Fuddruckers — Restaurant in Concord

This Fuddruckers originally opened in the mid-80s, moved to another location for a few years in the 90s, and then back to this location around 2000. I've been eating here since it originally opened in the 80s.

I'm not going to beat around the bush: Fudds is my favorite burger of all time, and I've eaten a LOT of great burgers.

Fuddruckers calls itself a "gourmet" burger place, and I'm not a gourmet kind of guy, but I like everything they do here. The buns are baked onsite in the excellent bakery, and at one time, the meat was also ground onsite (no longer true, but it's still fresh, never-frozen beef). There are even a number of other meats available, from ostrich to buffalo, plus chicken, hot dogs, and veggie burgers, for those so inclined.

To me, though, the best part of Fudds is that you get to build your own burger from the "salad bar" of fresh burger toppings. Being able to top your own burger with the exact amount of the toppings you want means that you can have exactly the burger YOU want. There is a condiment bar and also a hot cheese bar featuring both plain and jalapeno-flavored nacho cheese, for your burger or fries. A few years ago, they also added a touch-screen Coke machine that offers about 90 different flavors of soda, with about 15 base flavors and many "add-ins" like cherry, vanilla, orange, lemon, and so on.

Did I mention the fries? They are delicious skin-on potato wedges with seasoned-salt; among my favorite fries anywhere! Add some cheese, and they are unbeatable.

Bakery items are excellent, and they even have an ice-cream bar, so if you want a brownie-ice-cream bowl, you can do that too!

The restaurant is quite large, and has two more private rooms, including a small room off to the side and an area on the second floor, either of which can be booked for events. Finally, there is a sizable arcade area in the main dining room that usually has a couple of pin ball games, some video games, and a skill game or two.

Fudds is a great place for the family, but be careful not to over-order, because the food is huge. Service is good but nothing special, but Fudds is all...

Fuddies is the greatest place on earth and I don't care what all the haters say (or that the choice replacement of a few letters results in something that's more appropriate for the title of a movie filmed in the San Fernando Valley).

My childhood was spent eating at Fuddies thanks to a kids eat free on Tuesdays deal (it came with a free and freshly baked cookie) and cheap parents that had a pre-Groupon fetish for deals. So it's nostalgic and magical to me.

But even objectively, Fuddies is great. There's a fresh salad bar with delicious pico de gallo and hot fake cheese (including a jalapeno type). There's not much reason to get anything on the burgers or any reason to order a salad - just make your own at their free bar.

This particular location is where I go to ruminate (usually I eat with my coworkers but Fuddruckers is my secret antisocial hideaway comfort zone). I'll grab a burger, an elk burger, or a salmon sandwich and then a separate plate to just load up on a salad of tossed pico de gallo, lettuce, jalapenos, and fake cheese. Yeah, the burgers are a bit on the pricey side, but the buns are freshly baked and of a perfect consistency and using the salad/condiment bar correctly makes it more than worth it.

The only sad thing is that the cookies here aren't as good as I remember. Maybe because each time I've only gotten the cookies that have been out of the oven for more than 10 minutes instead of piping hot gooey ones that have just emerged. It's probably all in the timing and...

A childhood favorite never to disappoint! SECRET TIP of goodness shared below! The only thing I can say on a neg vibe note, is the plain nacho cheese you self dispense. Some years back, they made a switch to a new brand, and it was immediately noticeable to me, leaves a terrible after taste, and is still being used, regardless of the not so yummy taste my friends and family agree on. What we find most interesting though, is the jalapeño version seems to still be the original, unchanged, and incredibly delicious! There is something for everybody, but overall, my hidden secret to share us this: DONT leave, without first buying the hot dig buns, hamburger buns, and new loaf if bread they offer for take home! Its amazing; use the loaf for homemade French toast stix! Its perfect due to density! Loaf runs currently @$2.49, for about a 10" long x 6-7" high very dense soft fresh loaf. The burger n dog buns run at .69ea. With no minimum to buy. They have almost doubled the price of these since my visit few years ago when they were still at .39¢. They freeze well, and are very versatile for other uses, one of my fav being just grab n go for delicious soft bread nibbling...and as for the hamburger buns, a TIP: get some heated melted nacho cheese, and inject into center of bun with out cutting. If no injector avail, pull small plug out, fill with desired cheese, then replace. Butter a fry pan, and toast both sides; the plug will seal with pressure during cooking and inside pressure of...