No longer in Business
A good burger starts with a patty that has been hand pressed just enough to hold together. At Line Drive Burgers in Lake Mary they know this and do it well.
If you're from one of those places where they think cricket is a game instead of bait, or that football is played with a round ball, the name might not tell you that at this burger shop, baseball is the game. Inside, though, it's obvious from the wall decor and especially the menu. The burgers come in five sizes - the single, the double, the triple, the Grand Slam and the Ty Cobb. Keeping up with the theme, dogs and brats are available and even Cracker Jack, though I didn't see any popcorn. Or beer.
I ordered a single and was invited to fill my cup and have a seat until my name was called for the fixin's. When my burger was done, they slid it onto a warm roll and added my usual lettuce, onions ("fresh or grilled, sir?") with spicy mustard, and handed me the basket and my bag of taters.
"Fretatas" are thick, crinkle cut potato chips served in a paper bag and crunchy enough to be heard across the room. They are flavorful, despite being unseasoned, and are not greasy. I even enjoyed the leftovers at dinner.
There are only six tables and the four toppers will only seat four close friends, and business was brisk enough that I expect it to outgrow the place before long. The owners cultivate a community involvement flavor by donating 5% of sales to charities (a different one each week) and by inviting artists to show their stuff on several chalkboards around the walls.
My only downside was that the water for the soda fountain seemed to need more filtering than it was getting. Not a good flavor.
Single burger, Fretata and large drink cost about $9, more than I usually spend for lunch but I'll do it again.
I'm from Ohio and was down here for business. I love a good burger and when I saw this place I decided to swing in and place an order. I got a double w/chz and a small bag of fries. The burger was very tasty and full of flavor. I really enjoyed it. The fries were a little over-cooked but still decent. I want to say that I read some of the negative comments on Urbanspoon and was surprised that someone would "wish" this place out of business. Amazing! Hey "cm" if you don't like it - let them know and go someplace else. You don't wish them out of business. "cm" also commented that the owner hung over them (yep, I would agree here - he did that while I was in there as well - but from what I could tell he really is passionate and looking for feedback). "cm" also said that the burger was terrible. I have a question: how many times have you eaten at McDonald's? And then gone back for more? Want to talk about "bad"? That's bad. You said that the bun was "stale" - nope, it's the style of bun (homemade roll style - and it's very good). Anyway, back to my comments on Line Drive...I agree with others that the prices are a little high - I think that a good double cheeseburger, fries and drink should be closer to $7.00 - I paid nearly $11 for mine. While I was in there a family came in to order and the mother asked if they served chicken nuggets for kids. The owner said "No, but we have hotdogs." As a parent I think that carrying chicken nuggets for kids would be a pretty good idea. Mine would have wanted that as well. Also, there was another gentleman sitting there who commented on the lack of atmosphere - again, I agree with him(but one could argue about what kind of atmosphere is there in any fast food chain?) but nonetheless if the owner would add a couple of flat screen TV's and get DirecTV so he can play the MLB Network and some other baseball games to fit the theme of the place - that would be great. Overall, I would say that this place has a lot of potential and the burger is much better than most. Next time I'm down I hope to be able to stop in again and see the improvements.
ReplyDeleteGood points, Anon. As far as atmosphere goes, it's pretty typical for a neighborhood burger joint with more of a theme than most. If I'm not mistaken, playing the games on TV would probably require payments to MLB at some point and most of his business is takeout.
ReplyDeleteHey anonymous...I know what a stale bun is, mine was. It's not the style of roll, it was stale. And you agreed with most of my points as to why this place was subpar. If you don't like my comment that I'd prefer something good would open in it's place then I apologize that a comment I made about wishing this place would close upset you, but it doesn't change the fact that I gave this place a chance and it was just awful. Went with a friend and we both agreed.
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