Review No. 189: Fatburger & Buffalo’s Express
2205 Dave Ward Drive
Conway, AR 72034
(501) 358-6501
The Situation
He Said: Fatburger was founded by Lovie Yancey in Los Angeles in 1947. It was mainly a California based chain until the 1990s. There are now more than 150 Fatburger franchises, with many more planned. It expanded first into four other western states and more recently has opened in 19 foreign countries, including China, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, and Japan. The Fatburger locations in Arkansas have appeared only in the past few years—the Conway location at the old Steak and Shake site (which is a bit of a headache to get into if you happen to be going west on Dave Ward).
She Said: I’d seen some friends updating about Fatburger recently, and so I put it on our list to try out. We don’t eat many mammals, and never cook beef at home anymore, but I do like a burger, so I thought I’d meet He Said there for lunch after he got out of class at UCA, as it’s just across the street from the campus.
Ambience:
He Said: It looks like you’re in any other fast food place inside, with posters advertising their products in the windows. There are a couple of small screen TVs hanging from the middle. But it’s a pretty generic McSpace. Except for the ceiling, which is one of those that is open and showing all of the venting, painted a very clean black.
She Said: It’s bright and fun in here, and I liked how the menu showed you exactly what you could have on your burger as standard and what is extra, etc., but I never could see on the menus what comes with the “meal” option. I liked the diner-style colors and booths. It was a good thing it was attractive and fun in there, because little did we know, but we were going to be there for quite a while.
Drinks
He Said: I went for the chocolate shake, without whipped cream. They had several other kinds of shakes, including vegan ones, and also soft drinks.
She Said: I had a Diet Pepsi. They get the drinks for you, and it was your basic Diet Pepsi fountain drink.
Food
He Said: I considered getting some wings, or perhaps a chicken sandwich, but decided that the burger is what this place puts front and center, so the burger I would have—but since I don’t eat red meat, I went with a turkey burger (they also had veggie burgers). I had the turkey burger with everything but mayo and relish, and I added a slice of cheddar cheese. Instead of fries, I thought I’d try the onion rings and, of course, the aforementioned shake. The burger was good. It was done just right and had generous portions of lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, cheese and mustard, and was quite satisfying as a burger. She Said pronounced the onion rings “bland” when she tried one, but I found them to be fine. Maybe less greasy than other places, though they could have used some salt, which I supplied.
What really was bland was the chocolate shake. I could barely taste the chocolate, and beyond that there wasn’t much flavor. It was definitely not worth waiting 48 minutes for. See below.
She Said: Yes, Ruud, that shake was NOT chocolatey enough for the wait, or the 910 calories, which is about 65 percent of my 53-year-old’s calorie quota.
I chose the regular Fatburger with everything but tomatoes and mustard and no cheese. It was… fine. I mean, it was good, but it took 33 minutes to arrive, and I would say that burgers I’ve had at O’Malley’s, which took only 21 minutes in a proper restaurant setting, and, Burgers, Fries & Pies, which is literally fast food, were as good if not better. I didn’t finish it all because I had supplemented my lunch with some of He Said’s (bland) onion rings. The fries I also found to be just fine, but nothing special, and not worth 34 minutes of waiting time.
Service
He Said: You order at a counter when you come in, and then are given a number to put on your booth as you go sit down. She Said also got her drink to bring to the booth. I would have to wait for the shake. We sat down and waited. After ten minutes or so we started wondering how this place could have a drive-through since if the food was going to take this long, people would not be inclined to sit in their cars waiting this long for their food. Of course, part of the explanation for this is that they do make everything to order fresh when you order it. After another five minutes or so, we guessed that they may deal with the drive-through customers right away and put the inside customers on the back burner. After another five minutes or so, the person who took our order came by and asked if either of us wanted ketchup with our meal. I answered in the affirmative, and she brought back some ketchup. The actual burgers did not appear for several more minutes, at which point I asked about my milk shake. We fell to eating the burgers and fries and onion rings, and I kept getting thirstier and thirstier until finally one of the kitchen workers came out and asked if I was the one that ordered the milkshake. I said yes, and she went back to the kitchen. At long last, the milkshake appeared. Trust me, dear reader, it wasn’t worth the wait.
She Said: The person who took our order was friendly and helpful to us newbies, but the wait for the food was just too long, and the wait for the shake was even worse. The woman at the counter checked on us and realized the shake hadn’t been gotten, but someone else brought it to us, and apologized, so we’re not sure what happened there. Everyone was nice, of course, but the wait times were not acceptable to us.
What We Got and What We Paid: One Fatburger Meal with one Original Fatburger, Fatfries and a medium Diet Pepsi, plus one Fatburger Meal with a Turkeyburger Onion Rings, and a Chocolate Shake, all for $33.07 before tip.
Elapsed Time from Our Arrival to Food Arrival: We arrived at 12:20 p.m., and the people in front of us took awhile to order; our food arrived at 12:54 p.m. The shake did not arrive until 1:08 p.m., 48 minutes after our arrival.
Rating:
He Said: The food was not bad, except for the shake, but I can get a burger and onion rings at least this good at fast food places for a lot cheaper.
She Said: I won’t be going back, as it wasn’t worth the wait or the money. I can get food as good or better more cheaply and faster at a number of Conway eateries.
Is Fatburger & Buffalo’s Express good at what it’s good for? The short answer is probably not, if what you’re going for is a quick and inexpensive lunch. It’s not quick, and it’s not really inexpensive considering its competition.