Thursday, August 8, 2013

Roy's Grill

Stop 14 on the burger tour:  Roy's Grill



Overall Score:  78.8(C+)


BurgerSidesService/ExpValueSCORE
John59.5691084.5
Russell4969872
Mark564101080


Mark

Sometimes the best trips are those you didn't plan.

Having been denied our scheduled stop at Lou's Burger House, we opted to see what else we could find in downtown Rossville, and what better way to get a taste of this little state-line town than to visit historic Roy's Grill.

This place is a down to earth, old fashioned diner.  You'll see a life size cutout of Elvis, a jukebox, an old Bakelite radio and plenty of smiles from the staff when you enter.  When we were there, Andy Griffith was on TV and he seemed right at home.

I chose the Jr. burger, as the thought of going back to work after a half- pound burger was too much to consider.  I liked this burger; it tasted great and probably had the best tomato of any burger this summer.  I also appreciate that they melt the cheese on the patty here and don't just slap a cold slice on the bun.  The sweet tea was by far the best I've had on the Tour; it was perfect!  The problem area for this meal is the fries--frozen crinkle cuts which didn't have much taste despite having been sprinkled with seasoning salt by the cook and regular salt by me.  Bland is the word that comes to mind.

So where does it score?  Middle of the pack burger here folks.  It's a great choice if you are in the area, but not worth the drive otherwise.  On the other hand, the meatloaf they were serving actually does look like it would be worth the drive.

Although we hadn't planned on visiting Roy's, I'm glad we did.  We took a chance on a place we didn't know anything about and it turned out to be a fun little adventure.  I'll certainly go back even if this isn't going to be the winner.

Overall Score: 80 (B-)

John

Well, Well, Well.  Our  first true adventure.  Destination: Lou's on McFarland Avenue down in Georgia.   Recommended by one of our many loyal readers.  Russell is having second thoughts because not only are we not in our fair city, we aren't even in our great state.  Mark assures him it's okay because it is still in our acceptable radius.  Of far more concern to me is that it appears we have somehow been transported to Detroit.  It's been awhile since I traveled down Rossville Boulevard and I knew it had gone downhill from its glory days of the motor mile, but today we are looking at some serious urban blight.  We bemoan the decline.  But hey, we are on a mission.

Once we get close, I start to get excited because the neighborhood looks a little better and Urban Spoon has it at 93%.  When WILL I learn?  As you already know, dear reader, Lou's was closed for renovations.  Not only am I terribly disappointed I won't get to try a Lou burger, I'm starting to worry about getting lunch at all.  I don't remember seeing ANYTHING on the way down that might be acceptable.  I mean even the Hardee's looked beat.

But Mark saves the day.  He's in the back seat working his iPhone furiously.  He identifies Roy's at the corner of Rossville Boulevard and McFarland.  It's got a high 90%.  How did we miss it?  If our loyal reader made it down to Lou's, why didn't “Anonymous” mention Roy's?  Whatever.  It passes our immediate test (looks clean) so we are going to have a burger after all!


It turned out to be a really nice lunch.  Burger was good enough—cheese nicely melted, great vegies, good bun, but the meat was not all that juicy.  Crinkly frozen fries—ho hum.  But I really liked the atmosphere.  Shakaya was a very good and likeable waitress.  The value was right up there.  But it was another place with a burger that didn't knock my socks off, but the rest of the menu looked well worth a repeat visit.  Next to me sat the meatloaf looking and smelling delicious and another seat down was a chicken fried steak calling my name.  All the vegetables looked quite tasty.  We'll be back.

P.S. to "Perry" who we ran into yesterday:  We are NOT putting 212 on the tour.  I already told you we don't live on Signal Mountain and we aren't used to such.

Lemon bonus  = 0.  Stupid packets so I got a Diet Coke

Overall Score: 84.5 (B)

Russell

Today's stop on the tour took a detour since Lou's Burger House was closed for what looked like remodeling.  Mark pulled out his phone to find somewhere near our location to eat and found Roy's Grill.  Roy's Grill was established in 1934 according to the clock hanging inside.  Roy's is a 50's style diner now that reminded me a lot of the diner in the movie Back to the Future.  

The special for the day was meat loaf and it looked great, but we were there for a burger.  The burger was pretty good but it does not compare to what John refers to as the "top tier" of our list.  The burger was served with frozen crinkle cut fries but at least they seasoned the fries.  

The atmosphere was great and they had a wall mounted flat screen tuned to The Andy Griffith Show.  That has to count for something even though a wall mounted flat screen goes against a 50's style décor.  This was a pretty good stop considering everything and how we ended up at Roy's.  It is definitely somewhere I will try again for their meat and three special.  

Overall Score: 72 (C-)


Next stop on the tour:  Marsha's Backstreet Cafe  



Roy's Grill on Urbanspoon

2 comments:

  1. Hey - This blog is awesome! I love hearing about all of the local Chattanooga places. You should try Mike's Hole in the Wall on Cherokee Blvd. It's not fancy or expensive, and their food is awesome.

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  2. Marie Let's Eat! linked to this post from their Facebook and this place looks terrific. I love your pictures. I keep reading great posts about Chattanooga eateries and am going to have to come to town soon. --Mark

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