Ankar's Downtown

Stop 8 on the burger tour:  Ankar's Downtown

Overall Score: 83.3(C)

	Burger	Sides	Service/Exp	Value	SCORE
John	63	8	8	9	88
Russell	56	7	7	8	78
Mark	63	6	6	9	84

Mark

I've eaten at Ankar's before on several occasions, and honestly I've always thought they had a pretty good

burger.  Since it has been some time since my last visit, I really came into today's burger with an open mind.  The set up is similar to Southern Burger in that you help yourself to your drink and tote your own food back to your table.  They will take a hit for service because of that, and also because the place honestly doesn't have any "atmosphere".  In fact the interior looks a lot like a chain restaurant.  Value is pretty darn good as the cheeseburger comes in at only $3.95.  The fries were of the frozen type, but were cooked nicely.  They have Heinz ketchup in a bottle, which is always a plus.  Now for the burger.  I must say, I was a little surprised by how good it was. It was a good size, the bun was fresh and it had a good taste.  I differ from John and Russell in that I actually like the shredded lettuce.  It mixes with the mayo and makes everything a little messy, but I think it adds to the texture of the burger.  To be fair, the beef isn't as good as Armando's or Tremont, but it isn't bad for the price.  I certainly wouldn't mind coming back to Ankar's for another burger sometime soon.  Overall Score: 84 (B)

John

I've eaten at the Ankar's on HWY 58 many times and always found the food quite good, but had never gotten a burger.  And this was my first time to dine at the downtown eatery.  So I was interested to see how it would be.   I did a census when we came in and counted 26 men and 5 women.  As much as I love the fairer sex, I can't help but see this as a good sign when I'm looking for a good burger.  Although they have them on the menu, I didn't see any salads on the tables.  Even the ladies were enjoying sandwiches and onion rings.  An excellent start.

I wasn't disappointed.  The burger was very good and a hearty size.  I'll go with a 9 score.  Fries were the frozen variety, but cooked nearly perfectly.  Bottles of Heinz standing proudly at every table.  (As a loyal reader noted last week, it was bad enough to get the packets at Southern, but the Hunt's made it even worse—maybe I should go back and ding them for that.)  An 8.   No service again.  I know that factors into the restaurant's overhead and adds a tip cost, but I like the interaction with the wait staff and I don't like everyone's food coming at different times.    Also, the décor is rather vanilla-beats being in a basement, but no real character.  Going with an 8.   Total cost on par with Armando's and Paddy's, but have to score it a little lower since the burger was not as big as Armando's and there was no Shirley.  So a 9.  Overall Score: 88(B+)

Russell

I could have written this review before we went.  We eat at the Ankar's in Brainerd frequently on Sundays after church.  It is an above average burger.  I realize that since doing the burger tour, I have turned in to a burger snob.  My complaints about this burger are the watery mayo, shredded lettuce, and the cheese.  I prefer the cheese to be melted on my burgers.  Here they just put a piece of cold cheese on the burger.  The mayo was so watery that it made my bun soggy.  Other than that, it is a pretty good burger.  This isn't the best burger on the tour, but it is no where near being the worst.  The cheese burger was $3.95 but I deducted them on value for charging $2.25 for frozen fries.  I'm really picky about my fries.  Service was good at the counter, but it is a serve yourself establishment.  I can't wait for next week's stop!!!  It is one of my favorites!!!!  Overall Score: 78 (C)

Next stop on the tour:  Merv's