Olhão (Faro), Portugal: Best Burger, So Far, in Olhão ... HOOAH!

Hamburgueria Toska

R. João Augusto Saias 2

8700-254 Olhão, Portugal

289 721 136

Toska.pt

Prices: €€€€

I have seen this little place for months, one block north of the Cube roundabout, and had heard the burgers were good, so I decided to give Toska a try.

The pretty, nice young server, Kelsey, waiting for me outside sounded like she was American, from California, like me, no less, but she was Portuguese and has never even been to the USA. Kelsey was very helpful, offering me something to drink while I decided what to order. Hmmm, so many choices.

I finally decided on the Xaringado (€7.50), a beef burger on a fresh bun with chili, bacon, grilled onions, gorgonzola sauce and lettuce, french fries included. I thought it was a 'chili burger', you know, with chili con carne, but it had little hot chillies on it, as in the piri-piri variety. The burger itself was good size, over 100 grams, and hand-formed, not a frozen patty, and it was delicious! The combination of the chillies, grilled onions, and gorgonzola sauce gave it a very unique and satisfying flavor. The accompanying bucket o' fries were hot and crispy and the Toska (garlic aioli) sauce was tasty, so I would not hesitate to order it again.

The only down side was that I had to sit at a high-top next to the menu, so it was a bit uncomfortable and everyone that walked by had to stop right next to me to see the menu. Otherwise, it was delightful and Kelsey just made it that much better.

For just €8.60, including a small bottle of sparkling water, it was a very good value. Therefore, ...

CombatCritic Gives Toska Hamburgueria 9 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

Nine Bombs Equates To:

Translation for Civilians: "U.S. Marine Response To A Verbal Greeting Or As An Expression Of Enthusiasm"

Read More Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp "GOLD" ELITE '14/'15/'16/'17/'18/'19/'20/'21 

• Over 1.4 Million Views A Year

Read Chris S.'s review of Toska Hamburgueria on Yelp

Tabelog - Official Judge - "Silver"

Zomato - #1 Ranked "VERIFIED" CONNOISSEUR (13) - Over  4 Million Review And Photo Views ... And Counting - #1 Reviewer in Portland, Oregon!

Booking.com - Frequent Traveler "Genius"

Google Maps - "Top Photographer" With Over 3 Million Views!

... And Don't Forget To Subscribe To TravelValue TV on YouTube and our sister channel, CombatCounselor Chronicles, with Over 1,250 Subscribers and 1,000,000 Video Views ... HOOAH!

Title: Olhão (Faro), Portugal: Best Burger, So Far, in Olhão ... HOOAH!

Key Words: Olhão, Faro, Portugal, burger, Hamburgueria Toska, Hamburgueria, Toska, hamburger, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, menu, business, review, Yelp, Zomato, TripAdvisor, Google, Facebook

Copyright 2021- 3rd Wave Media Group And CombatCritic ™ - All Rights Reserved

Anthem (Phoenix), AZ: WARNING: Eating Uncooked Or Undercooked Beef Can Be Hazardous To Your Health!

Tru Burger
39504 North Daisy Mountain Drive, #110
Anthem, AZ 85086
Phone number: (623) 465-5000
Website: https://geeconcepts.com/
Prices: $$$$

This should not take very long because I waited for a table longer than it took to leave after receiving my meal. If a place with "Burger" in their name cannot properly cook a medium-well hamburger, there is something terribly wrong.

I had high hopes when I found a burger place that serves grass-fed beef and it happened to be just down the street from where I was staying. The place was packed on a Friday night a bit after 6pm, another positive sign. Oh boy, was I in for a treat ... NOT!

When I saw that they had a house margarita for $5, I was even more enthused, but wait, things went downhill quickly after drinking about half of my margarita, which was pretty good by the way. I ordered a 1/2 pound Angus beef burger, medium-well, with sharp cheddar, lettuce, tomato, pickle, and herb mayo on a brioche bun ($9.95), adding bacon, sauteed onions, and avocado ($1 each). Fries do not come with their sandwiches or burgers, so I thought I would try a side of their Skinny Fries ($2.99) as well.

When my burger arrived, I was quite impressed, it looked delicious. The brioche bun was perfectly toasted, the burger patty thick, and the contents I ordered piled so high that I was wondering how I would shove it into my piehole. The first bite was pretty good, the burger was a little more pink on the edges than I expected for a medium-well burger, but I thought "what the hell" and took another couple bites. As I got closer to the center it was obvious that this burger was much closer to medium-rare or rare than medium-well, it was nearly raw in the middle. My stomach turned because there is a reason they put warnings on menus: "WARNING: Eating uncooked or undercooked beef can be hazardous to your health!". I do not give a shit what Gordon Ramsey says, I do not eat uncooked or undercooked beef, not until tonight at least.

The poor waitress came back and asked me how my meal was and when I showed her my uncooked/undercooked burger, she apologized profusely. She asked me if she could take it back and cook it longer, meaning "nuke-it", or if I wanted something else, but my this time I had lost my appetite and asked for the bill. The manager also came by to apologize and took the burger and fries ($15.94) off my bill, but they lost a customer by letting me walk out the door without so much as comping my margarita or offering me a free or 50% off meal the next time I came in.

I NEVER tell establishments when I visit that I am a food and travel writer with a popular website (80,000+ visitors a year) in addition to being Yelp GOLD Elite for 6 years running and a Zomato "Verified" Connoisseur. I, obviously, also have never accepted a single gratuity in exchange for a meal, hotel, play, or anything else I write reviews about because they have no idea who I am until I leave my card after paying the bill. If a place offers a free dessert, drink, or anything else because I am dissatisfied with my experience, I am more than happy to accept it because that is what good business owners and managers do, make amends to unhappy customers in hope that they will return again.

OK, this has gotten much longer than expected, so I shall stop here. Although, I also shall not return to Tru Burger and you might consider doing the same.

CombatCritic Gives Tru Burger 2 Bombs Out Of 10 ... Only Because The $5 Margarita Was Pretty Good And The Service Decent ... More Bombs Are Better!

Two Bombs Equates To:

Translation for Civilians: "Tits Up" 

Read More Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp "GOLD" ELITE '14/'15/'16/'17/'18/'19 

• Over 1.4 Million Views A Year

Read Chris S.'s review of Tru Burger on Yelp

Tabelog - Official Judge - "Silver"

Zomato - #1 Ranked "VERIFIED" CONNOISSEUR (13) - Over  4 Million Review And Photo Views ... And Counting - #1 Reviewer in Portland, Oregon!

Booking.com - Frequent Traveler "Genius"

Google Maps - "Top Photographer" With Over 3 Million Views!

... And Don't Forget To Subscribe To TravelValue TV on YouTube and our sister channel, CombatCounselor Chronicles, with Over 1,250 Subscribers and 1,000,000 Video Views ... HOOAH!

Title: Anthem (Phoenix), AZ: WARNING: Eating Uncooked Or Undercooked Beef Can Be Hazardous To Your Health!

Key Words: Anthem, Phoenix,

AZ, Tru Burger, tru, burger, TruBurger, hamburger, raw, undercooked, beef, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, menu, review, Yelp, Zomato

Copyright 2019/2020 - 3rd Wave Media Group And CombatCritic ™ - All Rights Reserved

Washougal, WA: 2 Rivers Left Me In A Father's Day River Of Tears

2 Rivers Bar and Grill
1700 Main Street, Ste 110
Washougal, WA 98671
Phone number: (360) 210-7987
Website: 2riversbar.com
Prices: $$$$

I received an extremely odd "welcome", if you can call it that, as I walked through the doors for the first time, having delayed my initial visit after reading their many mediocre reviews and allowing them time to work all the bugs out. As I stood in front of the huge bar, the man serving drinks, whom I will assume was the owner, asked me, "can I help you?", to which I replied with some amazement, "Yes, I would like to sit down and eat some food, please". Why else would somebody walk into a restaurant if it was not to sit down and eat a meal? What do I look like, a bible salesman? What a stupid question.

I ordered a pFriem IPA ($6), but was not asked if I wanted water, which I was desperate for after walking 18 holes of golf in the Father's Day sun. The IPA was decent, but $6 is a tad high if they hope to draw a crowd, especially early on a Sunday evening when they had just a smattering of customers. You can get similar IPAs around town for $4 to $5, so why should I spend an extra buck to come here?

I learned a couple days after my visit that the Father's Day Special was a "Prime New York Steak with peppercorn sauce, garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus", YUM!, but I did not see it advertised anywhere and they did not communicate the special to me, so I ordered a 1/2 pound Cheeseburger ($15) with bacon, grilled onions, and garlic aioli, also coming with a side of french fries. The burger was obviously not handmade in house, probably frozen, and the grilled onions and garlic aioli, if there were any at all, must have been wrapped up in the overly crispy folded-up clump of bacon they stuck on top of the burger (see photo). The "cheddar cheese" was apparently of the processed variety, white, very thin, and perfectly square and the burger was dry, even after putting some mayo on the bun. It was not very flavorful. With nary a garnish on the big white plate, the burger looked more like a slider (see photos) than a 1/2 pound burger.

BTW, I was repositioning the plate to take photos for my review when the owner blurted out across the room: "Do you want me to take it outside so you can get a better picture?". The other people at the bar laughed at me, as if it were funny, but I found the comment extremely rude, completely uncalled for, and very unprofessional. 

The space is nice, although sparsely decorated, but they should have kept the massive wood-fired pizza oven left by the previous occupants instead of replacing it with an overly large bar which dominates the large room. We needed a good mom and pop Italian restaurant with red and white checkered table clothes and chianti bottles with wax from recently departed candles dripping down the sides, not another modern, gastro/brew pub of which there are far too many in our area.

Based on the many other less than stellar reviews posted recently and my questionable Father's Day experience, it seems as though the owners have already given up. How can you expect a new business to thrive if you do not even bother to publish a website for months after opening and serve customers frozen burgers and fries, charging $15 for an inferior burger to the one I can get at the bar across the street for under $10. Here it is eight months after opening and they have still not even bothered to list a website on their Yelp page ... MEH!

I received a very negative and slanderous reply (as well as a similar DM) from "Derik", the alleged owner of 2 Rivers, after writing this review, so I thought it appropriate to update my review and downgrade my rating, which I have done. Derik called me a "vagrant" and "creepy", resorting to making up a story about me rather than take responsibility for their horrible customer service and rude behavior. He is a liar. Here is his public reply to my review:

Comment from Derik F. of 2 Rivers Bar and Grill 
Business Owner

6/23/2019  So this review made us finally get on Yelp on respond to people even though we know most people get on Yelp to complain or try to get something for free.

This guy walked in and we thought from his appearance he was  a transient we had to ask to leave weeks before.  He walked in started walking arond and looking very strange. It made many other customers uncomfortable. I asked how can I help you, and he blurted out I want to eat. He was advised he could take a seat anywhere he liked.  He sat at the bar and immediately people seated close by started to shuffle down. I asked if I could stay let him with anything to drink. He asked a couple questions about beer and decided on one.  He was given a menu and he looked it over and started doing weird things under the counter. Another customer pulled me aside and said he thought he was trying to take pictures of the female servers.  I immediately went back over to the bar and he put his phone away. I asked if he needed anything and he had a few questions and decided upon a burger.  He was checked on many times and continued to act strange. My goal at that point was to get him served and out of the location so he didn't continue to make my staff or customers feel uncomfortable.  His food came out and he pulled out his phone under the counter again.  I wanted to make sure he was aware we knew what he was doing, so I stated " we can take the food outside if you want better pics". He quickly put his phone away at that point and are his burger quickly.

When he was done I removed his plate and gave him his check.
He never made any attempt to clarify what he was taking pictures of and why he wanted pictures of the food or servers.

He paid his check and left some business card about being the "Combat Critic".  I remitting guy from stalking our Facebook page and being rude before we even opened.

Anyway, it gave a lot of people at the restaurant a good laugh when I shared that he thought he was some sort of world wide food critic/chef/ consumer crusader.

He is very awkward and not allowed in our location.

As far as food, he's trying to give a bad review because he was caught being a creeper taking pictures.   Be aware of this one.

I am a highly decorated retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and combat disabled veteran. I was wearing golf attire that day, golf shorts, a new, collared Under Armor shirt, and a pair of white Nike Air sneakers. If I looked like a vagrant, Derik must be used to Beverly Hill's vagrants. I take great pride in my military service as I do my integrity and honor. I resent being called a vagrant and have my character defamed by a whining business owner who cannot accept the truth ... 2 Rivers Bar and Grill's management is out of control and guilty of defamation of character.

They currently have a D+ Rating by the Better Business Bureau (BBB), which will like drop further after the BBB complaint I recently filed, and will soon have a civil lawsuit on their hands for publicly defaming my character, simply to make excuses for their terrible food and disgusting behavior.

CombatCritic Now Gives 2 Rivers Bar and Grill 1 Bomb Out Of 10 And A Spot On My "WALL OF SHAME" ... Go There, While You Still Can, And Be Insulted By The Owners ... More Bombs Are Better!

One Bomb Equates To:

Translation for Civilians: "Fucked Up Beyond All Repair"

Read More Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp "GOLD" ELITE '14/'15/'16/'17/'18/'19 

• 650,000+ Views A Year

Read Chris S.'s review of 2 Rivers Bar and Grill on Yelp

Tabelog - Official Judge - "Silver"

Zomato - #1 Ranked "VERIFIED" CONNOISSEUR (13) - Over  4 Million Review And Photo Views ... And Counting - #1 Reviewer in Portland, Oregon!

Booking.com - Frequent Traveler "Genius"

Google Maps - "Top Photographer" With Over 3 Million Views!

... And Don't Forget To Subscribe To TravelValue TV on YouTube and our sister channel, CombatCounselor Chronicles, with Over 1,250 Subscribers and 1,000,000 Video Views ... HOOAH!

Title: Washougal, WA: 2 Rivers Left Me In A Father's Day River Of Tears

Key Words: Washougal, WA, 2 Rivers Bar and Grill, Father's Day, 2, rivers, two, burger, steak, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, menu, Yelp, Zomato, TripAdvisor, Google, Facebook

Copyright 2019 - 3rd Wave Media Group And CombatCritic ™ - All Rights Reserved

Hilo, Hawaii: Hilo Burger Joint's Cooks Need A Remedial Class In Burger Cooking

Hilo Burger Joint
776 Kilauea Avenue
Hilo, HI 96720
Phone number (808) 935-8880
Website: hiloburgerjoint.com
Prices: $$$$

The building has obviously been there a long time, bright red, and it calls out ... "come eat a burger here", so we did.

It took forever to get my draft beer ($6 and the cheapest on the menu - several were $8) because the bartender forgot and had to be reminded by our server. It was cold and tasty nonetheless.

My wife ordered the Mushroom and Swiss Burger ($13) well-done and I the Chili Cheeseburger (also $13) medium-well, both coming with a side o' fries. My wife cannot eat rare meat, so of course her burger came blood rare. She took one bite and nearly hurled. Our server was very gracious when we showed him the bloody mess, apologizing profusely and asking the kitchen to cook another as specified. It finally arrived after 15 minutes and my wife gobbled it down, praising the end result as "very good". My chili burger was also pretty good, but it did not have nearly enough chili on it. A chili burger should either have chili oozing out all over your hands or be served open face and smothered with chili and cheese, but this one was neither. The fries were plentiful, however, hot, crispy, and tasty.

Chili Cheeseburger $13

The First Mushroom Swiss Burger $13

My Burger - My Wife's Was, As Gordon Ramsey Would Say, "A Bloody Mess"

A place with "Burger" in their name should know how to properly cook a hamburger, so they get dinged heavily for that shortcoming. They did make up for it a bit by comping my wife's burger, but the forgetful bartender also had a negative impact on my perception of the overall experience. Having paid a tad over $30 plus tip, it was a decent TravelValue considering Hawaiian prices, leaving me a bit perplexed. BTW, do not forget to Check In on Yelp to claim your 10% Discount ... HOOAH! In the end, ...

CombatCritic Gives Hilo Burger Joint 6 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

Six Bombs Equates To:

Translation for Civilians: "Good To Go"

Read More Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp "GOLD" ELITE '14/'15/'16/'17/'18/'19 

• 650,000+ Views A Year

Read Chris S.'s review of Hilo Burger Joint on Yelp

Tabelog - Official Judge - "Silver"

Zomato - #1 Ranked "VERIFIED" CONNOISSEUR (13) - Over  4 Million Review And Photo Views ... And Counting - #1 Reviewer in Portland, Oregon!

Booking.com - Frequent Traveler "Genius"

Google Maps - "Top Photographer" With Over 3 Million Views!

... And Don't Forget To Subscribe To TravelValue TV on YouTube and our sister channel, CombatCounselor Chronicles, with Over 1,250 Subscribers and 1,000,000 Video Views ... HOOAH!

Title: Hilo, Hawaii: Hilo Burger Joint's Cooks Need A Remedial Class In Burger Cooking

Key Words: Hilo, Hawaii, Hilo Burger Joint, burger, joint, hamburger, fries, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, menu, review, Yelp, Zomato, TripAdvisor, Google, Facebook

Copyright 2019 - 3rd Wave Media Group And CombatCritic ™ - All Rights Reserved