Big Buns — Restaurant in Virginia

While traveling cross-country in 2002, Craig Carey couldn’t help but notice that every town he visited had a “best burger.” In fact, the regional differences of each burger he had experienced during his trip made him wonder, why was there no restaurant that served more than one style of burger? This simple question became the beginning of their journey.

In 2005, Craig teamed up with Tom Racosky, an experienced Chef from Houston’s (now Hillstone), and together they started to mold their vision for Big Buns Damn Good Burgers, a modern “burger joint” with a rotating selection of delicious burgers and craft beer that felt more like a backyard party than a restaurant.

On June 19th, 2007, Big Buns opened its first location in Ballston, Arlington and over the years became a neighborhood fixture. Nearly a decade later, Craig and the growing team spoke about the original vision for Big Buns and began to wonder, what would the restaurant look like today if they could do it all over again?

This simple question inspired a new look and several more Big Buns locations throughout Northern Virginia (plus one location in sunny South Florida). The new restaurants were filled with bright colors, murals and bold sound. Dining rooms and patios came standard with communal tables and beer garden vibes. Newly added beer taps and frozen slushie machines fueled the party-like atmosphere.

While some things changed, other things remained the exact same, like the commitment to their founding mission — to serve the world's most delicious + innovative burgers while sharing the idea of an inclusive backyard party with our amazing guests.

People often want to know the reasons why we've been successful over the years. More often than not, their answer is pretty disappointing because we have no secrets, just a set of core beliefs that have helped guide us — you can read more about our beliefs below.

Their beliefs

CHOOSE KINDNESS CONSISTENCY IS EVERYTHING DETAILS MATTER INNOVATE & LEARN MAXIMUM WAGE SLOW & STEADY WINS IT'S ALL...

Decent food priced about right.

Brought the family for a late lunch at Big Buns Reston and we tried three burger combos (Anniversary, Horseradish Bourbon, and Hot & Hefe) and the Fricken Good fried chicken sandwich.

All entrees were made fresh and nicely assembled. The fixings were fresh and tasty, including the veggie condiments. Fries were done right with a nice crisp skin and soft mealy insides.

The burger patties were reasonably sized and had a soft crumbly texture that revealed a coarse grind of a good blend of fat and meat. More like patties of the burger place that has peanuts all over than the place that smashes the patties flat and tight. We felt this was the more desirable meat patty texture.

The chicken patty was whole meat and succulent. The breading was fried nicely golden brown suggesting pretty fresh oil. It was, however, quite mild being less flavorful but also less salty and fatty than the colonel’s recipe.

The food was brought out in a reasonable amount of time by the pleasant server.

Overall, the experience was positive and we enjoyed the food and the funky interior decor. The counter and back of house staff seemed a bit low energy but were otherwise polite.

It wasn’t a cheap meal coming in at around $60 including drinks and tips but that seems to be the going rate for good takeout fast food.

We would likely eat...

Would I go again? Only if I’m super desperate.

The place is very clean and looks cool.

Great for gatherings but the emptiness of the place clearly displays the outcome of service. I went during rush hour.

Customer service is subpar. Restaurant cares only for money not customers. My Experience clearly had that outcome. The man just took my order, didn’t ask about the extras to add or didn’t tell me about the drinks. I had to figure it out.

The soda machine flavors taste like soap masking the mold you can taste. Yuck

The one back in Arlington in Ballston had amazing service. Very very obvious the management was not duplicated to other locations bc the one in Herndon is NO MORE. Also had a bad experience there. They didn’t listen to what I wanted and gave me the wrong thing. I wasn’t going to waste my time to let them know bc I was hungry. Which is why I went to this other location for a second chance. Nope 👎 Good ok food- service bleh. Best to have it delivered I guess if you want to pay all the extras. I wouldn’t.

Amazing service the last two times would make this reviews 5 golden stars but honesty keeps it at 2⭐️⭐️.

Also very not so smart to add a tipping option when you check out at the counter.

You wanted my review- there you go Picture attached is...