Bear with me here. I’m a couple of entries behind and I’m trying to catch up so if all goes well there will be a couple more entries on Eat Out over the next few days.
I was on my way up to Young Harris last Thursday. I got a very early start and finished the work I had to do at a jobsite between Greensboro and Eatonton fairly early and was debating where to stop for lunch. It was too early to stop in Greensboro…Holcomb’s BBQ wasn’t open yet. I was tempted to stop by The Varsity or some other restaurant in Athens but really wanted to get on up the road a piece and I didn’t find anything interesting in Commerce. As I was driving along, following the directions the lady in my GPS was giving me, I began to realize that I was going to come out on Highway 75 at the Indian mound with the gazebo on top just south Helen. I also realized that I was going to come out just three or four miles north of Yonah Burger, a local hamburger joint that’s been around seemingly forever. With that in mind I hung a left on Hwy 75 and in just a few minutes I was pulling into Yonah Burger parking lot.
OK, so I don’t review national chains but Yonah Burger is a local chain with two locations, one on Highway 75 between Cleveland and Helen and one on Thompson Bridge Road in Gainesville. Yonah Burger is open for breakfast as well as lunch and dinner. Breakfast items include biscuit/meat combinations and meat/egg combinations. Lunch/Supper menu items include hamburgers, chicken sandwichs, BBQ sandwichs, grilled cheese and sides. The restaurant has an outside take-out counter, a small dining room and some covered outside seating. To say its ‘unassuming’ is a bit of an understatement but some of the best meals I’ve ever had have come from little unassuming places rather than fancy restaurants.
On to the food… I ordered a double cheeseburger combo…a double cheeseburger, fries and a fountain drink. The double cheeseburger was not only double meat but double cheese so they scored some extra points there. The burger patties were thick and even though they were well done, were nice and juicy. The fries, on the other hand, were typical frozen ‘crinkle cut’ fries that many restaurants use (think Zaxby’s) and sprinkled with seasoned salt (again, think Zaxby’s).
So how did Yonah Burger rank on the Thumbs Scale? I gave them a solid thumb and a half on the burger alone. They lost half a thumb on the fries. Lose the frozen fries and seasoned salt and add some fresh cut fries and regular salt and that half thumb would come roaring back. Remember folks, this is my opinion…your mileage may vary.