Metro Burger

Overcooked, overpriced, and overlooked, that's how I'd sum up my first visit to the newly opened Metro Burger in Lake Mary/Heathrow's Colonial Town Center recently. I was hoping for more and better, but was a bit disappointed.

My friend and I arrived there on a Friday night. Here's the deal, you take a pencil and fill out a form. You can create your own burger or choose one of their "house" burgers. They all sounded very appetizing, but ultimately we both decided to build our own.

We made our selections, then went to the counter where the guy there entered what we'd selected into the computer. Why didn't they just have a machine to read our selections, much like voting? Oh well, we they got a beeper and our drinks and selected a seat outside to wait. And wait. And wait. Granted, we got there at the end of the diner rush, but even so the place was less than half full.

We waited a full 20 minutes for our order, but then when the beeper went off, we were met by someone who was looking for us to bring it to us. Duh, we were outside.

I ordered a1/3 pound burger with white cheddar cheese on an egg roll, and lettuce, tomatoes, grilled mushrooms, and straw fried onions for toppings, and a horseradish mayo ( they were out of my first choice, stone-ground mustard... come on, how to you run out of stone-ground mustard, that stuff has a shelf live of... millenia??). Now, when the took my order they never asked how I'd like it cooked. Well, I got it well well well done. So well done it was dry. I was not a big fan of this. A burger should be tender and juicy, not making you want to drink something to help wash it down. On top of that, there was no lettuce on my sandwich, but there were roasted red peppers. I don't mind roased red peppers, but it was not what I checked off on my order sheet. Strike one for the order taker. And, there were no fries. I know i ordered fries. Not a one. Now, i did the math and we were not charged for it. But don't you think that (a) the order taker would be able to adequately transcribe a written order or (be) the order taker would read your order back to you (as well as (c) ask how you want your burger cooked)?  Well, apparently not. So, outside of the dry and lifeless burger (at a place with the word "burger" in its name) it was OK.

I also ordered teh Fried Dill Pickles with Chipotle Ranch. You know, they were pretty good, and certainly served very hot. There were five 1/4-sliced pickle slices that had been nicely breaded and deep fried. They certainly were served hot, too. They were pretty good. But the so-called chipotle ranch dipping sauce left a lot to be desired. It seemed to me that the chipotle never showed up to the party! Chipotle is a rather strong flavor and it should have been there--it was not. so the sauce was a disapointment The horseradish mayo that I had with my burger was better--at least by a bit.

My friend Tommy liked his burger way more than I liked mine. His at least arrived the way he ordered it. It too was a bit dry and he did comment on that, but overall he liked is. He had onions rings with his meal and they were OK. They were breaded and deep fried. They were real onions and were good, but also pretty ordinary.

Since this is an order and pick up at the window kind of place, it's hard to comment on the service. We did have someone stop by once or twice and check on us and ask if I needed another beer. They did ask how it all was to which i replied "it's OK." They moved on. I am not big on complaining, I want to experience a place as it normally is. Unfortunately, I was not overly impressed with Metro Burger. Now, the place is rather new and perhaps they need a bit of time to fine-tune things. So perhaps in a few months I'll give them another shot. I can always change my urbanspoon.com vote, you know.