Great Austin Burger Hunt - Short Stop

Short Stop 12
3811 North IH 35

Sometimes, the exterior and the food don't match. Such was the case with Hill-Berts (link). Unfortunately, such was not the case with Short Stop.

I used to frequent Short Stop when I worked at Dell, not all that often, but quite a few times over the ten years I worked there. I thought I would give it a try and present the results to whoever may be reading these pages.

I ordered the standard double burger, my usual way, no pickles, onions or tomatoes. They do live up to their name, and the burger arrived quickly, with my order of fries. Opening a short stop is not for the faint of stomach. It didn't look good. The bun was nearly squished flat. Also, I am trying to figure out how they managed to wilt the lettuce before they put in on the burger, because I unwrapped it less than ten seconds after they handed it out to me, and the lettuce was already wilted. It was not a brilliant start.

But, my first bite raised the bar a bit. The meat was well cooked, and had a bit of crunch from being cooked on a flat top grill. A couple of more bites were enjoyed, but then I had to look for the cheese, which I couldn't taste. Well, the cheese was there, but it really wasn't doing much for the burger. This is the problem with American Processed Cheese. It is almost cheese in name only.

The burger was filling, but it was not something I enjoyed all that much. The fries were somewhat limp, but they were tasty, and they tossed some salt packets in the bag without me needing to ask for them, so thumbs up to Short Stop for that.

It the search for a quick and relatively cheap meal, Short Stop might make my list. In the search for Austin's Best Burger....it is at the bottom of the list so far.