Frisch's Big Boy — Restaurant in Louisville

Being from Michigan, I grew up eating and loving Big Boy (albeit from the Elias Brothers franchise). The Big Boy is actually the predecessor to the Big Mac (Yes, Big Boy did it first). I've had a hankering for a Brawny Lad (it's a burger, people!) for a while now and this Big Boy is, I believe, the last remaining Big Boy in the Louisville area.

Our visit was on a Saturday afternoon. Living in J-Town it's not a far drive to reach this location, it just means putting your life in peril driving on I-265.

When we arrived there only about 3 tables occupied and were seating immediately and our server (whose name I don't think we got) came to greet us and get our drink orders. Inside of 5 minutes we had our drinks and were able to place our meal orders. Our orders were placed at 4:40 p.m. (make a note of this).

My wife ordered a soup-and-salad combo while I had the Brawny Lad and Fries. The Brawny Lad is a burger on a rye bun with a large slice of onion. That's it. It's amazingly simple, yet one of the few burgers I ever actually crave, largely because you cannot find rye hamburger buns ANYWHERE.

While we waited for our food the restaurant started to fill up (it was dinner time on a Saturday)...and we continued to wait...and we continued to wait...until finally, at 5:23 (yes, 43 minutes later) our food arrived.

43 minutes for a burger - with minimum ingredients - fries, and a soup and salad (that required nothing but assembly) to make it to our table. While the restaurant was, yes, getting busier, we both ordered some of the easiest meals to get out of a kitchen there is. It's not like they were suddenly swamped with orders, either, because ours was put in before several other large parties arrived and placed theirs.

I worked at a Big Boy restaurant several careers ago and I know how long it takes to make a Brawny Lad, and it is significantly less than the amount of time it took to get our meals. Five minutes. It takes about five minutes.

Our server (who was great, by the way) was constantly on the move, as were the other servers on the floor. This backup was 100% in the kitchen, and you could tell that it was frustrating for the servers as well.

Once we finished and prepared to pay we had to wait...again...to get cashed out. One lady was running round doing about 9 different things including cashing people out, taking care of Drive-Thru orders, and seating incoming customers...and she shouldn't have had to do all that. By the time we were out the door it was another ten minutes later.

While it was great to eat at Big Boy again, this experience wasn't the best. The servers were great, but aside from that I think it's going to be a very long while before I...

This chain has gone way down hill from when I used to come to it as a young boy. I used to look forward to coming here! Now it's dilapidated! The grounds were atrociously littered with cigarette butts everywhere, and general litter seemingly just pushed to the edge of the fence and under so they can say it's not on their property. It is so obvious that it's swept or pushed there instead of being picked up.

The service was horrible. Granted it was an old lady, she walked very slow and seemed to be the only waitress working. But when I was ready to order, I looked for her. Eventually she started walking towards me, but then sat down at the table next to me instead to CHAT with another older patron. I stared at her, and she met my stare several times, but didn't seem to get the hint that I was ready to order. I placed my hand on the menu she had provided, and finally she asked me if she had taken my order yet! When she did get up and take my order, she stood uncomfortably close looking over me. I ordered the turkey melt Platter and asked for a side of mayo, since she said they wouldnt put it on the sandwich itself. There was no side of mayo when she handed me the food, so I reminded her. I sat and sat waiting, but she never returned with my mayo. She finally came back out into the dining room and starting cleaning tables. I just gave up at that point and started eating.

It was a small turkey club sandwich, and a very small portion of fries. I get larger sandwiches and more fries at other diners for less price! Nearly $9 for just the sandwich?! A ripoff, especially when they wouldn't even put mayo on it, and the waitress wouldn't even give me a side of mayo after reminding her twice!

Finally, when I was done, I stood at the register for about 5 minutes while 3 different employees saw me standing there, until finally one came to cash me out.

I guess this is goodbye to Big Boy. I will throw away the 6 inch Big Boy figurine statue I so...

AVOID THIS RESTAURANT AT ALL COSTS!!

2 issues with this restaurant:

1. Poor Customer Service
2. Poor Food Quality

This place also doubles as Nathan’s hot dogs in Uber Eats, so this is what my review is based off. I think that’s shady to pretend to be another restaurant to sell more, but that’s just my opinion.

1. Anyways, to customer service, so I called to ask how the hot dogs were prepared (as you can steam them, grill them, boil them, etc) as I prefer steamed or boiled. The lady was very condescending and laughed at me and said grilled. As if I should have known that grilled is the only way to cook a hot dog(guess that was the only way she knew). I tried to explain that I was just wondering because I prefer boiled/steamed and again very rudely just said “oookkkaaaay” and before I could say she didn’t need to talk down to me like that, she abruptly hung up the phone. Need someone better answering phones.

2. Now to food quality. I ordered the cheesesteak which they made it sound like they had this fancy named prime rib with fancy named steak sauce. Also supposed to have sautéed onions. Between this and the picture I was expecting the best cheesesteak in my life, really. Cheesesteak comes in, tiny with soggy bread, and small portion of meat which is similar to beef jerky(like frozen quality steak) and no onions and none of this “fancy” steak sauce. Worst cheesesteak in my life. Another reason why I feel this business is shady, very deceptive advertising. The chili cheese fries tasted like they had been sitting under a hot lamp for hours as well, soggy cardboard covered in burnt chili. To top it off, I order a separate order of onion rings on the side, which it clearly stated on the ticket in the bag, yet I got an order of soggy bland tasting fries instead.

I will never eat here again and would urge anyone else to...