9990 E 13th St N, Wichita, KS 67206
By Mike Thayer
I'm traveling around the Wichita Metro, sampling the burger offerings from any joint that has burgers on the menu, local, regional, national chain, it doesn't matter. In order to determine a true champion of burgers in the metro, I'll have to sample them all in the name of "burger science" (cough). For the burger criteria, click here.
Nice initial visual appeal, you eat with your eyes first as they say...
So it was time for a Saturday night dinner and I wanted to catch some of the Kansas City Chiefs pre-season game against the Washington Commanders. A bar & grill was in order and while out-and-about running some errands Red Robin was a convenient stop.
There were two ladies working behind the bar and they each greeted me with a nice smile. I settled in on a stool smack-dab center vision of the Chiefs game on TV and when asked what I wanted to drink I went with a Sam Adams Boston Lager. Given a menu, I perused it a bit already knowing I was getting their Bacon Cheeseburger, but I couldn't decide on a side... Getting a little weary of fries, be they regular, steak or sweet potato, I went with the Yukon Chips. Shanna took my order and left me to watch the game and sip on my beer.
Great first bite, but...
My burger and chips were brought out in virtually no time at all, I was a bit shocked actually by how fast it was plated and delivered. It took maybe five minutes, that or I was just that enthralled with the game. With nice visual appeal, I of course sampled one of those chips as I unwrapped my burger. The chips were just out of the fryer warm and perfectly seasoned. It's tough to beat fresh chips. Back to the burger... The Red Robin Bacon Cheeseburger is a classic build of bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, mayo and choice of cheese. I went with cheddar. Without doing a lid reveal first, I took that first bite. I was immediately hit with an excellent char broiled flavor in the beef. The patty was cooked perfectly with a thin line of pink running through it, it was seasoned well and juicy. It was a nicely balanced bite, I got the hardwood smoked bacon, the mayo, the fresh lettuce, ripe tomato and sharp cheddar cheese. The sesame seed bun was soft, but it wasn't toasted, failing to deliver that texture to the burger experience. C'mon Red Robin, everybody knows a toasted bun is WAY better than an untoasted (that shouldn't even be a burger word) bun! And the burger would not have delivered all components in every bite had I not flipped the lid and made some adjustments. Lopsided in construction as if I was at a fast food joint (maybe that explains the quick delivery time), the bacon was applied using the dreaded "X" method where you don't get bacon in every bite and the tomatoes were placed on one side of the bun rather than in the middle. Sloppy assembly work, period. Shouldn't the customer get a burger that delivers all component flavors in every bite - no adjustments at the table being necessary? I say yes!
This is sloppy assembly, note the tomatoes to one side. Bacon coverage over the whole burger was a miss.
Side Note: The Yukon Chips were excellent. Four words: Warm, seasoned well, crispy. The chips kind of out shined the burger.
Costing me $13.53 after tax for the burger and side, the Red Robin Bacon Cheeseburger scored 52 points out of a possible 63 earning it 4 out of 5 Bachelor on the Cheap stars. It was nice to have a beer and watch the game, but it's not enough to make this burger worthy of a repeat buy. Red Robin calls their Bacon Cheeseburger a gourmet burger. It's not.
Nice Charbroil flavor and plenty of creamy mayo
Located at 9990 E 13th St N, Wichita, KS 67206, the service at Red Robin was excellent. Both ladies were very attentive and the conversation was fun. I joined the Red Robin Rewards program at the behest of one the ladies, but I'll have to sample a different burger on my next visit.
$pend Wisely My Friends...
Related: Other burger joints reviewed so far