Today was a rainy day in St. Louis, so I decided we needed to go out to lunch someplace with a big parking lot where we could park near the door. About a month ago we had visited our former next door neighbors and drove by the AMC Theaters at Olive and Lindbergh. I had noticed an interesting new eatery in that plaza (no, not the Panda Express), some place called "Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers". So since today was my pick that seemed like a fast, convenient place to visit on a cool, rainy September Day.
We arrived there around 11:30 and were able to grab a parking spot quite near the front door. Most of the parking was on the eastern side of the building or closer to the theaters so we were lucky to get a spot so close. The building is pretty large and was designed with a high ceiling and a sizable dining area. You order up front at a counter, and then grab your drinks, condiments and napkins and pick a table or booth. My son and I both selected the Double Steakburger California Style Combo, my wife ordered the plain steakburger with fries, and my mother-in-law ordered the grilled cheese and a vanilla milkshake.
After I selected a drink, I also had to retrieve some fry sauce, both the original and the jalapeno version. They have two large dispensers where you can serve yourself a generous dollop of thhe sauce to eat with your fries. As we sat down my son noticed the USB charging ports mounted in the walls by the booth. That was a nice touch for people to charge their phones there after sitting two hours in a nearby movie. We thought the place would probably be packed in the evening after the movies.
Our food was announced after several minutes and we picked it all up at the counter. Each meal is served on paper in a basket with a rather massive mound of thin fries. As expected the steakburgers were similar to Steak'n'Shake although Freddy's does not have nearly as many menu options. The steakburgers are a greasy mess to eat and it was difficult to keep it together, but it was definitely tasty. The onion was just a regular white onion whereas we would have preferred a red onion, but otherwise the topping were pretty fresh tasting and not soggy. My son and I both tried both of the fry sauces, and we both definitely preferred the Jalapeno version, which is actually not spicy hot at all, but it does have a lot more flavor than the regular version. The fries stayed crisp and were quite excellent dipped in that Jalapeno sauce. I even dipped my burger into sometimes. That is a good dipping sauce!
It is nice having table side service at a Steak'n'Shake but the workers at Freddy's were also very responsive, asking us how everything was and taking away our empty dishes after we were done. Plus we were able to get up whenever we wished to get more drinks or more Jalapeno fry sauce (yes, I had to get more!) My mother-in-law did not say much about her grilled cheese sandwich but she really liked her shake, saying it was the best one she had ever had (she says that a lot these days.) We all thought the food was pretty greasy but very tasty, and Freddy's does seem to fill a niche for a fast, more casual eatery in that movie plaza which will probably appeal to a wide crowd. There is nothing fancy about the food, but what they serve is well priced, generously portioned, prepared quickly and quite flavorful. Plus you can get all the Jalapeno fry sauce you want. I would definitely come again, and I may have to try their Chocolate Brownie Delight Concrete.
Steakburgers, Service, Atmosphere
Jalapeno Fry Sauce
Need to know about the concretes!
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