Hat Creek Burger Company — Restaurant in Mansfield

Where to start? Well, let's go with the restaurant itself first. Too noisy with kids running in and out. Dining room is too small and cramped. The tables were dirty. But it's a nice place with tons of potential.

Then, let's go over to the service. The cashier is less than friendly and hard to hear over the rest of the noise. No thank you or anything.

And let's continue with the lack of service. There were several cars in the drive thru so, being my first time in, I opted to go inside to place my to-go order. Simple enough. Three burgers with no special instructions, loaded tater tots and fried pickles. I placed my order at 1:59 pm. They were very busy so I figured it was going to take a minute. The people in front of me in line finally received their orders about 15 minutes in. Cool, I'm next. But noooo. People who just walked in the door started getting their orders after me waiting 30 minutes... literally. I go to the counter and the new cashier looks at the ticket, walks to the back and comes back with a bag full of my food. It had been sitting back there all this time. When I asked why the answer I got was they thought it was an online order and they were waiting. No sorry, no we will make it right, nothing. The burgers, tots and pickles were so soggy we didn't even want to finish them. Ever try to eat a cold burger with wilted lettuce? It's disgusting. Then she hands me the bag and walks away. Not good customer service at all.

Now the food. Sonic quality at the very best. Mediocre with no much flavor. If it were fresh it may be fantastic but it wasn't.

Bottom line: first time here and the last. This was a complete waste of...

This was our first trip here, and we generally felt like things were 'ok'. We didn't love it, we didn't hate it. It's unrealistic to say businesses can't have an off night, so in that spirit I try to visit every place multiple times before I write them off - unless there's something egregiously wrong. That was not the case tonight, so we plan to try again another time.

I ordered the Cowboy combo with regular fries. It was 'ok'. Not bad, not great. The meat was overcooked a little bit but not to the point where it would make sense to send it back. I see some other reviews about undercooked meat, so I can't help but wonder if this was the response. But the part that got me was that my fries were cold. Everyone else got fresh and hot fries, but I was the 'lucky' one to get the ones that had been sitting for a while. The hot fries were nicely seasoned and crispy, so if you get them fresh they are pretty good.

We ordered fried pickles which are supposed to come with ranch, but they didn't. We had to correct that. They were crispy and well fried (meaning hot and not greasy), and pretty enjoyable.

One of the other people in my group added cheese to their burger (additional cost), and didn't get it. We had to correct that too.

All in all, it was ok. There was nothing so wrong as to want to avoid a return trip, but we didn't have an experience that made us say 'wow' either.

If you have kids, the playground is a great touch.

Edit: For context, my written review came after the owner response. So bear in mind that when it was initially posted, I had only left the star ratings and not the...

My cousin had been raving about Hat Creek Burger Company and their delicious gluten-free buns since discovering he too had celiac. Because I was in town from NC, we both knew we needed to pay them a visit. Unfortunately, we visited during their infamous, "delicious" gluten-free bun famine. As it turned out, HCBC was a victim as much as we were! They couldn’t get the buns either! Shortage aside we enjoyed our meal as the burger and sweet potato fries with “Hat” sauce were delicious! For the record, timid tasters shouldn’t be intimidated by their Hat sauce claiming to be spicier. I couldn’t detect any heat, but it was very good! I only wish they could get DoorDash to deliver to the east coast! Oh well, my 5 star rating will apparently need to wait on the buns!

• Update!!! I have returned to Texas for another visit! Of course my cousin and I knew we had to pay another visit. I had been waiting with anticipation while he was such a regular, they practically knew him by name. We’ll, I can confirm that the hype was 100% spot on! Since being diagnosed with Celiac I’ve not enjoyed a proper burger due to the dry brittle nature of most gluten-free buns. That ended with my visit to Hat Creek Burger Company! I didn’t believe it was possible. I found their buns soft, fresh and very tasty! I already knew the burger itself was delicious. Now however, I can enjoy a hamburger as it was intended to be eaten! I will be returning many times before I go home to NC. Celiacs take note! Hat Creek Burger Company cares about...