Just opened in March, The Standard is a quaint little burger join in the heart of the Vestavia City Center. Located across from Planet Fitness and beside Davenport's Pizza, they share a fun common area with Taco Mama and Paneras. There's plenty of tables outside with artificial tuff and kids toys for entertainment. There's also comfortable indoor seating if you want to keep away from the outside heat or cold. The tables are bare so you have to head to the cleanup kiosk by the entrance to get your napkins, cutlery, cups of ketchup and packets of mustard. In another corner is a large upright cooler that houses the bottled water and canned drinks. Finally there's a large counter to place and pick up your order with a large viewable kitchen directly behind.
The Standard is owned by a Korean couple, Young Shin and Kookie Kim. This the second Standard with the first being in the Pizitz Food Hall downtown across from the McWane Center. They make their beef fresh from scratch every morning and want to be "honest" with their food.
Being newly open, the dining room is immaculate. There are not many decorations on the walls as two walls of their dining room are clear glass which makes the dining room look much bigger and brighter. Their menu is the definition of simplicity. 3 categories: Under Burger & Sandwiches they have: Cheeseburger, Black Bean Veggie Burger, Double Bacon Cheeseburger, Patty Melt, Fried Bologna, Pilly Cheesesteak & Chicken sandwich. Under Hot Dogs: Birmingham Dog, Grilled Cheese & Plain Dog. Under Add-Ons: Fried Egg, Bacon, Smashed Avocado, Pickled Jalapenos, Grilled Onions, Sauerkraut, etc.
Paul and Linh both got a Cheeseburger. It looks Yuge and must've been good because they both finished it. Matthew got the Patty melt. It was also big with 2 burger patties mashed together between 2 buttered slices of bread, pimento cheese and onions. Tammy tried the Philly cheesesteak. The slices of meat were smoothered with white american cheese, grilled onions and drizzled with garlic aoli. It was pretty good. I tried their Chicken sandwich. My piece of chicken was Yuge! It was nicely breaded and fried. It's nice when the chicken is larger than the buns which were buttered and lightly toasted. With the mayo and pickles, it was one of the better chicken sandwiches I've eaten. Finally we all shared a large order of their tater tots. I love tater tots and these were hot out of the fryer Yom Yom good!
A prickly afterthought was the fact they add a 3.5% non-cash fee. So if you're paying with anything other than cash, you will be billed an additional 3.5%. So for my total of $34.50, my fee was $1.21. No big deal. So if you're planning a date night, stop by The Standard for a quick bite then walk ove to the AMC for a nice movie. Welcome to Vestavia, Standard. read more