J&R Saloon. Potential?

I got in a car wreck.

It. Sucked! Never fear. I am finally feeling like a normal human being and I'm able to walk from one side of the room to the other without my knees informing me that they hate me and my burger-eating guts.

The upside? My partner-in-crime and I discovered a new burger joint, J.R.'s Saloon in South County.

I found the first rival I've ever seen for Concord's Burger. So let's see how it shapes up.

Well, I wandered into this little dive, wondering if it was going to be awesome, or if the reason I hadn't noticed it in 28 years of being in the area was because it wasn't worth it.

How the Burger Stands Alone:

When I wandered in, I took note that the only people in the place were myself, my compatriot, and an old man at the bar. Granted, one look at the place said, "This is a Friday night bar," and I was walking in at eleven thirty on a Tuesday. So I sat. I took a look at the menu (clearly it was a menu created for a bar. Meager, but satisfactory. We had about 6 burgers to choose from. The Cajun burger looked pretty promising to me. It came with cheese, a variety of spices, and thousand island dressing. Sounded pretty good.

When it came - this is what it looked like.

And it smelled divine. When I tasted it, the thing that struck me was how perfectly the spices were in the burger. It had a zingy, charbroiled flavor that you look for in a home-cooked burger. It was, I am not ashamed to say, the most perfect Simple Burger I have ever tasted. The cheese complimented it. They did forget the Thousand Island dressing (which turned out to be a good thing). The bun was nice and crispy, but also a touch burned.

I will say this: I think that their recipe for the burger has great potential. The taste was impeccable, and for a burger without any trimmings, it was exactly the taste I want in any burger. I will say...the prep could have stood a little more TLC. I'll touch on that in a bit. There weren't many options (I've been over this before - options, options, options are great. But in a bar, I don't expect it). I will give the burger a 9/10, only docking the score for the fact that the burger was a bit too crispy, as was the bun. It boots O'Connells on flavor for a simple burger.

And unfortunately, this is where we head downhill.

How the Sides Add Up:
The fries were...fries. They were thick, and filled me up like they're supposed to. Not crispy enough, and nothing was done to them to make them interesting or stand out. They were far from bad, they were just...normal fries. 5/10. The tea though...I ordered tea. I was in a bar. I may have been better off ordering a jack and coke. Because the tea was easily the worst tea I've ever had. It was grainy. How do you make grainy tea? It tasted less like the flavor of a tea leaf, and more like the dirt the tea leaves rise out of. Bleh. BLEH. 1/10 on the tea. I am assuming they use it as a drink mixer. My bad. Poor ordering.

I'll give the sides a 4/10 because despite the awful tea, I just don't count tea for that much in a bar.

How the Service Stacks:
It was ok. There were only 3 people in the bar, a bartender and a cook. The bartender was friendly enough, eventually. I don't honestly think they had really woken up yet. I was disappointed that with only our orders in the kitchen, I still received over-cooked food and a burned bun. The waitress was chatty and polite, and didn't invade on our conversation until she knew that it was alright to do so. My burger even came out without all the toppings on it. When I pointed it out, I received a so-cold-it was gelled side of Thousand Island. Maybe it's just me, but if your only paying customers ask why the only thing your cook made that morning wasn't done right, fixing it by not fixing it at all doesn't seem like a great plan.

3/10.

Atmospheric Conditions:

Honestly, had it not been Tuesday at lunchtime, I'm fairly sure the place would be awesome! Pinball machines, pool tables, a very well laid-out bar, and more. It would probably be rocking on a Friday or Saturday night. I'll stop in at some point, but I'm going to grant the place an  8/10 on the assumption, and I'll be going back soon for a Friday night to see! (Even on a Tuesday, the amount of cool stuff and mellow music made for a 7/10. It was clean, too.)

So, the overall awesome meter. They scored a 6/10 when you average it all out. I have to say, I'm really disappointed in the score. They had a lot of potential with that burger. I feel like my highschool teachers. "WHY did you get a B? You could have gotten an A!"

Put some more love in the mix, J&R. You have a great burger, a great place, in a great location. Give it the attention it deserves.