Jan 23, 2009
By: Kevin Buchanan
Pegasus News has the confirmation. And I appreciate the tip of the hat to us for breaking the story on Wednesday (thanks to commenter “Insano” for the tip). So, there you go – Jake’s Hamburgers is confirmed to be headed to Sundance Square.
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In an earlier message,I stated that the loss of Chili’s was bad, but there were other resturants in the wings waiting to get into the Sundance Square Area and this spells it out.
As I said before… Jake’s RAWKS! A LOT better than Chili’s!!!!
Most things do rock better than Chili’s.
With all the hype surrounding Jake’s last week, I decided to try it out for myself.
I happened to be in Dallas over the weekend, and I had the chance to check out both the Lake Highlands and the Uptown locations.
I know everyone’s got different standards when it comes to judging hamburgers — but let me say that I’m certainly no amateur. I’ve had the pleasure of eating at dozens of nationally recognized burger joints around the country. Thick or thin, healthy or greasy, traditional or tricked-out — I can appreciate them all.
I had high hopes for Jake’s, but unfortunately, this place doesn’t seem to be about the burger. It’s about the atmosphere and the bar.
I would assume that the new Jake’s in Fort Worth would follow the Uptown Dallas model — an upbeat atmosphere where it’s fun to have a drink, watch the game, and socialize. (The original location in Lake Highlands is cramped and dingy, in a rough part of town.)
We honestly didn’t notice anyone actually eating at the Uptown location. That’s probably a good thing because this was one of the lousiest meals I’ve ever experienced.
The Jake’s Special (thin patty, double-meat) was about the quality of a Dairy Queen burger, and that’s probably being too generous. It was pretty soggy and full of gristle. It had a poppy seed bun and Thousand Island dressing that gave it a little flavor — but the special sauce certainly wasn’t enough to salvage this meal.
We also tried the Veggie Burger (black bean patty) with even worse results. It tasted very rubbery — like the cooks just microwaved a frozen patty that they’d bought from the grocery store. It was so bad, that it was left only half-eaten on the tray.
The french fries (both traditional and sweet potato) also tasted like the frozen variety. Nothing special.
I wish I could say that at least this was a good value — but it was around $20 for the meal (with two soft drinks). You can eat at most of our local hamburger joints around Fort Worth for roughly the same price and get a far superior burger and fries.
Kincaid’s, Dutch’s, Lili’s, Fred’s (heck, even Tommy’s, the M&O Station Grill, Charlie’s, or the Love Shack) have nothing to worry about in a burger showdown with Jake’s.
For thin burgers, I wish Fort Worth could persuade Southlake’s Johnny B’s to open a second location here. And if we’re just importing Dallas-area chains, a Snuffers or a Scotty P’s would have been nice (Pat Snuffer has indicated that they’ve been scouting Fort Worth and hope to have “a reasonable possibility [for a location] later this year”.)
Normally, I’ll eat at a place a few times before passing judgment — but Jake’s left us feeling too disgusted to ever return.
Walked down the Jamba Juice this morning and saw that Chili’s totally gone, signage and everything. Didn’t realize they were leaving so soon.