Restaurant Review - Carl's Drive in - St. Louis, MO

One of the more enjoyable restaurants that my wife and I have been to is Carl's Drive In in St. Louis, MO. Carl's is well known for serving up burgers and fries in the area. There are many reasons why we enjoy eating at Carl's Drive In.

Eating at Carl's Drive In is a unique experience to say the least. Looking at the restaurant from the outside you think to yourself that there is no way there could be enough room inside to have a restaurant. But when you walk in the door you will be amazed at what you see. No, there is not a lot of room, but picture this...There are a half dozen bar stools on each side of the grill so you see exactly what is going on. There are no menus handed out, only the one mounted on the wall. (Not that you need a menu at Carl's anyway.) In the middle of the cooking area sits a wooden barrel of home-made root beer!

Getting to Carl's during a busy lunch or dinner time will make it impossible to get a stool to sit down at the table, but if you are fortunate enough to get one you are in for a real treat. Luckily, we got there at 2:00, which was after the lunch crowd. We both ordered cheeseburgers which come with fries and had to get 2 root beers.

Watching the cook make your order, along with many others is fascinating to watch. It is not often that you get to see everything going on right in front of you. The cooks are amazing to watch as they have basically perfected their skill in making burgers.

The root beer at Carl's Drive In is something you simply have to taste for yourself. If you are a big A&W root beer fan then imagine taking that a step further. That is how good their root beer tastes. Not to mention that it is ice cold and served in a frozen mug.

In a very quick amount of time our order was served. Carl's is not known for their serving utensils. In fact, our order was served up on paper plates. But when you take a bite out of their burger you won't care what it is served on! The hamburger is a thin patty that has very crisp edges. Sort of like Steak & Shake, but so much better.

The french fries are of the shoe-string variety and were excellent as well. Carl's also includes other menu items such as hot dogs, grilled sandwiches and even tamales, but their most popular item by far are there burgers.

Pros:

Excellent food
Low prices
Friendly service

Cons:

No parking to speak of
Very crowded
No seating for more than a dozen people

The bottom line? While Carl's Drive In has its limitations as far as seating goes, make no mistake about it, if you want the best hamburger and coldest root beer you have to eat at Carl's. Hands down it is the best tasting burger I've had the opportunity of eating.