I was teetering between a 3 or 4 and ultimately decided on a generous 4, but it still saddens me to…read morehave anything other than a raving review to share about a new business. I believe Snackalish is a small business, but given their location (inside a university) I also believe they have a lot of potential. To start, this appeared to be a grand opening or something like that since they've only been open since October. The restaurant was busy, but similar to a peak rush hour traffic, and nothing excessive. My boyfriend and I both got the X - Everything Burger combo, which is a beef burger with ham, mozzarella cheese, bacon, egg, mayo, tomato, corn, lettuce, shoestring potatoes, served on a toasted sesame bun. The combo also comes with standard fries and a drink. After we paid the cashier asked us if it was okay that it was about a 30 minute wait. I thought this was interesting timing given we had just paid. Of course we were okay to wait, but what other choice would you really have. If wait times are expected to be longer than usual maybe that's something you want to warn customers prior to payment. I would like to add that she was very sweet and apologized for the wait when we said that was fine. The dining area has a good amount of seating and we were able to easily snag a high top.
The staff overall seemed stretched very thin. I only observed the cashier and two cooks in the back, who also doubled as servers bringing out people's food. Due to the shortage of staff restocking of napkins and straws fell short and I had to request for their refills, which they did so promptly when notified.
We waited an hour to get our food. We ordered at 7:04pm, and did not get our food until 8:05pm. Theoretically, this place closes at 8pm, but as we waited the place just got more packed. There were still people ordering when we finally got our food, so we didn't find it inappropriate to stay and eat our meal.
After waiting an hour for our food, I'm disappointed to report it was just okay. Everything from the burger to fries were lukewarm at best. This was frustrating as we expected after an hour wait that our food would be fresh. However, it's more likely the burger and fries had been sitting there for some time to have cooled to this point. Another indication of this was that some fries were extremely soggy from soaking up the excess liquid from the burger. Some fries were a bit overcooked while others were a bit undercooked. It appears the fries came from two separate batches. I did enjoy that they were seasoned with salt and pepper. I thought the toppings on the burger were fun. Almost like a breakfast type burger with the corn twist. However, the burger tasted like something I could have easily made at home. It was quite dry and needed additional sauce. There was the tiniest bit of bacon and shoe string potatoes on the burger. I liked that the lettuce and tomatoes were very fresh. The garlic aioli side sauce was very tasty and easily my favorite part. The presentation was messy and things were falling off the burger so it required a bit of reassembly. They also served us both combo portions in one box, which made eating everything more difficult without making a mess.
Overall, I think Snackalish has a lot of room for improvement. I'd like to believe that on a more standard day they execute their dishes better. They have a lot of unique and fun Brazilian sides, which I always appreciate something new and different. I think in terms of value they score very highly. A Everything Burger combo is only $13.95, which I think is very good. The students at Rocky Mountain will definitely appreciate their fair prices. However, in order for them to succeed they need to handle their customer traffic better. They were poorly organized and ill prepared to serve the traffic they had coming. The dining room was busy, but I wouldn't say they were at max capacity. I imagine lunch time will induce a big influx during school hours, so they need better planning.
I definitely wouldn't be opposed to trying Snackalish again!
