Frugals (Brooks St) — Restaurant in Missoula

Food was amazing, me and my girlfriend loved our burgers. Perfectly grilled and the toppings were both beautiful and delicious. No fault of their own but the traffic noises from the busy street were quite loud sometimes. Unfortunately they couldn’t make shakes but the situation was explained well to us by one of the workers.

The only reason I won’t give 4/5 stars is because of the worker who took our order. Due to the compact arrangement, we could hear the orders that cars were placing and the people taking the orders. These drive thru workers seemed very nice and respectful to every customer. The (and I don’t mean to say this lightly) impatient rude old woman who took our order did not seem to follow this same line. It was our first time eating at this place so we took some time looking at the menu and deciding. As we’re looking at the menu, this woman comes up from the back of the store and opens the ordering window then just stares at us. My girlfriend ordered first, the woman took her order seemingly annoyed. I took a few extra minutes to decide on what I was going to get to eat and this was apparently too much for her. She threw her hands up in frustration and said something about „Call me back up when he finally decides.“ When I did go up to order, she flatly said „What do you want,“ and at the end of the order the traffic had started to roar a bit so I couldn’t hear what she was asking me. This caused her to roll her eyes and almost yell at me for me name. I then paid, and as I was giving a tip and signing my name she walked away. A different worker came up to the window after she walked away to hand me my receipt and told me „Your food will be out shortly“ with a smile. After we finished eating, we wanted to figure out who that worker was, our receipt said RJ H and I didn’t think it was her but I figured I’d ask, I went to the window and asked for an RJ, but the man at the window said that it was him, so I apologized and left, I don’t know who that woman was but she seemed to be the only older person working there.

Overall, the food was great and the atmosphere was quite nice with the plants and many of the other workers, but I can’t give a better review because of our experience with that woman. It really sucks how one bad apple can ruin the experience for many others and I feel bad for others who have had to deal with her, especially the other workers who seemed experienced with...

Soggy Buns!

Edit: After reading reviews I see the owner is very involved, so i figured i would elaborate on my experiences ive had at Frugal's

First off i would compare the burgers to a slightly less expensive five guys, except the soggy buns, they are of a slightly lower quality than five guys (buns wise), similar to five guys you have a wide variety of customization options in addition to specialty burgers. I prefer fresh jalapenos to canned but they both work, and it is nice to have options on the types of cheeses there are. But the soggy buns (everytime ive been there) are tough to get over, i dont really enjoy them (theyre more easily sucked through a straw than the milkshakes)

Secondly, the fries are delicious, not overly seasoned and the shoestring style is wonderfully crispy if you eat them right away, but wait more than five minutes and you might as well have gone down the road to McDonalds, but thats your fault not Frugals. I usually stay away from sauces that come at a premium and Frugals is no different. I end up always ordering 2 orders for myself because 1 isnt enough (think small or junior size at some other fast food place) and at $1.95, McDonalds or wendys fries begin to look like better deal than Frugals.

Finally, the service. My biggest gripe is that everything i specify must sound like i order the opposite (no ketchup = only ketchup to the people on the headset), which i feel is due to the order microphone being directed right at brooks street traffic. The gentleman at the window said some of the headsets dont work as well as others (remedy this situation and many of the negative reviews would change).

Frugals is alright, but compared to other options in Missoula, they definitely rank...

There’s a certain kind of restaurant mismanagement that feels less like incompetence and more like a slow, deliberate insult to anyone who’s ever worked a real day in a kitchen. Enter the blonde “manager” at this place — a walking Yelp review in bad heels, whose culinary knowledge seems to come from the back of a cereal box. She told us, with a straight face, that blue cheese sometimes has hair in it. Hair. Not mold. Not veins. Actual hair. Convenient, considering there was a real strand of it — unmistakably human — on the burger they served us.

When we returned the food — which, frankly, deserved to be walked back to the kitchen like a dog that bit a child — they refused a refund. Claimed they processed it. When we asked for proof? Nothing. Just blank stares and bureaucratic shrugs. Like a street magician who lost your wallet and expects applause.

Then they pulled out the big guns — got the "owner" on the phone. Some self-important blowhard who, instead of apologizing, cussed out my wife and proudly declared they didn’t need our money because they were “already rich.” Great — you’re rich, and I’m still out a refund for a burger topped with hair. Classy operation.

Lazy. Dishonest. Running a kitchen the way con artists run three-card monte on a subway platform. You took my money. I gave your slop back. That’s the end of the transaction — but here, apparently, the scam is part of the dining experience.

Avoid this place like gas station sushi — unless you enjoy being insulted, ripped off, and served hair with a side...