We have driven from one end of Westerville to the other, to shop and to eat, having seen the name of this restaurant many times. But, we didn't know that the name was more expository than I could have imagined.
But, today would change that.
On our way from my wife's PT at the northern edge of Westerville toward the freeway and home, we talked about where we could eat in route. After looking to Yelp as our guide, an unfamiliar but inviting restaurant popped up - SmashBurger.
Away from the big mall department stores in the back of this Westerville shopping area and tucked into the front strip mall area on State St. is Smashburger.
Although it was mid-afternoon the place was not very busy.
From the entrance, we wrapped around the inside wall, while viewing enticingly delicious posters of the food choices until we arrived to where we could order our food.
We told Lindsay that this was our first time here and she warmly welcomed us and explained the menu and the ordering process.
My eyes were attracted immediately to their big burgers as she told us how they prepared their burgers to order, specialized in delicious SmashFries, although these only bear the name of the restaurant, rather than actually being smashed, she told us these aromatic, tasty fries have a light drizzle of their own mix of oregano, garlic and olive oil.
Then my eyes caught the giant pictures of their milkshakes, made with Häagen-Dazs ice cream. Well, with that bit of information, we were ready to order.
Lindsay told us, since this was our first time here, we could have free fountain drinks and would not need to clear our own table after we'd eaten. I still opted for the Vanilla Häagen-Dazs milkshake with a side soda, and we both ordered a Double-Smashburger with bacon and the oregano fries.
We were guided to a table and without much wait, our food was brought out from the kitchen; piping hot, but my eyes were glued to the creamy, whip-cream topped milkshake.
I decided to delay the desire to forge ahead into the milkshake in favor of the sandwich and fries.
The double-bacon Smashburger was delicious; crunchy edges with delicious, juice meat on the inside. The condiments I ordered were all present and in the correct, manageable proportions.
The fries were crispy and as advertised, aromatic, tempting, and flavorful.
Finally, I was able to dive into my milkshake. Not only is this ice cream one of the more delicious brands, but they served all of my milk shake to me. In other words, they didn't just pour the blended milkshake into a glass, but they brought any of the milkshake that was left in the mixing container to me so that I could enjoy the full Häagen-Dazs experience. I can't remember anyplace where that has been done before.
Not only was Lindsay attentive to us as we ate, but she went out of her way to treat us as special customers.
I was wearing a big, ugly, but necessary floppy hat that helped cover my face while being treated by my dermatologist for cancerous lesions she found. I briefly asked Lindsay if we could be seated in a area with less brilliant lighting and explained that I have to apply a topical chemotherapy cream to my face, which makes my face extremely sensitive to the sun's rays and I have to be careful of any harsh, intense indoor lighting, to include the lit screens from my tablet and phone.
There were only a handful of people still eating on the far side of the room when our food was brought to us, we noticed that Lindsay, without saying a word to either of us, walked over to the window screen that was up and allowed the full sun to shine through on us, and lowered the window screen to block the rays from hitting me fully.
After doing so, she started to walk back to her work station and I stopped her and thanked her for helping me and increasing my comfort while eating.
Not only was the food different and unique, but Smashburger restaurant, specifically Lindsay, went above and beyond the normal needs of customers. They cared!
I spoke to the kitchen Chef, John, who told me how he and his crew come in very early to prep the food, to cook all their food to order. The meat is never from frozen patties, but very lean Black Angus beef which allows them to provide their signature thin Smashburger style of preparing their sandwiches. Then the beef is woven between two, lightly buttered toasted buns. The oregano and olive oil for their fries is prepared in-house as well.
All-in-all, this was a 5-star dining experience, not just because the food was delicious, but because they treated us as VIP's and made our initial time here so rewarding.
We will spread the word about Smashburger in Westerville and we will most definitely be back. read more