s probably one of the bottom 10 hotdogs Ive ever had. How can you put Zack’s and Kermit’s on that list and leave PB’s off? Neither Zack’s nor Kermit’s belong on that list. Tiny hole in the wall Johnson’s in Madison is better, too. Way better. Again, I understand the value of the history. But I will take taste over history. Anyway, let’s talk about Zack’s.

On a positive note, the servers are energetic and polite, and the price is excellent.

But the food...not so much.

The cheeseburger was old, tiny, dry, had unmelted cheese, and just wasn’t good. And they don’t have pickles. How can you not have pickles???

The hot dogs are an odd, glowing orange color and have little flavor. The slaw has NO flavor. The chili, for which they claim to be famous, is too chunky and the taste is nothing to get excited about.

The fries were fresh and hot.

The place was jammed. I had the impression that most of them were return customers. Once is certainly enough for me. You’ve heard me say it before, and I’m saying it again now: this is just another North Carolina eatery that is famous for...

As we entered no one greater us. 5 employees stood behind a counter. They didn't Seat us or even acknowledge we were there. After standing there for about 5 minutes I finally asked do we just seat ourselves. One of the cooks replied "yea just find you one" as we looked around all the tables were dirty from previous customers. Not one of the employees attempted to clear a table for us. As we sat I proceeded to retrieve a napkin and clean our table, I also removed old used cups and napkins from previous customers from pur table and took them to the trash. An employee came over and asked had we been helped we told him no and he asked for another menu he replied " we don't have anymore" so we shared the menu between the four of us. He left the table and didn't take our order. Finally a young boy with blue hair came over and asked what we wanted to drink. We gave him our drink order. He came back took our food order came back with the fries and 10 minutes later he came back with food. We never saw him again until he left the check at the end of the table didn't ask if we were okay or needed anything else. He didn't tell us how to pay. He didnt say ANYTHING. The food was awful. Fries with no taste, hot dogs soft and mushy, hamburgers small and dry. Food was tasteless and overpriced. The worst part about this awful experience was seeing a customer come into this establishment with a different color skin than mine and being treated TOTALLY different. She was seated, got clean tables and the employee continued conversation throughout her entire time there. So to sum it don't go here if your skin is brown! And honestly I don't think they...

Just ok. On the plus side very cheap. Have been there a few times and the service was good. This time though...we ordered our food to go and had planned to eat outside however someone was smoking at one of the 2 tables outside. No reason to have to breathe cigarette smoke while trying to eat. So we went back in. A couple was leaving and offered us their table. None of the staff wanted to clean it off so I did it myself, really they acted like they were upset that we took a table. They kept looking at each other. I would have tipped for using the table but with that terrible behavior , no way plus no e.of the staff ever approached us the entire time we were there so really no tip needed. I brought someone who has lived in the area a few years buy had never been, well after their bad behavior my friend dosen't ever want to go back. It is also VERY loud inside, the staff just tosses the dishes in the bus bins so there is also a lot of very loud clanging from that...very jarring. It is very busy but tossing the dishes like that seems a bit much. With out experience I am not really sure how they are so busy. Probably better to spend a few dollars more and eat somewhere else for better atmosphere, better food and...