Mac's Local Eats — Restaurant in St. Louis

I visited here on national hamburger day just recently. I was the very first customer of the day so it was very nice to be able to look around and see the place for the very first time. I parked in a 2 hour only parking lot that was just a small walk to the location. The 2 staff members I came in contact with were very nice and very informative about the location and some food as I explained id been wanting to visit for a bit. They have plenty of seating inside and outside. The outside patio im told stays a bit breezy and with the wind that day I could tell it may be a bit chilly on some days with it being only 65-70 degrees. All seating is nice and they have some tvs around. I ordered the split open & melt along with fries and soda. Just a double patty but they show you can add 3 or 4 Patty's if you like.

I know their burgers you can try as many Patty's on a burger that you want. Up to 30 Patty's have been added to a burger and eaten by someone here. Next time ill probably do a triple or the 4 patty sandwich because I wanted more it was so good.

I should of asked if they could of added an egg like I do at many places with burgers and frisco melts.

Sodas for the location are all excel brand that is locally bottles in breeze illinois. I enjoy the root beer.

The sandwich was great and their in house sause on it was very unique.

The sourdough bread that they use i believe is from a local place. The Patty's were done and the cheese and melted so good together.

The sandwich held its shape well thru the whole meal. The fries were good and seasoned nicely. They have alot of beer on tap on the back wall. The location is easy to get too and I think if you visit the science center or the zoo you need to check out this place for a meal to end day. They are both really close with 1 entrance to the science center just a few streets up from the entrance for macs.

Sundays they have a special where they have glazed donuts as buns for their burgers. The glazed donuts are from a local donut maker pharaohs donuts.

Macs is closed on Monday and Tuesday. I really enjoyed my visit and being the first 1 there that day really made me take it all in better.

I enjoy taking the pics for others to see and ill be back on another Wednesday. Some day ill try and get someone to go with me on a sunday to grab the glazed donuts bun burgers. Im also told they sell out pretty quick.

My food came out in a nice timely manner as it gave me time to take some of these pics of video.

1 staff member was ready to take my trey as soon as I was done.

They have ketchup mustard and napkins over in a corner beside the bar.

The overall layout of seating and things to look...

I'm rating 3 stars but that is primarily due to prices and my expectations going in. I was in town as a tourist and had someone recommend this place to me and I also saw it as #3 on a list of "best restaurants in St. Louis" so admittedly I had very high expectations.

I ordered the regular burger with 3 patties, side of fries, bacon-onion dipping sauce, and a seltzer from a local brewery. My total came out to over $33 pre-tip, and even when I did a custom tip of $5.55 (which was 16%), I ended up paying over $39 total. And that is really my main issue with this restaurant and the reason I am rating 3 stars instead of 4 or 5.

For the record, the food was pretty darn good. Not the best smash burger I've had, but a really solid burger. Fries were tasty. The sauce left a bit to be desired as it was cold and hard and I had to use a knife to spread it onto fries (fries would break when I dipped them in sauce).

Ultimately though I don't think that what I paid was worth $40. It would be a great deal at $20, and I think anywhere between 20 and 30 would've been a reasonable price. For what it's worth, I'm from KC, and we have a Denver Biscuit Co/Atomic Cowboy restaurant and they have a great smash burger (2 patties not 3). I can get the burger, with fries, and an alcoholic drink, and the total pre-tip is about $20, maybe less, and that's with regular table service, not fast-casual ordering at counter style. Granted, the dipping sauce that I bought (the bacon onion dip that many reviewers here raved about) cost $5.25. Had I not ordered the dipping sauce, my total would've been about $33 or 34.

Furthermore, given the nature of the establishment, I kind of resent the suggested tips in the tablet. I am ordering at a counter, and I am expected to clean up my table and place items/trays on top of counter (like at a fast food restaurant). Why exactly is it suggested that I tip?

If I'm in STL again and staying at one of the hotels on the property I'd walk over, but due to the high prices this is not somewhere I would go out of my way to patronize.

Attached are two photos, again, the burgers and fries were quite tasty. And I like that they use tallow instead of vegetable oils, but I just don't think that a burger, fries, small sauce container and can of beer should cost 30...

I've been wanting to try the place based off the website pics. My fiancé and I went there today for lunch.... here's my review. I ordered the Southside burger with bacon and rip fries and lemonade. My fiancé got the double classic with bacon and fries with a lemonade. The total, $52! That in itself was ridiculous. We had a seat and when our food arrived My rip fries was on his tray and his plain fries were on mine so we switched. Next his burger was missing his lettuce and pickles and he had ordered extra pickles too. He told the waitress and she brought him the lettuce and pickles to the table. I bit into my dry burger and was not impressed. It was a double patty but both patties together were so thin, dry and crunchy and drank the entire glass of lemonade for the moisture and to rinse it down. The bacon was thicker than the patties, over cooked dry and hard as well. My hand to God my mouth is sore right now from a piece of the bacon that almost cracked my tooth and the bacon is nasty. It taste like cracklins. After a closer inspection of the burger following biting that hard bacon, I started pinching pieces of the sandwich off to eat. That's when I realized I didn't have onions or pickles on mine. I got up to take it to the front and let them know but a waitress saw me and said she would take care of it. 2 minutes later she was back with my tray and a tiny cup with onion and pickles in it. Mind u I had only eaten a 4th of the burger and it was no longer hot. I would think spending 52 dollars they would've remade the burger correctly since they messed up on both his and mine. Steak n shake would've been a cheaper and better experience food wise. This place is over hyped and from our experience today, not worthy of the prices they charge for bad food and...