Rochelle Y.’s Review

The Experience

We were passing through Davis on our way back from Sacramento, looking for a quick bite to eat and limited on time, so we chose someplace with an easy off/easy on to the freeway: In N Out Burger at the corner of Olive Drive and Richards Boulevard. We had to enter through the gas station parking lot next door, which was not ideal, but it was doable.

Being as we went through the drive-thru, I can’t vouch for the inside ambience of the place; however, the outside appearance was quite nice, with a clean, tucked-away look, lushly landscaped and reflecting a city rule to have drive-thrus as unobtrusive as possible. It was early in the lunch hour, so when we arrived there were only 2 cars ahead of us in line and only the second window was open (taking both money and giving food), but while we waited the first window opened to take money.

Menu options are limited, but it helped make ordering easy and quick. Also, the person taking the order paid attention, which helped move things along. Equally important to me today was the cost of our food - I had a $10 bill in my wallet, and was tickled I could use it instead of having to use a debit or credit card. Once we got to the food window it took slightly longer than I thought it would to get our food, considering the lack of cars in the parking lot; however, even with a longer wait we were on our way in less than 5 minutes – in and out, as the restaurant’s name implied we would be.

The Burger

We ordered two of the three burgers offered on the menu: the Cheeseburger, and the Hamburger. Both were large enough so that we could share them with our kids and still have enough to fill us up, since we also had fries, but not so big that a single burger would replace our meals for a day. Except for the cheese, they were exactly the same – single patty, lettuce, tomato and "spread", which looked and tasted like a thousand island dressing.

Since we were eating in the car, we received paper place mats for our laps and our burgers and fries in an open-topped cardboard box. Only the bottom half of the burgers were wrapped, to enable immediate picking up and eating, but they were wrapped well, which was a plus since they were a little drippy (as I found out when I tore the Hamburger apart for my kids to share). The patties were fairly thin and perfectly round and looked as if they were going to be cardboard disk in texture, but were actually juicy and quite flavorful, although I would have been happier with a slightly thicker patty. The bun was lightly grilled, and the lettuce and tomato firm and fresh-tasting. The "spread" paired well with the grease in the meat, and along with the lettuce, tomato and the cheese on the Cheeseburger, made for a tasty burger. Unexpected bonus: the drippiness of the burger tasted great as a topping for the fries!

Overall, we had a great burger experience here: quick, tasty, and within budget.

Bottom Line

Average rating:

4.63/5