Crow’s Nest Drive-In — Restaurant in Montesano

Keeping this short as possible. We enjoy supporting local and small town businesses. We came for the lake and were looking for a quick bite on the way out of town. Usually small town burger joints are family friendly with hometown hospitality. NOT THIS PLACE. I'd highly recommend going elsewhere. In our short visit we had two small but significant issues. First of all: two people wanted cheese after we placed our $80 order. We offered to pay the .60¢ with a dollar bill. They said they'd have to ring the ENTIRE transaction up, void our credit card purchase and charge us again. To add cheese to our burgers. SHOULD HAVE JUST TOSSED IN THE CHEESE FOR FREE or just rang up .60¢. They said their owner would get too confused if they did it that way. Second. We ordered a fry or onion ring with every meal. In fact that's how we said it, "burger and fry and shake" etc. As we were splitting the order up into two bags for two separate cars we realized we were missing a fry. So we said, we're missing a fry. Instead of simply saying oh sorry, let us get you a fry (actual good customer service) they said, oh we didn't charge you for that many fries. They pulled out the order ticket and the till receipt and told us they would ring us up for another one. It showed where the girl had crossed out the 2 fries and put one. HER MISTAKE. We said, well we ordered it that way, it's not our fault you rung it up wrong. They refused and then we said, well we gave you a really good tip, so just take it out of that.They refused to do that either. They said they'd still have to ring the whole transaction in again to take off the tip to charge us for the fry that we originally ordered but they f'd up. Long story short, if this was bob or sue and not a family of brown people I'm sure we might have gotten better treatment. We should have just asked for a refund for the entire order and went on our way, but we are better people than that. GO ELSEWHERE. Don't waste your time thinking it's a nice little family joint that will give you good friendly...

You're travelling down a highway and you see an exit for Small Town, USA and you think to yourself "Hmmm, wonder if they got a burger joint I can grab a bite to eat?". I do that randomly and sometimes I end up finding some of the most wonderful little places to eat. This time it was the "Crows Nest Drive-In", which I blinked and actually passed on my first pass through town. Came back around to verify that I saw a burger joint back there by the tracks. Place don't look like much, speaker at the drive through menu ain't working, gotta call in the order, but let's give it a whirl anyway.

Some chicken strips, salad, fries, cheese burger, more fries and a couple of bottles of milk...

First thing first... OMG! The Fries!!!

I have to give credit where it's due – the employees were genuinely welcoming and friendly. But I can't deny that I carried some pretty hefty expectations into my visit. You see, growing up around here, Gene's Stop and Go (probably because it's just a stone's throw from my parents' place) and the Crow's Nest hold a special place in my heart. They're woven into my core memories, filled with nostalgia, and my recollection of their burgers was nothing short of mouthwatering.

Fast-forward a couple of decades, and I found myself going back, solo, to grab one of those beloved burgers to go. But here's the thing: the reality didn't quite match the legend I'd built up in my mind. That $12 burger, while decent, felt a tad overpriced, and the size? Well, let's just say that childhood perceptions have a way of making things seem larger than life. I was half-expecting a colossal burger, and, as it turns out, my expectations were a bit overcooked (pun absolutely intended).

It's a lesson, really, that the size of things in our childhood memories often doesn't measure up when we revisit them as adults. So, while my taste buds might have been chasing ghosts of burgers past, the experience was a reminder that sometimes, cherished memories are best...