96th Street Steakburgers

Most of you from the Indy's North side who are reading this might already be aware of the local phenomenon that is 96th Street Steakburgers.  For those of you who are not I will tell you that it's one of those new kinds of restaurants that tries to be a fast food restaurant with a stripped down menu serving a higher quality product than you get at a big chain.  I've heard lots of things about it including comparisons to Five Guys and In And Out on the West coast.  I decided this last weekend to try it out myself.

The first thing you notice when you pull up is the design of the building.  It's small with not a lot of seating on the inside.  It screams old school hamburger stand to me kind of the way Rally's does, but with the twist of letting you eat there if you wish.  In that same vein is the menu.  You have burgers, fries, shakes, sodas and that is about it.  You can customize your burger with toppings (some include an upcharge) but you're not going to find a salad or a fish sandwich here.  It's all about doing a few things and doing them well.

I decided to go with the triple cheeseburger combo including fries and a medium soda for a about $7.50.  The burgers are the smashed style with crispy edges which usually isn't my preferred kind, but this were fresh and juicy and quite delicious.  I decided to forgo the lettuce and tomato on my burger and keep the pickles and special sauce.  While the meat of the burger was tasty I was a little disappointed that I couldn't really taste the sauce at all on my burger.  Next time I might forgo the triple and just get a double so the meat flavor isn't as overwhelming. I would also add some additional toppings like grilled onions to liven things up a bit.  The bun was toasted but still soft which I appreciated also.  I would say the fries were good, but not exceptional.  They had a nice crispiness, but since they were done in a smaller shoe string style I thought they were a little harder to dip in my ketchup and eat.  I did not have a shake.  They had several signs up about how acclaimed their milkshakes were so I might have to try one on a revisit.

Taste: 8.5/10  Overall I thought this was pretty darn good.  It makes me happy to know also that this is a local place with 3 locations, but all within the Indy area.  I think it's a better burger and fries than you'll get at almost any big fast food chain.  I would still rank them a shade behind Five Guys in the taste of both their burgers and fries.  I've never had In and Out of which 96th Street is allegedly a copy so I can't do a comparison there.

Value:  9/10  This is where 96th Street beats Five Guys in my opinion.  If I go into Five Guys I can't walk out of there with a burger, fries and a Coke for under 10 bucks mostly due to the fact that they don't have a serving of fries for a single person.  I like the idea of the combo meals at 96th Street where I can get everything I want for under 8 bucks.  It may not be quite as tasty, but it's close and you can go there by yourself without needing someone to split the fries with you.