Wayback Burgers — Restaurant in Hampden Township

I give 4 stars only due to being a relatively new place in this area. The burgers were great. I had 3 Chipotle, BBQ Crunch and the Rodeo burger. All were doubles delicious moist burgers perfectly grilled. Chipotle came with the sauce, pepper jack cheese and jalapeños, but no worries folks it was nowhere near over powering as I'm not as huge spicy person. I prefer it to tingle the tongue and that's what this did. The BBQ crunch came with their delicious BBQ chips inside and was a splendid combo. Their BBQ chips btw r huge crunchy yet chewy which I enjoyed. If u ever been to another popular chain and got a Rodeo burger the Wayback Rodeo is similar but better all around. Thicker patty giant delicious onion ring, altho the onion likes to slide out of its breaded casing lol. The Wayback burger offers chips which I loved, cheese fries I believe not to be to bad and they DO NOT use nacho cheese and the chilli cheese fries. These chilli cheese fries altho ok served as fries the chilli burger meat then with the cheese on the top seed a little bland. I also had 2 milkshakes they serve u the metal cup it's made in which in my opinion should also be placed in a Styrofoam coffee cup or something of the sort as can be a little messy and not to a mention the water from the frost on the outside. I ordered 1 coffee flavor milkshake and to be honest it tasted mostly of a french vanilla or just a plain milkshake. Which that in itself was enjoyable as its a little thinner than other locations and makes it easier to drink. My 2nd milkshake was chocolate banana, this seemed to have a lil more flavor but mostly banana. I was hoping for the flavor along the lines of chocolate covered banana but was slightly disappointed. The atmosphere is great and the employees are as well smiles and very friendly. U walk up and order and menu item or make ur own and have a seat when it's done, altho it does seem to take a little long, an employee calls the name u give and that take it to you. This I must say is a great thing, I am all for serving myself but this brings some differences which is sorely needed. As for the Wayback Burger challenge, I asked only 1 employee and they didn't seem sure of it except the fact it's the Triple Triple Burger and hasta be eaten the fastest and if the fastest you receive a grand prize. I looked this up online, I believe it's a challenge nationwide and grand prize can be $3,330.00 or a possibility of something of equal value, was held Sept 2015 and was the 5th year. If you don't know the Triple Triple Burger is 9 delicious patties, yes 9! You must be timed by an employee and I for 1 hope to be able to enter the next. Good job...

UPDATE: Revisited this location on Sat, March 27th, 2021, and this is definitely NOT the same caliber restaurant that I visited before. Entrance clearly has it posted that facial coverings/masks are "required" in order to enter the restaurant, but apparently this is just a waste of some paper or maybe they needed to block the sunlight from shining through the glass doors or something because the staff obviously doesn't care about these types of "requirements" or seeing that they are adhered to. More on this to come.

I placed an order for a "Cheesy" burger & Irish Nachos. When the order arrived the "Cheesy" burger was barely grilled enough to melt the butter into the bun, plus they had completely forgotten to put the chili on the Irish Nachos. They were just potato chips with melted cheese, a few jalapenos, and a massive amount of diced onions. I returned the nachos, but they simply poured some luke warm canned chili over the already made serving and added a little bit of cheese over the top. This was the worst order of Irish Nachos that I have been served at any Wayback Burger location, period. Congratulations!

Then about halfway thru the meal, an employee entered the restaurant without wearing a mask and headed straight to the restroom, only to exit moments later with a mask tucked under her chin, covering only her neck as she waltzed behind the counter to the food prep area. As I left, this same employee was standing leaning on one of the high top tables without a mask on at all talking to an individual that was wearing a mask (see photos). And while I was there, not a single table was cleaned/disinfected after a customer left, which meant the table I sat at most likely hadn't been cleaned prior to my arrival either.

Based on this experience at this location, I will not likely return to this restaurant anytime soon, if ever, and then only well after this pandemic has been over for some time. The staff obviously doesn't care about your health & safety, so I'll take my business to a restaurant that does. If I could give them zero stars I would, but one star is the...

I've seen this name everywhere: nextdoor, restaurant.com, Clipper Magazine, you name it. I just have never got an urge to pay it a visit. Today I was looking for new local small businesses to try and take advantage of Amex's "Shop Small" cash back offer and I came across this one. One item on their menu particularly caught my eye: The Nine Patty Burger! It just looks and feels fun to try. So we ordered one to go. $23.99.

The burger was ready sooner than the promised 20 minutes, and it was packed in a double width case, split into two stacks. One stack had the bottom bun, the other, with lettuce, tomato, and the top bun. In between each beef patty is pepper jack cheese (you can choose other kind: American, cheddar, Swiss...etc.). Of course you would assemble it, take a picture, then disassemble it. Let's face it, how else are you going to eat this monster? The three of us worked hard on it, and still, we got 3 patties leftover for snack later on :) To me, it's just another burger albeit funner, but my wife actually loved the natural beef taste.

The interior of the restaurant is very spacious and super clean looking. I think there's even a party room behind the dining area. The tables are far apart and all are available for dine in. There's a free standing hand sanitizer by the ordering counter. Overall, everything worked out and we have nothing to complain on this visit.

COVID hours: Mon-Thu 4-8; Fri+Weekend: 12-8.

Tip: Order from their website, waybackburgers.com, to avoid 10%...