Smashburger — Restaurant in Florida

Responding to Andrew Brown, disguised as male Karen.

First tip: seek out the manager or owner when you go through a 3 day cooling off period from that thin skinned reaction of a review you gave. When you have that much to express, and want to be understood, go directly to who can help you and change the outcome.

For a bit of perspective, over the past decade, this place has served about 900,000 meals. A significant amount of them to families from Eglin AFB, Hurlburt AFB, and Duke Field.

That really angry review of Smashburger comes across as something personal. I think what you have to realize is when they’re trying to close, people are allowing themselves to leave by opening the locked door and they can’t lock it from the outside. So even when they close, there are still people leaving who unlock the door and that’s why it’s open. I’ve sat there many a night and watched that happen and people just understand and simply walk away without your type of anger. When they’re told that they are closed, it’s because the grill and fryers are turned off, it’s nothing personal against you, even your comments come across as such a victim. There are insurance risks. Theft risk. And they should not be open past their closing time since people have already worked a long day and have a life afterwards with their children and spouses, etc..

At times when you’re running a super busy store like that, you do run out of product. That’s a little bit unreasonable to expect that no restaurant or franchise location of this magnitude has never run out of a product before. I would probably say you shouldn’t be out there eating food if you’re that critical of outages and especially doing harping on that. Being that critical when people are trying their best and volume spikes far exceeding expected sales can occur. It’s to a point where in some cases you couldn’t even possibly order enough product when you’re 30 or 40% over last year‘s numbers. This has been very common for this location over the years. You don’t forecast that much food for those kinds of spikes. Why does that happen? Because you’ve seen the food court close, Zoe‘s Mediterranean, World Of Beer, Party Foul, the Sushi place …..all of which were in Destin Commons and closed permanently. So many other local restaurants have closed and it creates a spike in volume that is not even possible to plan for. The point is that there are legitimate reasons why they can run out of a french fry for God sakes. That spike can just be on one particular day or maybe for a few days stretch but it’s very unusual. Maybe a sports team and tour bus come through with 300 meals before closing. You just don’t plan for a random stop like that and freezer space is super small in the store.

So why do I know all that, well that’s easy. I owned it for six years and I get blows like this putting really nasty and negative reviews and I didn’t get a chance to say F off so here’s my chance. Get a grip. Lighten up. Have some patience and understanding. Don’t always think from your one sided perspective. And if you’re that nasty with your feedback, then start working on yourself and figuring out how you can be a better person and help. Maybe be a restaurant consultant in your next life.

Here is my review of the place. Super hard-working staff. Very accommodating team. Great new owner named Chad (veteran) and Colleen. who are bringing a lot to the table and have a significant amount of years in the food world. I had a perfectly seasoned certified Angus Smashburger. Yes, it was an actual Smashburger. Not burned the way you describe it. Very juicy as instructed by corporate guidelines, not your guidelines. It has to seared at high heat quickly to lock in the natural oils and flavor. It figures you’d be into burned food because you are one crusty individual.

This is the number 1 burger spot in Destin by far. From a numbers perspective and Google rating perspective it’s far and above anything and its food category. Thank you for my great dinner. As usual...

Vegetarians: this review is for you.

Today for your viewing pleasure we have the BBQ bacon cheddar black bean burger sans bacon with swiss cheese instead of cheddar. Accompanying the burger are smash tots.

This was my first time ever eating at smash burger. I travel year round and am always eager to find another good burger place. The manager(?) in the NY hat cared about our experience and wanted to make sure we enjoyed our food. Always refreshing to encounter someone who cares about their customers because that usually shows in the goods and services they offer. I ordered the burger without bacon because it wasn't vegetarian/vegan, unfortunately, but maybe one day they will offer it. The burger itself tasted good, but the texture was different from any black bean burger I have ever had. Typically, a black bean burger is a mixture of several ingredients, but I think this patty is literally just beans. The taste is fine, but the texture of it was different. Almost like....doughy. I can't think of another way to word it. This is something you will have to try for yourself and decide if you like it. The smash tots were good. They use rosemary, garlic, and olive oil to season them, I believe. The strongest flavor being the rosemary, not the garlic.

Bottom line: I would come here again and I am happy to have another burger place to add...

Preface: it was busy. Waitress forgot about my beer, had to ask twice as she was delivering food. Recieved it once my food was half finished. A guest in my party didnt recieve their food until 30 minutes after they ordered. They received the correct sandwich, but the fries were standard, and not the special ones they had ordered. I went up and asked if they would comp his beer since we had to leave. The waitress said "absolutely not" since he had drank it already. I understood that and asked about comping his food then Since we had to leave. He hadn't taken a bite yet. She rudely said "why cant he come and ask me". "Why isn't he here?!" I told her that her attitude was unjust, and as a customer I shouldnt be spoken to in that manner and asked if she was a manager. She said no, and she let the very kind and professional manager know I wanted to speak with him. He was very attentive and apologized for the situation and comped the entire meal. I felt this was an isolated incident and I will for sure return. They were very busy, and the food still maintained a very solid quality and looked like the advertisements. People can get frustrated and snap at a customer, and they also had a sign looking for help. Great food, good prices, and a manager willing to correct any mistakes or situations. Very...