Hwy 55 Burgers Shakes & Fries — Restaurant in North Carolina

Since there are no locally-owned hamburger places in this area these days, HWY 55 in Mebane has been the one place to go for a cheeseburger cooked in a traditional way unique for this area. I have not been to this HWY 55 in months mostly because the last time, I did not feel the food was as good as it had been. Yesterday at 4:30 PM I was hoping things had changed for the better. I was very disappointed. There were only two other customers in the place. There were two workers. The guy behind the grill was ok. The young lady that helped me place my takeout order was nice. I ordered small cheeseburger with mustard, chili and slaw...American cheese. The burger was sloppy, the meat patty was burnt, dry, and tough. The chili was burnt and mostly brown liquid. If there was any slaw on the burger, it must have been that grayish watery substance that was diluting the large glob of mustard, causing all the condiments to drip off the bun after totally turning the bottom of the bun into a soggy mess. I am not very picky about cheeseburgers especially when an honest attempt has been made to make a good one. I don't mind a bit of sloppiness. If the meat is a bit dry, that's ok. For me, it's more about the consistency and flavor of the chili. I do not feel an honest attempt was made to serve me a topline burger. I'm fairly sure the chili had been sitting on a hot burner all day. As for the physical feel of the restaurant, it seemed neglected, somewhat rundown. I was willing to over-look this if the food had been much better. I really hope things will improve. I returned last 7/7 and little had changed. This time, though, the air system was loud and had a whump,whump,whump noise that was very uncomfortable to hear. The music seemed to be coming through a broken drive-thru speaker. The lights in the ceiling over the grill were filthy with oily-looking brown clumps. I had ordered tea before I realized I could not stand the noise. I asked for my check and my waitress, who had just waited on me wanted to know what I ordered (?). The only good thing about this visit was the young man who rushed to hold the door for me and to wish me a good day. Keep him and the young woman who was tending to several things behind the counter, and get rid of my waitress and the 'waitress' who spent the entire time talking with a customer and didn't seem to realize there were other folks in the place working or hoping for service. One other thing was...

We decided to visit Hwy 55 today after leaving the outlets. We haven't ate any Hwy 55 in probably a decade now. It's certainly not what it use to be. Honestly, this location shouldn't have even bothered opening today. They were out of so many things that were essential to making their menu items, like American Cheese, mustard, chili, tomatoes, fries. They were even out of Pepsi. They were a hot mess. There were only two employees working, one waitress and one cook. I don't fault them since they were working hard, so I give 2 stars simply because they tried. We ordered the Carolina Classic burger, which of course has chili, slaw, onions, mustard. She informed us they were out of mustard, okay, no problem, we'll still take. When the burger arrived, it only had slaw. They were apparently out of chili and completely left that part out, so the Carolina Classic only had 1 of the 4 ingredients (onions were also missing). I ordered chicken strips since they're hand-breaded and that usually means they'll be decent. But unfortunately, they were not good. The breading was pretty much non-existent on 95% of the chicken strip. They didn't dredge it before breading or something because there was no breading to be seen except on small parts of the corners (that part was good lol). They were pretty dark too as if they were overcooked, but they weren't dry. The tots were cooked longer, which is fine, but I think the reason why the tenders were so dark is because the oil was that bad and they cooked the tots in that same dirty oil. They were saturated in oil. It took us about 30 mins to get our food after we ordered. They eventually put up a sign on the door saying they weren't taking any more orders the rest of the day (this was around 3), so I'm guessing they were closing early. But they should have just closed altogether instead of opening if they were out of half their menu. I'd avoid this location or maybe just the chain altogether now. It use to be great and also a good value. Now it's overpriced, overcooked, and...

So the food itself was phenomenal, I got the chicken tenders with tots and my husband got a chili onion ring burger with fries (not pictured). The waitstaff was super polite and the place was super clean as well! Not just to us but we saw to every patron!! A few notes though, the temperature at which the food is brought out should be paid more attention too. Both of our main meals were way too hot to eat right away and my husband actually got a slight burn on his hand from how hot the chili was when it was first brought out and the tenders got me as well, though both the tots and fries were safe. The huge thing is these door stoppers ?!?!!! On the floor of the bathroom!!! I went in to wash my hands and immediately tripped on this, almost planting into the sink!!!! This was so insane to me, I couldn’t believe this outright hazard. Imagine if a hurried mother rushed in, this really is so bizarre. I have never seen a door stop in the middle of the pathway. The fact that there hasn’t been an issue yet is simply a blessing, Im begging the owner or manager to do something about this before...