First Post! Review of Buster's on 28th

Hello! The purpose of this blog is to record our restaurant experiences and to serve as a guide for people looking for a restaurant at the last minute. Let us explain further: we are not very good at planning ahead. So, at some point during almost every week, we are frantically looking for a restaurant, usually ten minutes before we want to leave the house. Although this system has its flaws, it has led us to some pretty darn good meals (and also some not so good ones). Hopefully this blog will also remind us of what we liked and disliked, what we ordered and wished we ordered, and most importantly, keep us from ordering the extra side of onion rings.

Which leads us to our first review: Busters on 28th.

As the name suggests, Busters is on 28th Avenue South in Minneapolis near Lake Hiawatha. We've dined at Buster's on at least three occasions over the last year. It's a quaint neighborhood restaurant that combines a sports bar feel (several plasma tv's) without the typical boring sports bar food. It is fairly small, usually packed, and always has fast, friendly service. It also has a long list of draught and bottled beer far beyond what you would find at a typical sports bar.

So, on to the review. It was a Tuesday night, but as usual the place was busy. We waited for about ten minutes to get a table. The table next to the door was open as usual but it is easily the worst table in the place, if not the world. If you go to Buster's and decide to take that table, be forwarned: you will get elbowed in the face, and a fat guy's belly might brush against your cheek several times during your meal.

Food. Tim ordered the Buster Burger (medium) with bacon and swiss cheese and substituted onion rings for the fries. Kristin had the Grilled Brie Sandwich with asparagus, roasted onions, sun dried tomatoes. The sandwich came with french fries. Tim had the beer of the week, which was some Scottish draught; Kristin had a Corona with a lime.

Review. Tim's burger was well done, not medium. The burger is served on a kaiser roll, which is fine, but the grease from the burger soaks through the bottom half of the bun, making it essentially non-existent. Other than that, the burger was pretty good. The onion rings looked much better than they actually tasted. The sauce that came with them was very bland - we're pretty sure it was watered down ranch dressing. Tim thought a lot about the onion rings, and decided that the problem was that they are dipped in too heavy of a batter, which eliminates the onion taste and makes it seem like one is eating a ball of fried batter. Don't get us wrong - these are much better than the frozen onion rings you'll find at other places (5-8 Club anyone?), but they still aren't up to par.

Being a vegetarian, Kristin has ordered her fair share of grilled cheese from sports bars. It was nice to get a break from the typical cheddar or American cheese on Texas toast. That being said, the sandwich probably could have done without the asparagus. It added an unusual crunch to the sandwich and didn't seem to belong with the other ingredients. Kristin loves brie cheese, so she was extremely intrigued by the sandwich. However, it seemed a little wrong to have brie cheese warmed to such a temperature. It ended up leaving a bit of a coating and funny aftertaste in the mouth. It was a good sandwich, but Kristin will probably try a different entree the next time we go back. The fries, however, are a different story. One might say that it is worth it to go there solely for the delicious fresh cut french fries. They give you a generous portion but Kristin was still able to finish her entire portion! The only related complaint is that they hand out your ketchup in pre-portioned little cups (being a ketchup fiend, it is a little annoying to ask for more). Same with napkins - we suggest asking for extras!

The total came to about $32, which isn't too bad for two meals and drinks. We'll go back, but will try something else.

http://www.busterson28th.com/