Goodfriend Beer Garden and Burger House doesn’t start serving food until 5 p.m. Before then, you can order something at Good-2-Go next door and bring them back to Goodfriend so you can drink a beer with your tacos. That’s not a bad idea, and I already had decided on a $6 Ommegang draft when I found out they don’t serve lunch, but I already had my little heart set on a burger. Tacos just weren’t going to do it for me, and besides, the line at the taco place was like 10 people deep, even at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
So I set out on Garland Road, all hungry, and turned left into the Casa Linda shopping center, thinking, there’s got to be something meaty here, and there is. Fat Daddy’s. Every time I see the sign for Fat Daddy’s, I think, “Gee, that’s a terrible name for a restaurant.” You shouldn’t put “fat” in the name of your restaurant. We don’t want to be reminded.
Anyway, Fat Daddy’s, which also has a location in the ‘burbs, offers counter service. I ordered the half-pound burger with pepper jack cheese ($6.99), which comes with fries. I also ordered chips and salsa ($2.99) just to see if their salsa is any good, and it is, although the chips were stale. And I ordered “a beer.” There’s only one kind of beer at Fat Daddy’s, and it’s Bud Light on draft. I’m not that picky, and I just wanted a beer for my salty food, so I ordered it. I figured it must be a pretty cheap beer because my total was only $10-something, and I’m not a mathematician. Then I saw the sign announcing free beer. Free beer! That’s my favorite price to pay for beer. I wanted to order another one and watch the rest of the Rangers game after I finished eating, but I’m too shy to ask for a second free beer. That’s the only problem, in my opinion, with free beer. Guilt.
The burger was pretty good, well seasoned, although I wasn’t crazy about the bread, which was barely substantial enough to handle the juicy meat. The burgers come plain, and you can add fixin’s from the toppings bar. The guys at the table next to me ordered onion rings and tater tots with their burgers, and they looked much better than these fries.
Fat Daddy’s has a video-game arcade and big TVs. It is either a place to take your kids, or a place to never take your kids because they will want to go there all the dang time, I’m not sure. Either way, free beer.
