Heidleburger Drive In — Restaurant in Leavenworth

I have been a loyal customer of the Heidleburger for many years. NEVER AGAIN. Last night I picked up a shrimp basket, a triple hamburger & fries, a small ice cream, and no drinks, for $23.67! I thought I had a halibut basket at the time, which is about $12, so I paid for it. I opened the sack to find a shrimp basket which is $8 on the Heidleburger board, and this contained 5 of the smallest shrimp I have ever seen. I was so hungry after my $23 dinner that I ate 2 bowls of cereal. The Heidleburger has obviously downgraded (I've gotten the shrimp basket before and they were medium shrimp) - and - are sticking it to the customer in unethical ways. I called back and was told the additional patty (which is ordinarily 50 cents), I was charged $2.68 because he didn't know how to charge it (even if you go in and get a single patty for your pup, it has always been $1.25, 50 cents if on an existing burger). The small ice cream for which I was quoted $1.50 4 minutes before I paid was, in fact, $2.80. You cannot stick it to your existing customers: this will not help your business. For $24, we could have gone out to an actual dinner (not fast food). Even though a hamburger and 5 miniscule shrimp would have been expensive at $18, I wouldn't have minded if the food had been good and satisfying, but I have had h'or d'ouvres which were more satisfying. I was very hungry, and I do resent a place of dining with the ethics of a timeshare...

Directly across from our inn (Icicle Village Resort), Heidelburger was a no-brainer when looking for a quick dinner for the kids who would remain behind in the hotel, while Mom and Dad went back into town for a birthday party with friends at the local dive bar. I'd been wanting to try this place out every year we'd been to Leavenworth before, and somehow never made it, until this year.

Taking a bite of one of the kids' burgers to satisfy my own curiosity quickly made me a return customer: juicy, meaty, cooked just right, and no overly seasoned or slathered in condiments. The fries were a little under-salted for my taste (and one of the kids), but everyone else disagreed. But that doesn't matter: the burger is the real star of the show, and it's deserves its place on the marquee!

We ended up taking a bag of burgers to-go, to sustain us on our five hour drive back to Portland, and having enjoyed them so much, I'm a little sad that I won't be able to have another until next year's Christmas trip. Yet as far away as that may be, it's already...

Ordered a chocolate milkshake with my food, and it came out as perhaps the most sickly sweet excuse for one I had ever tasted. On top of that, they had added virtually no chocolate syrup, in that the milkshake was barely off-white and tasted like syrup-y vanilla. I brought it to their window, and they admitted that the milkshake "mix" they added to it was very, very sweet, and said there was no way to make it without that. I apologized and said that it was not at all what could be expected, it wasn't palatable like this, and asked if we could get the few bucks back since I wouldn't be consuming it. All they said was "no."

I'm not going to get up in arms over a few bucks, but I do know from working in food service that, especially if you admit that your food is not made to the same standard as other places, you should refund the money if the customer cannot eat it and tosses it in the trash in front of your eyes. Very poor service and ill regard for the problem.

Food was just okay as well. Nothing...