Rich's Famous Burgers - Sullivan — Restaurant in Sullivan

We really wanted to like this place. I read the reviews, and I’m truly confused and disappointed The first time we tried the burgers for take out, which is always a long shot getting them home, so I assumed maybe they just didn’t travel well. They weren’t bad, just ok. What was noticeable was the staff that acted as if I had personally inconvenienced her by ordering. That should have been a sign, but I thought maybe their takeout is understaffed. We tried again this evening as a family in person. After being told very dismissively to sit wherever, we waited a good ten minutes before another (polite) server confused, asked us if we had seated ourselves. There are no clear directions on what is expected, and that already led to frustration, as well as the general feeling that our presence was unwelcome and an inconvenience. The older friendly server took our drink order, and unfortunately that was the last we saw of her. The original server (who’s life we were apparently ruining by existing) appeared after about 15-20 min and finally took our order. I’m not sure if she is inexperienced, and was completely overwhelmed by having three tables, or if her demeanor is intentional, but it was hands down the worst service I have experienced. I tend to be more forgiving having worked in the food service industry myself, and I know that serving can be a difficult job. We waited close to an hour to receive our food, which was literally tossed onto the table. At that point we were all incredibly hungry, and just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. My daughter had the grilled cheese, which was burnt on one side and untouched almost on the other. She couldn’t finish it and noted she could have done a better job herself. (She’s 9, and not wrong.) I ordered the steak sandwich and my husband ordered the Italian beef. They tasted oddly the same, as the Italian beef was dry, and covered with cheese. Both were greasy and we only got through about 3-4 bites before we gave up. My husband and I are prior military and not what I’d call picky eaters. I’ve eaten more tolerable meals in a dining facility on deployment. The fries were cold and any seasoning was not present , the cheese for the pretzel bites was solid, and the pickle fries tasted like they had been prepared in two day old grease. We finally flagged our server down and asked for the check. At no point did she ever check on us, refill our drinks, or do anything aside from being noticeably annoyed at our existence. My husband finally went looking for her to pay, and she told him with the kind of condescension and disdain usually reserved in high school movies when one interrupts the mean girl at the lunch to, that we are supposed to pay up front (duh). Again, no signs, no directions, just frustration and feeling like we were completely unwelcome. I understand others may have had a better experience, but for our family, eating out is not something we routinely do in this economy. We prefer to support local businesses, but after the service we received and the food being so greasy and tasteless, we feel our money is better spent at Applebee’s or Cracker Barrel. I hope they hire individuals better suited to the environment, and consider retraining their cooks. The menu has potential, but was...

Ordered mushroom Swiss with fries and both were really good! Two patties and we think two slices of swiss. Fries are fresh cut fries and we’re also good. However, the ketchup is cheap tasting. So get it to take home? I Ordered broccoli and cheddar soup which was good but unseasoned and not cheddar. It was just broccoli in a cream base so it is just broccoli soup. The side salad, pics added, was decent sized with 3 grape tomatoes, some sliced red onion, plain croutons, with Provel shredded cheese and dressing on side (choices are ranch, lemon pepper vinaigrette, Italian, or honey mustard). If you do not like really mustardy dipping sauce (not dressing) for your dressing, don’t try it. I pulled out 40% of the lettuce since it was brown or had brown edges. WHY did I order a soup n salad at a burger joint? I couldn’t make out the menu font size and they wrote “broccoli and “chedder” soup” on the specialty board!!!

Parking is easy. Atmosphere was clean and well decorated with artwork from UMSL that could be purchased. Which i personally thought was wonderful to support the students. Service was good. She met us at the door, was friendly, and on her game. Food was promptly served, 5 stars there . Food was the correct temperature and as I said, prompt. SUMMARY: 4.5 —. Service for dine in, Check — Prompt timing, Check —. Atmosphere, parking, cleanliness, - Check —. Order burgers and fries, like the name states, and bring your own...

I would love to give Rich's rave reviews, however, that's not going to happen. After hearing both good/bad, we decided to give it a go. Our server wasn't having a good day. Took forever to take the order, but to her credit, she apologized for her ditzy service. Our food arrived fairly quick, oh wait, it was someone else's order. Oops 😬. For the length of time it took to get our food, I was assuming it was because of these awesome handcrafted burgers. We ordered the mushroom and swiss, and the Big Cheesy. Sadly, Hardee's has a more flavorful M&S. The Big Cheesy wasn't bad. It was the better of the two burgers, but it needed more BBQ sauce, which I wasn't able to ever get from our waitress. We both ordered 1/2lb burgers. My burger was a 1/2 lb. The M&S looked like a 1/4lb. When we showed the waitress, her response was "I will look at the ticket to see if I accidentally put a different size" She never got back to us with the information and I didn't press it because at that point I knew this would be my only visit to a Rich's Famous. The fresh squeezed lemonade was the best part of the meal. I found for the price, which was $30 plus for two people w/only 1 drink, the meal could've and should've been infinitely better. Lately, in rural eateries, we have not had a great...