Plan B Burger Bar - West Hartford

This Plan B Burger is plan

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Hamburger, Tenders

Other than my server there would be no reason to ever return

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 3

Service: 5

Slow service. Too many unavailable menu options

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 2

Really sloppy execution on a basic burger order. Rotten lettuce, excessively giant red onion slices, bun unremarkable. Meat itself was fine though nothing special, tomato slices fine. Fries undercooked. Bacon on the burger rock hard and inedible, had to be pulled off. The kind of meal that comes out when the kitchen doesn't care. Save your money.

Food: 2

Nothing was good.I used to like this place
Nothings like it used to be. Very sad.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

How do u mess up a burger and fries? This place managed to. Then when I brought it to their attention I was greeted with attitude and disrespectful energy. When I told the unprofessional server that I wanna see a manager she stomped off with out another word. The manager came forward with a worst attitude then his server and decided he rather argue than fix his restaurants mistake and made it like I’m the one who is wrong. Now I know who trained the server to act like the way she did. Super unprofessional and now I see why they are closing down. They don’t know how to treat customers their food matches their attitudes. Trash!

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

I usually enjoy this place and their food, but when I went in to dine at the bar last night at 7 or 8 pm, I was told they could not serve me food. Their kitchen was closed to real, in-person customers so they can cook for DoorDash and other delivery orders. I just had to leave this review hoping someone will read this and change that policy.

I walked in, as a local, ready to eat a full meal with one or more cocktails and tip the staff 20% minimum. My server would have had several opportunities to upsell me with add-ons or premium beverages. But the management that day decided that the online orders, which offer significantly lower margins and no opportunity for servers to upsell or to earn tips, were to be everyone's priority. As a result, I took my $30 plus tip to a different local restaurant, and next time I'm craving a burger, I will not come to Plan B.

I truly hope management will read this and consider prioritizing customers who want to eat in person, as they can make the restaurant and individual staff more money while they are dealing with their staffing issues. It will be a long while before I try this place again.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

My initial thoughts: Great atmosphere, good service, OK burgers.
My wife and I were looking for the best burger in Connecticut on our way back to Boston with some time to kill, so we took a detour to Plan B since it was top rated. The restaurant itself was stunning with its decor, modern music playing, and unique menu and options.
From start to finish our visit was over 75 minutes, and we didn't go crazy: a few cocktails, 1 appetizer, and 2 burgers. There was one waitress and a bartender when we arrived, with about 4 other tables having patrons. Certainly was puzzled at the speed of service. ?
For beverages I ordered a beer and my wife got the gimlit (vodka, like & simple syrup) along with the fried pickles, which we both agreed we're probably our favorites to date with such light breading and chip like texture, feeling like they were baked or air fried. It was puzzling that we had to ask for ranch because everywhere else we'd ever gone it was an accompanyment.
When the burgers came out, the El Diablo on a pretzel bun with coleslaw for me and the 3 Shrooms on pretzel bun and truffle Parmesan fries for my wife, this is where our experience started to go South.?

▫️First, the brought a plate of the fish tacos that we didn't even order.
▫️Second, they only brought my wife Parmesan fries, not truffle Parmesan tots that she requested. Given we are already 45 minutes into our visit, we stuck with them.
⚠️Third, and the main sticking point and reason we came: the burgers. The pretzel buns were kinda chewy with crisp parts on the edges. And the burger patties: bland and unexciting. Being from the Midwest with our smash burgers and Lucy's perhaps I'm spoiled, but a giant 1/2 lb patty with lots of decoration with a plain slab of hamburger meat really disappointed us. My wife barely ate half hers (and getting a burger was her idea) and I left some as well - both uncharacteristic of us.
▫️Fourth, the slaw had NO flavor, and being a BIG slaw fan I was pretty disheartened.

At the end of the meal getting the check, dealing with having the fish tacos we didn't order removed, and then paying was a 10+ minute process. Our waitress was friendly and courteous, don't get me wrong, but it felt they could have used more staff to help.
Being one of the top burger places in Connecticut, and award winning at that, some 15 years ago, I'd challenge Plan B to step outside of the box and try to reinvent themselves to take their burgers to the next level, because while the restaurant itself is unique, at the heart of their 3 B's the main one fell flat for us.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 3

Service: 4

Ordered a El Diablo burger and there are missing ingredients inside. This is not the first time that it happened. Majority of the time, takeout quality is not good.

Food: 3

Service: 4

Ive ordered from here about 4 times now and have come to the conclusion nothing good comes from this store.

The food all 4 times was consistently bad, the fries old and undercooked, they dont follow instructions on delivery orders that they offer options for (like mayo on the side) and the food quality is some of the worst ive had delivered. I thought it was a fluke a few times and wanted to try a few different items so I kept trying (given the positive reviews).

Yesterday is where i draw the line. The kitchen is aggregiously bad at what they are doing and have no business cooking any food for anyone. Yesterday my wifes burger had lettuce on it so old it should have been thrown out last week. What kind of person puts BLACK, ROTTING lettuce on a sandwich and thinks thats ok? Ive worked in many restaraunts in my life and wow, i would be fired on the spot for something so aggregious. Have some standards to what you are charging your customers. We work for our money and choose to spend it on a place that cant even avoid putting fully black wilted rotting lettuce on a sandwich. Just unbelievably amateurish and sloppy. Again, HAVE SOME DAMN STANDARDS.

The bacon on my burger was so hard on the edges it nearly chipped a tooth. I had to spit out gobs of food as it was hard as a rock. The middle surprisingly, undercooked and still raw. I dont even know how you do this. Its almost like they tried to mess up our order as much as possible and make it as inedible as possible.

The fries every time we have ordered are so horrible they are not eaten. Its really hard to screw up a french fry but somehow this place does it on every order. They are either completely undercooked or taste like they were cooked 3 hours ago. Not once has any french fry from this place even resembled what should be served to a customer.

I really dont get how a kitchen can be in operation with such basic elementary mistakes on orders.

Not to mention they dont follow any special instructions such as Mayo on the side. Why give folks the option if you are not going to follow it?

Thats the last draw. This place clearly has some issues with food quality that need addressed.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 1

Service: 1

Plan Bs tend to have have great food served in a restaurant with great atmosphere, this West Haven location has one of the best atmospheres of the chain, and their Blue Cheese burger was excellent as usual.

Dietary restrictions: Order the burger on the grass to avoid bread/gluten.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Hamburger

I was visiting from NC and had lunch with a friend at Plan b Burgers. We felt welcome as soon as we walked in. Christine greeted us with the warmest smile. Tyler was our server and was there for all of our needs. We returned the next night and Jessica was great. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was warm and welcoming! Highly recommend and will return the next time we’re in town.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great gluten-free food! Wish there was one closer to where I live.

Dietary restrictions: Gluten-free items!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Tenders, Chicken Tenders

I waited almost 10 minutes to be seen to place an order to go. Finally placed my order specifically asked for gluten free Mac and cheese with the gf pasta. Waited another 25 minutes for my order walked out looked at the receipt that was attached to the bag with the food realizing it had no note for gf pasta on it, I asked the server she then tried to reassure me it was. I asked her to please check with the kitchen to then find out they no longer offer gf pasta. With all that being said the order was for my 8 year old who has celiac disease I almost let her eat it. Glad I went with my first instinct to double check. The server’s should know the importance of gluten free not to mention then she was super rude as if it was my fault. I will not be returning.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Unfortunately service was not so good the last time we visited it was actually our first time visiting this location, sadly it took over 10 minutes for someone to service as we first walked in mind you it was not busy at all in side. will try to avoid returning back to this location

Service: 2