Mid-Michigan Dining

• 5140 Times Square Place
• Okemos, MI 48864
• (517) 853-8714
• Website
• Menu

Culver's of Okemos on Times Square Place near Wal-Mart

I was looking at my stats today and noticed there were a ton of hits for a post I put up last week about $1 butter burgers at Culver’s.  I should have looked at that post.  I thought it was tomorrow, but I got an e-mail from J who was excited about those $1 burgers…..and it was today!  I scrapped dinner plans and went to pick J up from work.  Last year, we waited in line for $1 burgers at Culver’s in Morton, IL and it was totally worth it. 

In the restaurant business, you’re always told it’s location, location, location.  Culver’s of Okemos couldn’t have done a worse job with that.  I can’t figure out why they would put a restaurant where they did.  It’s down a dark road and there’s nothing around it.  We had a helluva time finding it.  It wasn’t in J’s GPS.  She finally called 411 to get the address, but I had just seen a sign for it near Wal-Mart.  So we drive back by the Wal-Mart and I almost miss it.  There is no sign outside and the building isn’t lit very well.  This store is in a really weird location and we had a tough time finding it.

When we finally did get inside, I was surprised that there wasn’t a line out the door.  I don’t know if it wasn’t advertised really well or what, but it looked like a regular night at Culver’s.  After a short wait, J went up to the counter to place our order.  When we lived in Morton, the Culver’s was within walking distance from our apartment, so we ate there too much.  As far as fast food burgers go, Culver’s is by far the best.  Since burgers were $1, there was a limit of five, so J ordered one with cheese for herself and four plain ones for me.  The dollar burgers were just plain butterburgers.  The cheese I think was a quarter extra.

On top of the burgers, she also ordered Dairyland Cheese Curds.  These little nuggets of cheese are battered, deep fried, and served with a side of ranch.  I didn’t realize it at first, but they put both cheddar and mozzerella in every order.  We used to eat at a bar in Peoria, IL called Kouri’s that specialized in deep fried cheese cubes.  We’d go there every so often just for the cheese.  These cheese curds are reminiscent of Kouri’s, but nowhere near as good.  J was nice enough to share with me since the order was more than she wanted.

Unlike most fast food places, you take a seat while waiting for your order.  They give you one of those little plastic numbers to put on the table then your food is brought out to you.  It took about ten minutes for our order to come up and we both dove in.  It was much later than we’re used to eating and we were both starving.  I ate three of the one dollar butter burgers and brought one home.  J had her cheeseburger and half the cheese curds.  Culver’s burgers are the best in the business when it comes to fast food.  They’re not greasy and the butter on the bun just adds a depth of flavor that no one else can touch.  In the overall scheme of things, Culver’s burger would rate below the worst restaurant burger, but as far as fast food goes, there’s no place else I would rather go for a quick meal.

On the way out, we had to get some frozen custard.  The custard was the reason we used to be frequent customer’s of Culver’s.  We were both pretty full so we got short Peanut Butter Cup Concrete Mixer’s to go.  The Concrete Mixer is Culver’s version of a DQ Blizzard.  The custard is just so much better than ice cream. 

The total for our meal and custard was about sixteen dollars, but we got five burgers, cheese curds, two concrete mixers, and a Diet Coke.  That’s a lot of food for under $20.  Like I’ve said throughout this review, Culver’s is not your average fast food.  It’s too bad the only location in the Greater Lansing area is in such a out of the way place.