Wahlburgers — Restaurant in Springfield

I like coming here. Their staff are really friendly and the dining area is always super clean, which I love. I usually avoid their peak hours.

I feel like the first time I was here, they seemed to have a little more extensive menu than they do now. Their food is fresh and cooked to order. They have a nice variety of tater tots. I had the spinach & parmesan Wahlbites, served with house made honey garlic sauce. I loved it. I recently tried their crispy fish with house made balsamic tartar sauce and ordered a side of kale and brussel sprout slaw. The slaw is excellent. The fish portion is good and tastes fresh. I think the batter needed flavor though. The tartar sauce is really good. I tried the bacon mac and cheese before which was topped with housemade garlic parmesan panko breadcrumbs. It was okay. I ordered a pear margarita. It was good but I didn't taste pear. The parmesan truffle tots, with truffle aioli, was great. I love the light, buttery flavor the truffle oil & aioli gave the fries.

I have also tried Jen's chicken salad. It had marinated seared chicken breast which was so juicy and flavorful. The mixed greens elevated the salad. I like that it wasn't cheap iceberg lettuce. It also had caramelized onions, house made crispy onion rings which were amazing, sliced avocado tomatoes, and house made honey garlic dressing. It was perfect.

I tried the OB burger in the past and liked it. In my opinion, their burgers are much better than McDonalds. They're a lot fresher. Even the sauces are made from scratch, in house. I loved Paul's signature wall sauce. I also had a side of tomato jam and enjoyed that as well but I prefer Paul's sauce. Although, I was a little surprised at how greasy the OB burger was once. I noticed the buns weren't grilled so they soaked up the grease from the burger and the bread fell apart pretty quickly. Their buns are really light. Normally, they grill the buns so I think this may have been a rushed job. I will say that if you let them know of any issues you have with your order, they will quickly correct it. I just didn't have time. The price differences between most fast food burger establishments and Wahlburgers is not much and worth it for the quality.

Some areas I think they can improve on is the quality of their buns. While it's really light, and I like that, it breaks apart too easy. I also wish they had lunch and dinner combinations and thematic food items once in a while. Like a limited edition corned beef burger during St. Patty's or something like that. But above all, I wish they would add chicken wings to their menu! Chicken wings and sports bars go hand-in-hand. Lol I understand it is a family dining area as well, but you got to have chicken wings.

I think they could benefit from a drive-thru as well, especially with parking being so scarce on that main road and having to rely on MGM's parking garage, but they would probably have to relocate because their current location is not currently ideal for a drive-thru. I honestly think a drive-thru, where parking is difficult, would be great for business. Overall,...

Located a block from Springfield MGM hotel (which closed most of its dining options). The neighborhood is sketchy. Avoid after dark and walk over in a group. My burger was delicious. I opted without a bun just because I wasn't in the mood for bread. It came on a sizable mound of delicate greens-pretty much a salad, but enough of Paul's sauce, to be a dressing, which was tasty. The burger was tender and flavorful. I also had the thin onion strings which were cold, but I think that is more about how thin they are (don't hold heat) than a kitchen issue. Seasoned so perfectly! I'd order those every time. My server was friendly and sweet and gave just the right amount of attention, although, with our table and those around us with other servers, the payment process (bring the check, return to pick up the credit card, return with the final receipt and credit card) was almost as long as the meal-painfully slow. There is a full bar in this location, with no customers, and a ton of employees doing nothing. The 'welcome' from the greeter was not good. There was no one else waiting, there were no phone calls she was tending to-yet there was no eye contact or greeting for a good 2 minutes. She wasn't friendly-just emotionless-thats ok but probably not someone to put at the door. With only two other tables occupied at the time we arrived, she selected a table that had not been cleaned. Rather than giving us another table, we had to stand by the table, while she very slowly gather a rag from the wait station, and wiped the table and bench with a sopping wet rag. When we hesitated to sit, she asked "is there a problem"? Seriously shocked at the wording of her question. I stated we were waiting for the seat to dry. I guess she expected our tushes would absorb all the dirty water she left behind? She brought napkins and handed them to me, rather than drying the bench herself. Upon sitting, we also noticed the table had beads of water all over it. All of this could have been avoided by simply selecting another table. As I was sitting in line with the front desk, I noticed she was at least equal is ignoring customers before helping them, and lacking in a smile. If we were in the area again (and we won't be-MGM was not impressive), we wouldn't go back to this location based on the neighborhood and the experience with the greeter. But we'll definitely visit other...

*Updated at bottom: *

Ok so, leaving this while we sit here... Because for starters... Our waitress talks so fast and mumbly we can't understand half what she says.

So, place is clean, hostess is lovely. I will give it that. But our server has... Two tables...

Food gets here, my bf ordered burger well done, comes out rare. Try to get our servers attention then she goes in back and talks to the others. Had to get another person to go get her.

Tells us it will be four min, it's been 12 at this point. As I won't eat while he's not served my food is now cold.

Server returned with food "I couldn't remember because of the stress" not sure what she means, but that's not appropriate, and she wrote our order down.

On the flip side, the fresh fries are good, and the new burger is good, however upon checking my food now that his has arrived mine is wrong. I know that part is my fault, i should have checked when his was wrong, nots i didn't expec the sauce on the bottom, and only checked the top, my mistake, take full responsibility there, but there was none on the menu, so i also didn't expect there to be on the order

On the flip the manager did come to make it right, and we will give them another chance at a later date. I hope to be able to amend my review, but as I didnt eat anything but fries I can't at this time attest to anything further.

Update:

Second visit, becuase I was so impressed with how the manager handled the first visit.

We had to request to not be seated in the section of our prior waitress, the hostess obliged, and I got the feeling we weren't the first to make this request.

Our waiter was deff having a day, but was still attentive and kind and helpful wasn't letting it effect him, so I commend him for that.

Our server actually wrote down our order (which I always appreciate) and The food came out and Was right! Woo hoo! Also was pretty good, the onion straws could have been cooked longer as they were a bit soft but the tots were awesome. Both sandwiches/burgers were cooked properly, and definitely came through with our second visit.

Also our waiter was good with refills, and attentive. With checking on us even though he had a busy section, he was a champ. Was a night and day experience because the manager prior made it a point to make us feel welcomed back after our initial poor experience, seriously food can be meh, but...