Saturday, July 19, 2008

Gimme them old-time burger stands - Uvalde Malt N Burger



1046 Uvalde Rd., just north of I-10 East

Just a word about this place which I have only visited once. I had heard raves for years, claims that this place was better than Someburger in the Heights, had awesome burgers, onion rings, malts, etc., and finally had a chance to check it out, but my visit was not very satisfactory. Still, it fits in this category of old-time burger stands and I’ll include it because I’m willing to concede my visit may not have been typical. It’s way across town from me, in a direction I seldom have reason to go, so I probably won’t be back to check it out again any time soon.

I arrived on a very chilly day. As has been noted by others on-line, it can be easy to miss. Perhaps this is due in part to the fact I was expecting something like an old drug store fountain type place instead of a drive-in. It’s kind of hidden right next to a Sonic but I think if you first approached it on Uvalde from the north, it’d be easy to spot.

The place seems to do mostly take-out; at least it did when I was there. I placed my order and sat outside at a concrete picnic table, shivering, while watching others come and go and waiting what seemed like an unreasonably long time. I had already had a lunch a couple of hours before with a relative in the Crosby-Highlands area and wasn’t very hungry but I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity while in that part of the county and had ordered just a single meat cheeseburger with onion rings and fries. At this sort of place, I find I usually need to go for a double meat burger.

Finally I was waved to the window and went to pick up my order and returned to the table to eat. The burger was room temperature, the onion rings and fries likewise. It was not an impressive meal at all and I left very disappointed and confused - why all the raves?

I came to the conclusion later that my order had been held back for someone to pick up and they had forgotten there was a customer sitting right outside waiting. That’s the only explanation I can think of for my very disappointing experience vs. the raves by others, so I include it here as a caveat.

Not only that, I forgot to order a malt, which is supposed to be something else the place does well.

It just wasn’t a good day, burger-wise, for me.

3 comments:

John said...

This place was always famous for its onion rings--rumor was they used malt in the batter. I know a lot of people who go by this place every time they're near that stretch of I-10 through Channelview. I haven't been in a long time, but I do remember the o. rings being pretty damned good!

Anonymous said...

I heard they found a dead body under the picnic bench. i also heard the O-Rings were to die for! also the lady who took my order spoke to me in what i can only assume was gibberish. it was some kind of guttural panting and gestures like on that move "Quest for Fire".

Anonymous said...

Ate there today and had a very good buger. Had not been there for years, but today was worth the wait. The burger was nice and hot, just like a fresh cooked burger should be. Can't wait to go back.