Delivery
No -
Payment
Credit Cards Accepted
Parking
Parking Lot
Good for Kids
Yes
Attire
Casual
Alcohol
Yes - Full Bar
Reservations
No
Strip mall Burger/Mexican/Bar.
02/14/2024 - MenuPix User
08/15/2013 - RPRCody
I found Fred’s Texas North just down the street from the hotel I was staying at while on business in the North Fort Worth area. Walking into the high ceilinged strip mall space, the decor strikes you as the typical Texas Burger/Barbecue interior – lots of beer neon, corrugated tin, and “we’re Texas” proudly displayed everywhere. There is a bar area straight ahead where the waitresses seem to hang out; a few seating areas to the right, and the main dining area to the left. I chose the latter, and following the directions of the “seat yourself” sign as I entered, picked a table and sat by the large glass front windows.
The waitress arrived immediately, and asked if I wanted something to drink. She easily recited the draft beer selection, mentioning the (3-6 pm) happy hour specials, as well as the “all day” Coors Original $2.50 schooner. When I asked if they had dark beer, specifically porters or stouts, she named two, neither of which were a porter or a stout. I settled on the $2.50 Coors and looked over the menu. Specializing in burgers, steaks, some Tex-Mex fare and several daily blackboard specials, I went for a burger. The a la carte ¼ pound burger or cheeseburger is on the menu for $5.00 and $5.25 respectively, but all the other burgers are ½ pounders, and the price goes up more than accordingly. These burgers start at $8.50 for a “Fredburger” with fries; $9.25 for the same, with cheese. All the other “Specialty” burgers, which come with hand cut fries, start at $11.25, and go up to $13.50. If you want to add “crispy bacon and cheese” to your fries, it cost an incredible $6.25 extra! My waitress returned with the beer in short order. It was served ice cold in a large, frosty glass – perfect. And with that I placed my order. I chose the $11.50 Serrano Burger (noted as spicy on the menu!), and described as “A Fredburger stuffed with diced Serranos topped with oaxaca cheese, grilled onions & more grilled Serranos, & served with pickles, lettuce, tomato”. I figured for the price, this must be about the about the best burger I have ever had……Sadly, I was wrong.
The burger arrived in record time, perhaps four minutes at the most (I must say there were only about fifteen patrons total, and I could see the cook standing around waiting for my order). Even so, it was fast. The burger presents well upon arrival. It had a large patty and a nice warm bun; nicely overflowing with toppings. The Oaxaca cheese perfectly melted. The fries looked great, and most of them were. While many were piping hot out of the fryer, about a third of them were kind of cold; appearing as if they had been lying around in the basket. Even so, they were quite good. They are cut at a medium thickness with the skin on the tips - nice. Then for the burger – first and foremost – it is spicy! The grilled Serrano chilies are about an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10, and I take the heat pretty well. I would recommend a glass of milk or some fat based drink to go along with this burger to remove the heat, as it tends to linger with this one. I have no complaints at all with the other toppings; the cheese was thick and flavorful; the onions grilled nicely translucent; and the lettuce and tomatoes were both fresh. The bun was warm and toasted. My disappointment lies in the patty itself – the star of any burger performance. While it looked hand formed, it was under seasoned and seemed overly pressed and dense. It took a moment, and a second glance at the menu, to realize they had grilled Serrano chilies and mixed them into the meat. These did not seem like the same vibrant chilies fused into the cheese. Although they were much milder, they came across oddly when you chew. At first I thought they were the extreme, tough, dense upper ends of some green onion stalks mixed in. Their chewy texture reminded me of some of paper, much as if a straw wrapper had gotten mixed in there. It really distracted from the burger in my opinion.
The twenty-something waitress stopped by an appropriate amount of times, but then again she spent most of my meal hanging out and flirting with a couple of young guys two tables away. Her behavior was nothing over the top, though, and that was probably to my benefit.
So to sum it up, Beer – Excellent; Fries – Hot ones – excellent, cold ones – eh, not so much; Burger – what can I say? I really wanted to love it, but I didn’t. A+ on the toppings, C on the patty. It was good, but not great. For the price, not a good deal at all. Would I come back? Probably not. I would be glad to give the food another chance, but for the very high price, the overall walkaway feeling of the meal was nowhere near worth the price. There are too many other food choices with burgers as good – or better – and far more reasonably priced, nearby. Sorry Fred.
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