Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers — Restaurant in Glendale

Had a really disappointing visit to this Cold Beer and Cheeseburgers location this past week. While we were seated right upon arrival, it took 15 minutes after ordering beers for our server to get them from the bar. Sodas were filled quickly, but anything from the bar took forever. One of our kids didn’t want to order anything when the server took the rest of our orders, but immediately changed her mind. Luckily, we caught the server and requested an additional kids slider meal. There was a bit of a wait for the food, but not terrible, maybe 20 minutes. Everything came out except the kids sliders we ordered after placing the initial order. No worries, we were sure it would be out it a second, since it was ordered literally 2 minutes after the other food. Another 20 minutes goes by, our server hasn’t checked on our food, and the other kids meal hasn’t come out from the kitchen. At this point, the people who’ve gotten their food are pretty much done eating, and we’ve been waiting a total of 40 minutes for some kids sliders. We finally caught the server walking by and asked what was going on with the remaining meal, which she said she’d check on (I’m pretty sure she forgot to put in the order to begin with, since it’s been so long). We asked her to just pack the food to go, since everyone else was done eating. ANOTHER 15 minutes went by and the slider meal finally came out (so almost an hour after placing our orders) and we got the check so we could leave.

Now, I get that restaurants have it rough right now with staffing, and I have also worked in food service, so I get that mistakes happen and everyone could use some grace at times. But most of the issues we experienced could have been solved with some transparency. A little “Hey, the bar is slammed with football fans and they’re training someone in the kitchen, so things might take a sec.” - or whatever the situation is - goes a very long way. Or an apology when food takes nearly an hour to come out. Something. Instead, our server appeared to be working an entire half of the restaurant with only one other person, and she had no hustle, despite being busy. The only people I saw hustling were the guys bussing tables and a guy who looked like a manager who was running food. The hostesses appeared to be standing around chatting, and there was not nearly enough waitstaff. I’m not sure of the kitchen situation, but 2 of our burgers were definitely cooked well done when we asked for medium, but we didn’t get the chance to even say anything because we barely saw our server, nor did we want to wait another long while for properly cooked food. Overall, a bummer experience.

We’ve had good experiences at this location in the past, but I don’t think we’ll be coming back until things improve...

Bottom line:. It would take some convincing to get me to go back. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't nearly as great as I had heard, and certainly not worth the final bill. Read on for details...

The ambiance wasn't bad - kind of like a typical sports bar. Everything is open air, but there were cold air vents and very powerful misters - so powerful you wonder if your food will stay dry - outside. The staff was very friendly and welcoming. The music was ridiculously loud - my son and I had to yell to speak to each other across our small, 4 person table, and my wife sitting next to me struggled as well. I don't want Cher at concert level volume in my ear while I eat, but maybe I alone on that.

We ordered mozzarella sticks and wings for appetizers. The mozzarella sticks were great. The wings had good flavor but were very dry - almost no sauce.

Main courses come with chips. If you want a more traditional side (fries or onion rings), it's a $2 fee. The fries were a bit moist and had very little seasoning. The onion rings were quite good.

I ordered the Arizona Philly (steak), and my wife and son ordered burgers. The Philly wasn't very good - not sure what it was, but it tasted "off". If I were to return, I would not order that again. I tasted my wife's burger and it was, well, a burger. It didn't taste bad, but it wasn't anything special.

The food (both appetizers and entrees) were served quickly, as were initial drinks. I asked for a second beer when the main course arrived, and the others asked for soda refills half way through their meals. None of us got those drinks until after our meal was done. I don't drink beer often at restaurants, but I do like to drink SOMETHING - even water - while I eat. Dry breads and onion rings usually need a little washing down, and the 90 degree evening added to it. Having been given my drink at the same time my plate was cleared seemed a bit pointless.

The portions were generous. No one finished what was on their plate. Only one of us felt the left overs were worth taking home - not due to the amount left, but more the desire to eat the food again.

Total cost before tip was 92. With tip, that's over $100. If I'm spending that on 3 people, I expect a little bit of "wow". There was none of that here. I wouldn't fight returning, but I don't see myself suggesting it. Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to try to get "If I Could Turn Back Time" out of...

This place looks promising after passing by it a few times and following it on Instagram. Huge disappointment though. Me and my wife went here for lunch and looked at the menu. It is surprising that for a burger place, their sides don't automatically come with fries. That's fine, we'll just get the "Super Sides" which says at the bottom: fries, tater tots, sweet tater tots, and something else I'm forgetting. The waitress said you can only pick one and everyone thinks it's a sampler. That was disappointing coming here for the first time their menu was misleading and would like to have a sample of all their sides for next time. We ordered the Original Tots as a starter. My wife ordered the 1000 Island Burger and I ordered a Jucy Lucy with an extra patty to make it a pound for $5 more on the menu. For the Original Tots, it wasn't that great. For a 'big' starter, they only put a dab of sour cream and a dab of guacamole over chili. The chili was good, but slightly salty. Now for the burgers. It took us a half an hour from the time we finished our starter until we got the burgers. Presentation looked awesome at first. Since I got the Jucy Lucy, it started toppling over which was ok. Since they automatically don't come with fries, it came with chips. We thought they would have great chips since they usually come with that and it's a $2 upgrade to change it. Their chips were hard. Crunchy, yes. But hard at first before it crunches and it didn't taste like there wasn't any seasoning at all! Alright burger time. Both of our burgers had buns that just crumbled and didn't stay put together. We would eat it then the bun would just start crumbling because it wasn't toasted or heated up. Aside from the bun, it was good. The right saltiness and cheese between the patties were very good. My wife's 1000 Island burger was super basic and didn't even come with tomatoes. Again, we didn't get our burgers for another half an hour after we ate our starter. We were thinking for a cheeseburger-named place, it would be a homerun. Apparently not. We were better off going to Smashburger. They don't have fries by default, but they are cheaper and a fast food restaurant. When we got our bill, we thought it was an extra $5 for an extra patty to make it a pound burger. Turns out for the Juicy Lucy, it's an extra $2 plus $5 to make it a pound but we didn't know that...