4 /5 Roger McCort: Short version:
A step up from fast food. Reasonable food for a reasonable price.
Long version:
I recently moved to a town with a Farmer Boys prominently on the route I drive each day. Looking online, I found they have an app which offered me a free cheeseburger (called The Big Cheese) with my first purchase. Im all about free (or nearly so) stuff, so I headed over the next day.
Inside, the restaurant is a cross between fast food burger joint and an oversized diner. Tables and booths have trays of condiments, including those little jelly packets for toast. I guess they do breakfasts too. The location I was at was very clean, which is a huge plus in any food place.
You order at a counter off a lit up board, like any FF place, but they give you a number to take and stand on your table. The food is prepared after you order. There were a number of choices, but I went traditional by adding fries and a fountain drink to my cheeseburger. As always, I ordered my food without onions, due to an allergy.
The drinks are fill-your-own, featuring Pepsi products. Im a Coke guy, but can make do. The carbonation seemed a little flat, but that could just be the way Diet Pepsi is.
Sitting at a table, I noticed they use their own ketchup brand, which the label touts as a healthier, corn syrup-free version.
It was about a seven minute wait for my burger and fries. Not bad for food made to order but slower than the drive-thru places nearby. (Farmer Boys has a drive thru too - Im not sure how that works, but Id guess you need to wait a little longer than usual.)
The fries are coated in a light batter. It had no particular flavor, just made the fries crunch a bit. Overall, Id say that they were good. Needed salt, but there was a shaker on the table, so no prob. They are very much above average, but just a bit.
The burger looked good and it had a wooden spike through its heart. It didn’t seem like it was going to be sliding around enough to need that, but it did give some added visual appeal. The produce was fresh (lettuce and tomatoes) and the patty properly done. It wasnt the thickest burger, or the juiciest, but it was a solid 4/5 for taste and it was done all the way through. I thought it needed to be dunked in the ketchup to hit its potential. That may be because the "special sauce" (an ordinary burger thousand island dressing) was spread on like its whole purpose was to tinge the bun pink. Not at all the layer of dressing suggested by the photos on the order board! I couldnt taste it at all. And there were exactly two thin pickle slices. It needed more.
But it was better than your standard fast food joint in most respects.
I liked it. It was fresher than drive thru burgers. If Id paid for the combo, Id have been happy. Since I got my burger "free" from the app, Im more than happy. Itll probably cost about $15/person to eat here - about the same as the yellow arch folks these days.
If you want a quick burger and fries without the grease of the main fast food guys, give Farmer Boys a try.
Ill need to stop by for breakfast soon.