Mid-Michigan Dining

• 6524 W. Saginaw Hwy.
• Lansing, MI 48917
• (517) 886-7440
• Website
• Menu

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers in Delta Township

Why is the Wii so dang popular?  We spent all morning going from store to store looking for Mario Kart.  We were told a few days ago that because the dollar is so worthless right now, Nintendo is investing most it’s efforts in Japan where the yen is strong.  We went or called almost every store along Saginaw Highway that carries video games. Striking out at every one of them really worked up an appetite.  The original plan was to go to Art’s Pizza & Italian Oven for lunch, but when we got there, there was a sign in the window that said they were closed for the summer due to losing their liquor license and they’re searching for new owners.  What a bummer.  I had been wanting to eat there for a while and now that we had the chance, it was closed.

We didn’t really want to piss around looking for another place and neither of us have ever eaten at a Red Robin, so we headed back down Saginaw.  Red Robin sits in front of Kohls near Kroger.  The building is not hard to spot with a lot of red trim and a huge sign.  We got there just before the lunch rush so there weren’t a whole lot of people in side.  The first thing that jumps out when you walk in is the TV in the floor.  There was caution tape around it the day we were in there, so I’m not sure if it was new or if someone jumped on it and broke, but it was still funny to see a TV in the floor.  We were greated by a host who took us through the dining room to a booth near the back.  The set up of the store is really interesting and not like anything else I’ve ever seen.  When you first come in, to your left is a full bar with a small dining area.  The back wall of the bar is glass that looks into the dining room.  To the right is the kitchen and waitress station.  It has the feel of a lunch counter without the counter.  There’s a big stainless steel counter where the orders come up for the waitress.  There are a lot of booths.  They created half walls throughout the space to make more walspace for them.  Every third booth or so along this half wall is a double wide booth where this is no wall.  If you bring a big group, you won’t be forced to push tables together to get everyone in.  These large booths could easily seat eight.  The walls are covered with movie posters and other art work leaving very little of the faux wood panel showing.

Unlike our trip to Big Boy (review HERE), we knew ahead of time that Red Robin wasn’t fast food, but we didn’t really know what to think.  Before you get in, it still has the feel of a fast food chain and the commercials almost portray it as such.  In reality, it’s sort of a high-end cross between a family restaurant and the chain fast food places.  The menu is dominated by the “gourmet burges,” but they also have salads, soups, wraps, and a handful of entrees.

I didn’t know where to start.  There was a huge variety of burgers and all of them sounded good.  I ended up going with the Bleu Ribbon Burger without the mayo or onion straws.  Looking at the picture, this thing would be huge with the onions.  What I got was a fairly good size burger topped with bleu cheese, a steak sauce, tomato and lettuce.  I ended up pulling the tomato and lettuce off the burger as well so I could really taste the burger.  I really love how bleu cheese tastes on burgers and this was no exception.  I didn’t see the steak sauce on the menu, but it was tangy and added another layer of flavor.  My only complaint was the onion bun, but again, that was my fault for not looking carefully at the menu.  The good thing was that it wasn’t really onion-y and the flavor of the bleu cheese drowned it out.  All the burgers come with bottomless steak fries.  Our waitress came over and asked if we needed more, but we were both stuffed after the burger and the fries that came in the basket, so we declined. 

My girlfriend ordered the Whiskey River BBQ Chicken burger.  I thought maybe this would be a ground chicken burger, but it’s really a chicken breast smothered in Whiskey River BBQ sauce topped with cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion straws and mayo.  She opted to leave the tomato and mayo off, but unlike me, she got the onion straws.  Like me, she’s not a huge onion fan, but she really liked these.  They were thin enough that they cooked through, so there was no raw onion taste like you sometimes get with onion rings.  Her sandwich was huge and was hard to hang on to.  The BBQ sauce made everything slick and the bun was sliding around the sandwich. 

Again, our bill seemed a little high for lunch.  Before tip it was just under $25, but we were both stuffed just with what we got served in our basket and they offer bottomless steak fries, so you really have no excuse to leave Red Robin hungry.  Overall, it was an enjoyable experience for a chain restaurant.  The food was pretty unique and tasty.  Last time my parents were in town, my dad asked about it.  Next time, we’ll be able to take him.