We are on the search for the best burger in Topeka. Here is how we rate the burger joints that we will review. First we put heavy emphasis on where the joint is headquartered, Local (Topeka) will garner an automatic 10 bonus points. Kansas owned chhttp://www.2tourtopeka.net/2015/02/horizons0153.htmlains (headquartered in Lawrence, Wichita, etc) an automatic 5 bonus points and National chains (those headquartered outside the state) will garner an automatic 0 bonus points. The ten categories that we will use in our search for the best burger in Topeka will be 1.Burger Patties Quality, 2. Bun Quality, 3. Customer Service, 4. Garnish Quality, 5. Fries Quality, 6. Atmosphere, 7. Order Accuracy, 8. Cleanliness (Restrooms, Dinning area, Entrance, etc), 9. Building Accessibility and 10. Price. All categories will earn a score between 1 and 10, with 10 being the highest and 1 being the poorest.
It has been seven months since our last burger review. Recently, we asked on our Facebook and Twitter pages for your suggestions of where we should go next. We listened and had a hard time deciding on which of the excellent suggestions to go to next. We ended up, deciding on Horizon's, a classic in the cities Oakland neighborhood. Owners, former professional boxers, Derrick and Damon Reed also own Reed's Lakeside Bar and Grill (29th and Croco) as well as Reed's Ringside Bar and Grill (just north of Topeka) incidentally, their family is no stranger to the Topeka burger community, they are cousins of the Mentzer family, who owns
The Pad, in North Topeka.
Bonus Points: 10
1.
Burger Patties Quality: 8
Our burgers were nice and juicy, with a hint of tenderized meat seasoning. No overcooked burger here. The only thing to make the burger taste better would have been Coca-Cola™ rather then Pepsi™.
2.
Bun Quality:10
Toasted bun, but not overly toasted. The bun was soft and fresh tasting.
3.
Customer Service: 8
Very friendly. Attentive to detail, taking our order accurately. Biggest concern came while we were eating. The ice cream freezer, is kept in the dinning room, rather the kitchen area and was next to the table we were eating at. The employee, retrieving ice cream for another customer, decided she had to put her butt in our face to get ice cream out to make a shake.
4.
Garnish Quality: 10
The garnish was fresh and complemented the burger very nicely.
5.
Fries Quality: 9
The fries was nice crispy and warm crinkle cut fries. They however, were obviously, frozen french fries and had the same taste as the fries I prepare myself at home.
6.
Atmosphere: 9
The atmosphere is somewhere between a fast food place and a casual family diner. A TV in the corner droned with some sports talk program, which would be fine for someone interested in sports, but for us that aren't sports fans, CNN™ or Fox News™ would be better.
7.
Order Accuracy: 10
The burgers were prepared exactly as the wife and I had asked. I ordered mine with ketchup only. The wife ordered hers with mayonnaise, ketchup and pickle only.
8.
Cleanliness (Restrooms, Dinning area, Entrance, etc): 7
The entrance and dining area seemed well kept and clean. We didn't use or check the restrooms on this visit. Our biggest concern was the entrance mat was picked up and thrown in a wad on a bench for customers waiting for to go orders.
9.
Building Accessibility: 7
The front doors were accessible. However, the issue was the parking lot. There was only one handicapped stall, but was not accessible from the first drive we entered. Instead we had to turn around, exit the parking lot, re-entering the street, turning into the second drive that was signed drive thru, to access the one handicapped stall. Since the parking lot is divided the way it is, it would be better if a handicapped stall was on either side of the sidewalk median.
10.
Price: 8
Pricing was pretty much in line with other places. Though, the drinks were probably the most overpriced item. We paid a total of $14.66.
the Horizon burger $3.29 each (we ordered 2)
Large fries $2.99 (we ordered one)
small soda $1.95 each (we ordered two)
The biggest issue in this area, was that they had a problem with the credit card machine, that resulted in my debit card having a hold for $14.66 placed on it not once, but three times. So cash would be the best option to prevent this. Much like we had to do when we visited The Prize Package.
