Red Mill Burgers — Restaurant in Seattle

Red Mill is truly a great burger experience. I've been a long time fan of Red Mill and the burgers, shakes and onion rings are the perfect hangover cure/burger fix.

The last few times I've been to Red Mill, I've been slightly disappointed with lack of consistency and how packed full of noisy kids/families it was. Clearly this is not Red Mills' fault, however, I find it slightly distracting to be enjoying a meal when their are screaming children running around. When it came to the food, the last time I went I ordered the Chicken Club Burger, which is usually a great burger if you are not in the mood for red meat. I was disappointed to find that they changed the burger vehicle from a lovely kaiser bun to sourdough bread, making the burger soggy and lacking in flavor. For a place I love so much, the inconsistency and overall ambiance of screaming kids has been a turnoff as of late.

THAT BEING SAID: What keeps me coming back to Red Mill, though, is the mill sauce, the onion rings and that bacon (the bacon that they literally put in a giant stack next to the grill). Unlike other "special" (non-special) sauces that many burger joints have these days, mill sauce stands out from the pack with a hint of spice. The onion rings are a thing of beauty: perfectly crunchy, never greasy and full of great flavor from the cornmeal batter.

Lastly, the bacon. I'm somewhat of a bacon snob because while bacon is bacon and, yes, it is (most) always scrumptious, there is something to be said about good bacon. Thick, peppery, salty, smoky and perfectly cooked - crispy yet still chewy, never soggy/floppy. Red Mill has said bacon. Which is why it would be a sin to go to Red Mill and not order a burger/chicken burger without bacon.

The Bleu Cheese n' Bacon Burger is my go-to because I'm a sucker for a bleu cheese burger with bacon. This one's perfect. I love their burgers because they are juicy and sinful, as burgers should be, but never greasy. They remain fresh with the healthy stack of fresh vegetables. They also serve their burgers on a great Kaiser bun. I recommend ordering a chocolate malt to take your burger experience even more...

Red Mill Burgers, Phinney Ridge, Seattle WA

Up on Phinney? Visiting the Woodland Park Zoo? What better place to either grab and go or sit down outside (no indoor dining) and enjoy your meal whilst enjoying an adult beverage from the adjoining Ridgewood Bottle & Tap!  This is the older of the three current Red Mill locations with the second down in Interbay and third (Totem House) located at the Ballard Locks.

Due to Covid, the Phinney location only offers outdoor dining being a couple of undercover picnic tables, and only accepts orders (and payment) online via their site avoiding most in person contact. You pick your order up at the makeshift front door counter. But that aside, everything is pretty amazing. We ordered the Verde Chicken Burger consisting of Roasted Anaheim Peppers, Monterey Jack Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato, Red Onion, Mill Sauce on a Kaiser Bun in addition to a side of deep fried mushrooms along with a Chocolate shake, plus the Red Mill Deluxe with Lettuce, Tomato, Pickle, Red Onion, Mill Sauce, Sesame Seed Bun. These burgers are big, sloppy and delicious not to mention the fried mushrooms being the best.

The burger menu is actually rather extensive with all the possible options and combinations, not to mention both chicken and meatless protein is also available. Aside from the burgers (and fried mushrooms), there are mounds of fries or Onion rings to choose from. There are 20+ milkshake flavours to choose from plus malts if desired along with the standard soft drink array along with Ice Tea and Lemonade. The place can get busy, but the wait is minimal and well worth it.  Remember all ordering is online but the site is super simple to navigate and...

Went with two friends as a lunch trip on a zoo visit for school (sketching animals). After walking 10 or so blocks we were definitely hungry.

There was a bit of a line to order, having eaten here I'm not entirely sure why. It's good but the wait doesn't do it any favors. The wait for the food wasn't too bad though.

Ingredients seem fairly high quality and the cost is reasonable for Seattle. Seating isn't great but there is some. I'd say keep an eye out for a booth while waiting. If there isn't a wait when you go seating will probably be fine.

The food was pretty good, quarter pound burgers aren't my favorite but these were far better than the fast food variety. The fries are good and the shakes I'm told are also fairly good. I can vouch for the fresh squeezed lemonade as being nicely balanced (between sweet and tart of course) although maybe a little heavy on the ice. Their "Mill Sauce" is really good but since it's basically house-made mayo my friends declined to try it. I hate jar mayo but this is basically nothing like it, it was creamy and smokey. Though I didn't get it on a burger, I had it on the side and ate fries with it.

This is important THEY ONLY ACCEPT CHECKS AND CASH. Not a problem for me as I always make sure to carry cash on me but I ended up paying for my friends because neither had any cash on them.

Overall I think next time we'll try some other places in the area but this was still a good lunch. I might come back some time. This seems like your usual "local favorite" kind of place. Good but maybe a little over hyped though I think everyone has a few...