Roger's Ice Cream & Burgers — Restaurant in Coeur d'Alene

Rodger’s Ice Cream and Burgers: A Cult Classic That Should Be Put to Pasture

Some places ride on nostalgia, and some places ride on actual quality. Rodger’s Ice Cream and Burgers? It’s coasting on fumes from the good old days, banking on blind loyalty and the stubborn belief that “it’s always been good, so it must still be good.” Spoiler alert: it’s not.

Let’s start with the burgers. Dry. Both times. Not just a little overcooked—bone-dry, soul-sucking hockey pucks, the kind that make you question your own hydration levels mid-bite. And while I’d love to say the toppings helped, they didn’t. Wilted lettuce, tomatoes that looked like they’d given up on life, and a general “this has been sitting out for a while” vibe.

The fries? A tragic, limp, oil-soaked mess, the kind of thing that makes you wonder if the fryer was on strike. And despite being the only ones there, service was oddly rushed—like they couldn’t wait to get rid of us—but somehow, the food still took an eternity to arrive. Impressive in the worst way.

Here’s the real question: why does this place have a cult following? Is it nostalgia? A case of mass delusion? Or just the cruel reality that some people will defend mediocrity to the bitter end? Either way, I won’t be back. There are too many good burgers out there to waste another bite on this one.

Food, like life, is an adventure—sometimes a thrilling ride, sometimes a slow-moving disaster. This one? More of a tragic misstep, like a tourist ordering fugu from a guy with a twitchy eye. But hey, we eat, we learn, we survive—mostly. Until next time, may your meals be memorable for the right reasons. Join me at Northwest Chef Food Reviews on Facebook for better food...

I can tell from the owners comments that this will probably be addressed with the same level of lack of accountability, defensiveness, and excuses, but I only order over the phone at the Sherman location. I've ordered many times over the phone, the same hour as closing (even sometimes the last 20 min. when they're open), with no issues. I don't like to go in and order at the counter because they take forever and there's always a huge line. I called at 6:50 pm, they close at 8 pm (I was told there was a 5 min. wait on food) and was told due to company policy they can't serve me over the phone due to it being just the girl taking my order working, "especially since they close in an hour". So I preceded to ask "so you're working completely by yourself and youre telling me its only going to take 5 minutes for my order?" And she said "well no, but especially since we close in an hour I cannot serve you, due to company policy". So I told her I live 2 minutes away and I don't see why it's a big deal, I come there all the time and she said, again, in the same high pitched voice "yeah, but we close in an hour so I can't do that". And so I side "okay, well maybe we'll come, maybe we won't" ... maybe I'll just stay up a little later, stop all my work, and make my own family burgers in my kitchen. But I'm Def. not going to rogers anymore, if I get cut off after I try to order one buger, and i dont have the time or the want to wait in line.

Update to the owners reply: I appreciate the reply, and ill take it into consideration if i decide to try to order from you again. I noted the time in this review and the date was yesterday, no need to send you an...

Absolutely terrible. Just went there minutes ago and cant believe the terrible food and service I received. There were a bunch of kids working who seemed to be working on only one ticket at a time. I was at the drive through window for 18 minutes and only ordered a kids burger and two bigger burgers. The shake was vanilla ice cream with terrible chocolate syrup. Really? If you are priding yourself on your ice cream and burgers - that is a bad start. And I got the shake at the start of my 18 minute wait so by the time I left it was melted. I was in the drive through almost 7 minutes before I saw my burgers put on the grill. And no, they weren't busy. The fries were ice cold when they finally got to us because they had been done forever. And maybe they just had small potatoes today but probably 70% of our fries were less than an inch long. More like potato hash than fries and all had the bad oil taste. I could see all of this happening since I was right at the window and had a clear view of the kitchen. The wait time was insane but I figured oh well, at least the burger is fresh. Maybe - but it was terrible. At least my burger was drowned in sauce so I didn't have to deal with the nasty flavor of the meat, but my poor daughter's kid burger was inedible. No one ever came to the window to apologize for the wait or anything....