Right off the bat: You need to know that there is going to be a wait. They are only doing drive-thru right now, and the drive-thru line is long. The line snakes out of the parking lot and down the street, at least two blocks into the nearby residential neighborhood. Think about the longest line that you've waited in for food. Now triple that. If we're talking about numbers, I waited 3 hours and 25 minutes, from start to finish, on a Wednesday. I got there right when they opened, at 10 a.m.
So you need to ask yourself: Are you prepared to wait three to four hours, in your car, for burgers and fries? Because if you're not, then you're not going to like your experience. But if you are willing to wait, then you will be rewarded with one of the best burgers in Indy.
Honestly, I visited California Burger and got in this absurdly long line for one big reason: I'm from Southern California, and the burgers that I saw on California Burger's Instagram looked like they might taste like the burgers at In-N-Out. They also had a lot of items on their menu that looked like what I would see at Yellow Basket, another one of my favorite greasy SoCal fast-food chain restaurants, such as pastrami sandwiches and pastrami chili fries. If there was a chance that I could taste something like In-N-Out or Yellow Basket in Indianapolis, then I had to get in line.
The verdict is: California Burger definitely has the best fast-food burger that I've tasted in Indiana. I ordered the Avocado Burger, and the bun was lightly toasted (it was soft, but just toasted and slightly crunchy around the edges), the beef was perfectly cooked and juicy, the cheese was melted completely, the lettuce, red onion, avocado and tomato was fresh and just enough, and the best part for me is that it wasn't super tall! I was able to actually take a bite of it and eat it in my car. It came wrapped in a burger diaper, like In-N-Out does their burgers, so you can definitely eat the burger while you're driving. I could sense a whisper of In-N-Out and Yellow Basket in my Avocado Burger. It was definitely the closest that I've had to anything tasting like something from one of those places since I've been in Indy.
I got my husband the California Melt, which is apparently one of their most popular burgers. He loved it, too.
I also got a large order of fries and onion rings, and the onion rings came with a side of ranch dressing. The fries were perfect: crinkle cut fries that are crispy when you bite into them, but nicely mealy as you chew. If I had to offer a suggestion, the onion rings could have been a little greasier. They tasted really good, though! I would get them again.
If I could offer another suggestion, I feel like California Burger needs to pare down their menu quite a bit. I think this would help with the wait, too, because people wouldn't have so many options, and the kitchen could focus on churning out a thoughtfully curated menu. On the menu, there is everything from burgers to burritos to taquitos to fried shrimp to mozzarella sticks. Then there's an ice cream menu that includes shakes, Blizzard-type treats, sundaes, banana splits, different types of ice creams ... I could go on. Just look at my photo of the menu. Sometimes a lot of options are great, but in this case, because they cook everything to order, I think that their broad menu is contributing to their slow service.
They just opened at the beginning of January 2021, so I'm hoping things like the slow service and extremely long wait gets worked out, because I really love California Burger's food and I want to go back! I'll just have to wait until the crowd dies down so that it doesn't take me half a work day to get my food. read more