Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Red Top Drive-Inn: 4.0/5

Bacon Burger $5.09 - Score: 3.9

Fat Boy $4.29 - Score: 4.0


It was pouring rain and the sluggish coffee crowd was only just starting to wander out of the Red Top when we arrived for lunch. The cozy red Naugahyde booths are four-bangers but we managed to get three of them gaping at each other so we could still have decent banter.

The Red Top menu offers a variety of burgers and you can get them unplattered, or plattered with salad/slaw and French fries. The burgers are inexpensive - especially for table service - with the platter adding $3.70 to the price.

It was busy - even at 11:30 - but our waitress did a fine job setting us up with drinks and taking orders. Apparently “Table 1” wore out the waitress though. She was laughing and tells jokes, but by the time she got to “Table 3” her smile was gone. The first round of burgers took about 30 minutes to come out - the second round longer - so the cook didn’t share our server’s swiftness.

The Burger

The patty was coarse, dense and had no real flavour.  It didn’t taste like much without chili. Kari lamented “Should have added cheese and bacon”. The burger was cooked well and crispy on the outside.

The bacon tasted "livery" and was undercooked (but not as bad as The Nook). Biting through it was difficult.

There were two slices of processed cheese so that flavour really came through.

Nelson rejoiced the “Burger came with a side of salad (inside the bun!)”

There was a lot of bun and they were double ended - they had no bottom - only tops. Kind of a sesame seed covered baseball. It cracked instead of squished (and it wasn't a crusty bun). It was up to the task of holding all the ingredients together, but there was too high a “bun to burger” ratio. April mourned “I had half a bun left over when my meat was done.”

The servings were large - especially the platter. April moaned “I could not possibly eat all that food.” Cary exclaimed the “Salad was well made.” Karen shouted “My side order of coleslaw was ridiculously huge!” I’m used to seeing coleslaw served in a small cup, but you get a 6” plate heaped with slaw at the Red Top!

Brett purred “The fries and gravy were fabulous.”

Addendum: How could I have forgotten to mention the 6 patty “Monster Burger”? It’s a 24 oz. (total) burger on a crusty loaf with cheese, chili, lettuce, tomato, pickle and the usual condiments for $14.99. None of us had it today. Our waitress explained that they sell them fairly regularly, and most people that order one, finish it. She also went on to tell us a story of an entire class of grade 8 students that came in and ordered one and ALL finished it. So, if you order a Monster Burger at the Red Top and don’t finish it, they’ll think less of you.

Burger Clubbers look out for one another. Christie observed “I am saving Tazz's heart one onion ring at a time. If I keep eating his onion rings, our life expectancies will meet in the middle.”

Burger Club Bloopers

I run around annoying diners taking pictures for the blog. This week April was heard to say "Just a minute, I’m fluffing!" before I could take the picture.

Brett had a corner seat and when the waitress was sweeping around, burger platter held high in the air, Brett gasped “I though the sky was falling … seems it was just lettuce.”


Not a burger - but really, really good
Red Top Drive-Inn on Urbanspoon

4 comments:

  1. You gotta try the chili burger there!

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  2. always and always will be one of the best eateries in winnipeg, portions are very large and the prices are great, can`t beat their double cheese burger plate with a salad

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  3. I moved away from Wpg 14 years ago, but EVERYTIME I come to visit, this is the first restaurant I have to eat at! The best! I'm drooling now thinking about their food!

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  4. Nice retro feel, friendly stap. reasonable prices. good portions... I only had the burgers and the chicken ...very tasty and delicious

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