Dale's Burger Shack — Restaurant in Carbondale

EDIT (returned to Dales after a long hiatus yesterday 6 June 2024): I’m updating my review based on my experience yesterday while, for the time being, leaving my original review below. Yesterday’s experience was phenomenal! Had lunch with a friend and we both ordered the Patty Melt on rye. From order to eating it only took 10 minutes during lunch rush. The melt was one of the best sandwiches that I’ve ever had; perfectly cooked and tender patties and the right amount of dressing. Fries were perfectly seasoned and delicious. Staff were attentive and quick and, even though we were eating outside, came to check on us. This is the Dale’s that I’d been hoping for!!! I will continue stopping in and will probably end up writing a completely new review with better information and pictures. Suffice to say, this last trip was a complete 180 from before and Dale’s has earned a hungry and happy customer!!

Old review follows below:

If I could rate this restaurant on food and potential alone, it would easily be 4 stars or higher... Unfortunately, the lack of customer service and wait times heavily outweigh the quality of the food.

First and foremost, Dale's Burger Shack has an awesome menu of burgers, sandwiches, and more all highly "customizable" to your exact tastes of the day. They will make anything exactly the way you like it. I can't begin to explain the amount of options that you will have here... If you're willing to walk in, watch the staff actively ignore you for 5 minutes, answer the phones in front of you before acknowledging you (or at best giving you the "hold on just one more moment" finger while taking phone calls) for another 5 minutes, and then maybe getting your order in only to wait an additional 15-35 minutes to get your food. If you're willing to do all that, the food will certainly be hot and fresh and delicious.

I've visited Dale's on three occasions now. The last time, I literally just had to walk out without ordering unfortunately. The first two times I went were outside of any rush times and the wait wasn't unbearable but was still unreasonable (15-25 minutes)... I suspect this is due to under-staffing as a burger and some fries REALLY shouldn't take that long. All three times that I've gone to Dale's there have only been two staff members. To their credit, they seem to cook the food in a first come / first prepped order. Unfortunately, they must just have a ton of back orders constantly. The last time I went in, staff actively ignored us when we came in the door as well as the group that entered behind us. In-house customers were waiting in the seats and explained that they had been there 30 minutes already. Staff took phone calls in front of waiting customers who had not yet ordered and seemed to take their time on the grill in the middle of lunch rush. I understand under-staffed folks being frustrated and just working through the motions until the end of their shift... I really get it... But it's not a good thing for such a new business to already have folks succumbing to this kind of service.

All in all, this place has great potential. I'll even go back to see if the service changes over time as I think this could be a great restaurant for the community, the neighborhood, and Carbondale in general. But, if you are in a rush, I can't recommend...

Great first experience-- the double cheeseburgers were astoundingly good. Nice charbroiled taste with all the fixings, pleasantly devoid of any "franchise" flavors and a lovable local flavor. This was for pick-up around lunch hours, so phone was answered, order taken, but still had to stand in the regular line (rather than a pick-up area) while my food sat there. The complaint about the first experience was the fries. Ordered fries, which are handcut (according to them) in house. They were limp, brown, and greasy upon picking up. I would advise to bag the fries last, always, as a rule. And they did not become limp in the bag based on the color and cut. They are more of a shoestring cut and so if they were not frozen or coated in advance, they will become limp, which they did. Either that or the oil they were fried in was not hot enough or old.

I cannot entirely review the second visit because it did not happen. As others have noted, there seem to be certain peak hours where nobody answers the phone and they're clearly slammed and understaffed. For the popularity of this place, it's unfortunate that this income is not being used wisely to add more employees, an expedited pick-up area for phone orders, etc. This call was made in the evening during the week, so I would assume evenings are busiest. I was not willing to stand in line for a place that doesn't seem to care too much if they miss out on business, so I just went somewhere else.

This place has a great menu and great potential, but there are some major upgrades already needed to meet the demand and maintain a good reputation at the same time. A larger location is also already in order. I know the rent is probably cheap in the abandoned Murdale strip mall, but if you want people to take you seriously, you can't cut...

So I tried Dale's today. It was a to-go order for the office and I ordered for three others, too. We started our adventure at around 11:15am. It took 31 minutes 43 seconds from the point in time we ordered to the time we left. For myself, I ordered a Philly and Fries (pictured). What? You don't see the fries? Oh, that's because they only gave me TWO out of the FOUR fries I ordered and paid for. The fries I did get my colleagues said were tasty but a little disappointing in consistency. They appeared a little limp. My sandwich was a little too dry and appeared to made of Steak-umm, despite the claim of locally sourced meat from Arnold's Market. Perhaps it was over cooked. The cheese only covered 1/2 the Philly. One of my colleagues, who got a cheeseburger, stated his meat was over-seasoned and tasted exactly like a taco. A different colleague--the one who also didn't get fries with his sandwich--stated his Italian Beef was the wettest sandwich he had ever had. Don't know if that's good or bad; also don't know how many wet sandwiches he's had before so grain of salt for that. Overall, the experience is a perfect blend of Carbondale and Chicago: the super slow pace of the attempt to beat the lunch time rush and the mistakes and blandness of the ever-so-popular...