Fuddruckers — Restaurant in Virginia

The "heyday" of Fuddruckers is in a deep twilight compared to the early 80's when I and my high school friends would descend upon the eatery after "the game".

Essentially the concept remains the same and there are even new offerings such as wild meats for burger options and fish and chips. The food is still appealing and the decor is 100% pre 2000's.

What is striking is the quietness. The empty tables and food booths...almost likely due to COVID-19 but also the fact that relevance is the bain of every eatery. The super generous milk shakes and big burgers only appeal to a small fraction of the population nowadays, which in many cases--just like my own, are visiting out of nostalgia.

Our meal was enjoyable enough. The cleanliness fell short tho. Tables had smears of condiments left behind. The tops of the salt and pepper shakers were crusted -- we used the available hand sanitizer and napkins to "clean up" the set we picked up prior to usage. The drink station was awash in dried puddles of spilled drinks gone by.

The apathy is low key prevalent. The staff was friendly and responsive, but if you look closer, the marks are there of "busy work" no longer driving anyone. If no one comes why does it matter...??? It matters because no one comes when being made to feel as tho their presence no...

OMG! What has happened to this place? I have been supporting this place for 20 years - and the inside looks like it's 20 years outdated too. But today's lunch is the point of this review, and it was a catastrophe! We ordered a simple lunch, a kid’s burger with a shake and chicken tenders with onion rings. The shake never showed up, even when I asked about it. The onion rings were confused for french fries. When I had to ask about my onion rings; the kitchen then had to drop them into the fryer. Did I mention the milkshake? Yep, it never showed up. After finishing our meal, I went to the front to ask for a refund for the shake and asked to speak to the manager. Guess where he is? On the grill cooking burgers? Why is the manager/owner on the grill? He gave me some lame excuse that they were overrun with customers and that he had to cook burgers. I managed a restaurant for three years; you never want your manager/owner heads-down on the grill when the restaurant gets overrun. They should be assisting, fielding questions, and rectifying the problems. AND NEVER LIE to the customer about the problems!!! We can see what’s going on. I try my best to support local restaurants, but Fuddruckers has lost a customer in this case. As far as I’m concerned, they can go out...

This is a place for great burgers. Fresh buns, thick meat patties, malts for which it's almost worth killing--the flavours are always a delight.

The toppings bar is kept cold, and I've not seen it needing refills any of the times I've visited. The vegetables are fresh and in ample supply. The basic condiments are available, but the employees do seem to have an aversion to refilling the nacho cheese dispensers (even after informing an employee that they are empty).

The employees are generally friendly and helpful (except for their not refilling the cheese dispenser), but they don't all share a consistent energy. The employees on the grill seem to be mostly on the ball, and the cashiers are also with it when they're at the register; it's occasionally oddly empty behind the counter, but I'm giving the benefit of the doubt in that they are performing other duties during the slower times (I've not visited when the restaurant was busy, yet).

Employees tending to the toppings bar, the condiments bar, or the tables in the dining room generally lack enthusiasm. The tables are not cleaned well (or sometimes not at all)--it should be trivial to find a clean table when there are only a handful of patrons dining in. ...