You know I wanted to love Whalburgers. I really did. Upon first walking in, with the bright colors, fun selfie areas, fun decor and friendly staff it certainly started out great. We came one day for lunch as we sometimes do at work to celebrate a birthday. Today we were celebrating mine and Johns! YAY Me! We had 15 scheduled to show and when we gave the number to the hostess instead of groaning, she high five’d us and said “yes, our first table of 15!” That was encouraging! Our waitress came over after a bit of time and took our very lengthy food order. The drinks came out, the food order went in and all was going well. The food coming out of the kitchen to other tables looked promising, with bountiful hamburger baskets and cups of french fries, tater tots or sweet potato tots. They claim to have gluten free buns, but when one of my co-workers ordered gluten free they seemed confused. Confused as to which bun it was, whether the sauces or fries had gluten, and other various gluten related questions. That was a bit confusing and I am not actually sure that she got a gluten free bun, so beware those strict gluten free folks out there.
I saw almost immediately, a parade of fries and tots go up on the serving station under the heat lamps. I thought it looked like it might be our order so I got excited. But the fries sat. And sat. And sat. I thought, “do they just keep a variety of fries and tots for people to grab”? but I didn’t see anyone taking any which perplexed me. That is until 1 hour later (yes it took almost 1 full hour to get our burgers) when the fries that sat there for so long were collected for our order. That’s right. The fries sat under a heat lamp for almost an hour. They also tasted like they did, which was disappointing because the fries where the only item I thought had potential.
The burger looked like a hockey puck, or like a Hostess King Don, but not quite as tall. (Yes, it’s King Don, not Dong. Look it up). It was dry and not quite packed with flavor. The biggest problem I had was with the bun. It was so chewy that it was like biting through a piece of rubber. The unladylike like bite just forced all the hamburger innards to squeeze out the other side. Very messy. Those ordering the “unburger” on a bed of lettuce were disappointed as well, with chunks of dried hamburger on a rather average bed of lettuce.
They did have fun looking cupcakes, but alas I did not order one.
Overall, it is a fun, festive place, but know that the food is below average, as are most of the chain restaurants, especially those riding on the coattails of a “celebrity” or two. You may remember my previous post on B Spot Burgers and my utter disappointment with Michael Symon’s restaurant. If not you can read it HERE.
So, bottom line is I would say to answer the question above, I would say “Ciao” to this restaurant. I really don’t see myself going back. Not intentionally anyway. I would however, like to thank all my co-workers for taking me out and suggesting somewhere new to try. Also a big thanks to Steph Rachwal, who recording the review below and shared her thoughts on Whalburgers as well.
Let me know what you guys thought of the restaurant – I would love to hear it!
