Big Al's Drive In — Restaurant in Chico

My family lived in Chico for three years before discovering big Al’s two years ago which we were so happy to find!!! Big Al’s has that awesome mom and pop drive in family feeling to it. Big Al’s “ HAD “ the best burgers, fries, ice cream, root beer floats, milkshakes and customer service in Chico until about 8 months ago 😢 sadly that has changed. For about 16 months we treated our family of 4 to Big Al’s every twice a month. We don’t have too many places our family can all enjoy a meal from the same place since one of our children is gifted with autism so food options are extremely limited. This is the 3rd in 8 months that burgers were pink inside and the fries soggy after the 8min drive home. After the first time we figured it was a one time thing since this hasn’t happened before so we threw them away ( not happy about the wasted money ) but everyone has a bad burger once in a while right? Wrong 😑 two weeks later the same thing so again we threw our money into the garbage and decided we were done with Big Al’s 😢 do you know anyone who can afford to throw their money in the garbage? Not us!!!! Today is the first time in 7 months we tried Big Al’s hoping things would be back to normal again, unfortunately the cheese burger baskets had no cheese, pink meat and soggy fries 🍟 I believe putting all the food in one little bag is of course going to make half your fries soggy on the 8 min drive home since it’s piled on top of each other to where the bag doesn’t close. This time I decided I was going back down to Big Al’s to have the cheese burger baskets redone. Bella who took my order originally helped me after waiting 10 minutes. I explained to Bella that the cheese burgers were pink and that there isn’t even cheese on them. I asked her to redo the baskets. Bella said that they aren’t under done but she would redo the burgers but not the fries that were sitting right there with the pink cheese burgers. I asked her to redo the whole thing because we want to eat our fries ( now cold ) with our cheese burgers but she refused to do so. This will absolutely be our last time going to Big Al’s I’m sorry to say. FYI the burgers were NEVER pink until 8 months ago so yes we know what they looked like before that. I’ve rarely experienced rude customer service like this before. I’ve always recommended Big Al’s to everyone but not anymore. Thank you for ruining one of our few family places we could enjoy as a family. Very...

Food may seem ok, horrible kitchen conditions one of the worst I’ve ever seen. The owner has absolutely no care in the world for the standards of kitchen quality, management and staff have no real cleaning standards.That is the fault of the managers, while one may be helpful the other is a tyrant who has been there far to long and is stuck to an old way of thinking that has harmed the atmosphere at big Als, what is sad is a lot of people know that exactly who that manager is. Pastrami and other meats were green and still being served to customers and being cooked to hide the fact that they could get someone sick.kitchen left with barely trained staff, Absolutely horrible, while the food seems enjoyable, a surprise health inspection is in dire need. New management needed as well. More like new owners as the fault lies with him not being able to provide the same standard that previous owners had. While this has been a staple for many families over the years, I urge you if you were to look under any counter, grill, or fryer you would find yourself losing your appetite. Blame will most likely be put on the staff but it 100% lies with 2/3 of the leadership.Shame on you owner, ruining a wonderful establishment that was founded on quality and have reduced it to a cash grabbing penny pinching scheme for yourself using the reputation of a brand to make yourself money while tarnishing the legacy of it. Only reason people go is for the nostalgia and the thought that they are receiving the same quality of food where the truth is far from it. Very sad and again don’t blame the workers for getting you sick, the managers and owner should be. And clean your kitchen, mopping and sweeping the visible parts are not enough gross. Shame on you, I didn’t even want to leave a review but the green pastrami meats still being served crossed a...

Everything was just a bit mediocre.

Personally, I find their menu pretty confusing. You have normal burgers (cheese and regular), double burgers, deluxe burgers (which is hard to tell the difference just by looking at the menu), and then burger baskets (which again, isn't clear what comes in the baskets) with those multiple options as well.

I ended up getting a cheese burger basket and a blackberry shake was a bit disappointed in the basket. The burger was mediocre, I've had better for a better price. The fries were fine. The shake though, tasted good! Loved how many different options of flavors that they had to choose from. Forewarning, it is very thick, so if that isn't your preference maybe try something else, but I liked it!

I can't speak for the inside environment, since I just walked up to the window. But I do like ordering window from the outside. Walking up makes ordering quick and easy and there's a lot of room (because it's outside access) when there's a bit of a line forming. I do wish there were seperate windows or locations for ordering and actually picking up the food, since that could get a bit crowded and uncomfortable when trying to grab your food as others are ordering, but overall, this walm up window is one of the best features about Big Al's. The parking lot is big enough for the size of the place too and it's easily accessible.

I like the charm of Big Al's, I just wasn't sold on the price per quality of product. May be back again for the...