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Giant Drive In
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Alcohol:
- None
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"My absolute favorite place to eat! Every month has a different themed special from another country. Check the website for the current…" read more »
12 reviews for Giant Drive In
The fries are the ONLY thing keeping this from being a 5 star must visit ASAP in PDX. The burger patties are made special for big burger by S&P meats. The burgers are cooked on the flat top and not grilled... to me this is the best way to cook a burger. The fat from the beef cookes out and 'confits' the burger when the burgers are finished with a lid it creates a steamed burger that blows away any grilled burger. This burger is everything 5 Guys Burger and Fries wants to be....
If Giant would put a little pride into the fries this would be top notch burger joint, if you are in the area and appreciate a quality piece of beef check it out...
I was hung over and required grease.
A bacon cheeseburger from the Giant seemed like a natural choice to make me feel better.
Au contraire.
The burger I got left me feeling infinitely crappier than I felt to begin with, which is saying a lot. The buns straight up tasted like sweet cakes or something, a la McDonald's McGriddle cakes. The patties were meager and flavorless, and the bacon... well... at least it was bacon.
I really don't see the appeal of this place. I mean I understand that Lake Oswego is a fairly small town and all and its probably slim pickins, but c'mon. The proprietor is somewhat douchey unless you're a regular, and I sure as hell wouldn't wanna be a regular after observing their unfortunate looking clientele.
The Hubs & I trekked on over to Giant to get our burger on. this is the tale of how it all went down.
Arrived at Giant Burger, ordered burgers, received burgers in a very timely manner, ate burgers, discussed burgers, swapped burgers, ate some more, forced down some fries, came home. It's all over but the Yelping.
I ordered the Avocado Burger. 1/4lb burger with the usual lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, cheese........ add bacon & guacamole. The guacamole was a bit on the sour side & there was A LOT of it. Basically the only things I tasted were bun, guacamole, & onion. The burger was completely lost. As was the cheddar cheese (that I had requested in place of the Swiss)
The hubs, a straight shooter when it comes to his burgers, played it smart. He went with the Double Cheeseburger. Again, all the fixins as above, only he ordered minus onion. OK, so much better. I was actually able to taste the burger........ & it wasn't bad.
Cooked on the flat top to order, so it gets to you hot & juicy. The fixins are fresh & plentiful...... in the case of my burger, too plentiful..... but hey, some of you might like it like that.
Now, onto the disappointment that was the french fries. All I have to say to the people of this burger joint is this: "Leave the damn fries in the fryer until they are cooked!". The fries were soggy & criminally undercooked. Something I can overlook if the Hubs should take me back to this place, as he really enjoyed it. That's understandable, his burger was way better than mine. I'm willing to do this because there are two possible fixes to the fry issue.... 1) ask the cooks to make them extra crispy, or 2) be content with the burger that's the size of my head, & save some room for ice cream by skipping the french fries all together.
It's not often you find yourself within lunchtime driving distance of one of the top 100 burger joints as ordained by the book Hamburger America which was written by someone with way too much time of their hands. But you cannot ignore Best Burger write ups in the Oregonian and other local bird cage liners. I didn't know all this until I walked into Giant and noticed the man behind the counter was used to getting his order from people quicker than I was offering, but I was studying the menu. So, when I said I was new to his establishment he hard sold me on his street cred, and won me over with his "old guys in the balcony on the Muppet Show" charm.
The menu really isn't as limited as I was lead to believe, there are many variations of burger up there, not to mention hot dogs, corn dogs and variations of french fries. I decided on the Terikyaki Burger and a small order of Cajun Fries, and a diet Pepsi so as to stick to my diet. :-) Good thing I had cash being a Giant Rookie because this place doesn't take checks or cards at all. I cannot help but wonder how much business that costs him?
I sat down in the booth and took stock that this place was really small. Maybe 8 booths and a couple of chairs and tables from a 50's Malt Shop (previous owner?) strewn about. But the place was hopping. I looked around and saw that this was listed as the official lunch stop for UPS Drivers, and sure enough, there was a UPS driver eating across from me. The thought that came to me is with all the room in his lot why doesn't he invest in some outdoor seating area? Well, I guess you could sit in the car and open the windows.
It didn't take long for my food to arrive. Paper lined plastic baskets held my burger and another my fries. The burger was sitting in teriyaki juice and my first thought was, "This is going to be messy" Damned if I wasn't right! The fries were cooked to near perfection, they were your typical large cut fries but they were cooked right, not a limp one in the basket. The seasoning was a nice touch, not too spicy but you knew it was there. I ate the burger as daintily as I could, sauce dripping everywhere, single layer napkins tearing at the slightest touch and not a Wet-Nap in sight. However, it was a good burger.
I have to say that in my years I could write a book of the thousands of burger joints I have eaten at across this country of ours. Between towing race cars, driving 18 wheelers and just adventuring from coast to coast I can think of a handful of places better than Giant. But at the same time I can think of many many sub-standard places. I think I would rate him in my top 100 as well, maybe the top 50. It's no Slow Bar Burger and it doesn't pretend to be, it is what it is, a really good drive in joint located 1.9 miles from I-5 and a world away from the designer foods of Bridgeport.
2.75
Monday when I was in Portland, I went with my brother to run a few errands. It was around lunch time and after spending half the morning trying to pass this one really tricky part on Rainbow Six: Vegas 2, we were getting hungry. He told me about this place down the street which so happened to be on the way to Fry's and Costco and he said their burgers were pretty good, so I figure, hey, I've already had 2 burgers on this Sac/Portland trip, what's wrong with a third?
This looks like your average burger stand, like Lucky Boy or TK Burgers down in Costa Mesa. They had quite a yellow theme going on, from the walls being yellow, some of the ceiling tiles being yellow, the floor tiles being yellow, yellow seating, yellow counter tops, and even the employees wearing yellow t-shirts. Did a couple barrels of mustard explode in here?
My brother said the regular burgers weren't that good but their specialty burgers were better, which worked out because for whatever reason, I was in the mood for and avocado burger of some type.
It was almost like this place read my mind because low and behold, under the "specialty" burgers, there it was "avocado". I forgot how much it was.
We shared an order of fries. The fries came out ridiculously fast, almost TOO fast. Eh, I was hungry and I wasn't going to bitch and moan about it. There it was, my burger with avocado on it. Though, it was mashed and was more like guacamole, but hey, avocado is avocado. I could eat it in a smoothie form. Wait... maybe. I definitely am not gonna ever make or try an avocado mousse that Radhika made on Top Chef *shudder*
I grab a couple of fries and they were good. They were fat steak fries, but had a little bit of a crinkle cut on them. I would say they were having a little bit of an identity crisis if you ask me. But they were crispy and were seasoned well. I made for my burger and what do I see? Bacon? At no extra cost? SCORE!!!!
The burger overall was just above average, but I've had better. I do have to say that it had mayo in it, and don't get me wrong, I like mayo, but not on my burger. Had I known there was mayo, I would've asked to omit it.
The lady at the register (the owner? Owner's wife? Manager?) was very nice and sweet, and the other employees were pleasant.
The rest of menu seemed pretty simple and decent. There was plenty of parking.
I heard a lot of things about Giant Burger, so I decided to try it. I got a bleu burger which has bacon, bleu cheese crumbles, bleu cheese dressing with lettuce, tomatoes. It was awful, it was on a cheap bun, and had no flavor. The bacon was chewy. I also got cajanized French fries which had some sort of sweet not even spicy powder on them. Also awful. I thought maybe there shakes might be good. I got a vanilla, nope I was wrong it tastes like a fake vanilla syrup. I don't even want to give this place 1 star. Also there service is down right rude. If you ask for a hot dog the guy at the counter goes off on you and talks you into something else. The total of my bill was 9.75, it was such a waste of money!! This place is on the map! How can it be?! I would rather go to McDonalds right down the street they have better burgers then this place!
Oregonian's obviously do not know what a good burger is supposed to taste like. The Giant is a landmark little shack in Lake Oswego which is a stand-alone building. The place is either super packed or super empty. There is no happy median here. Anywho, I had to check what all the buzz was about.
When we drove up, I couldn't help but imagine I was at some old beat up diner in the middle of nowhere in a horror flick. I was waiting for Freddy or Jason to jump out of the bushes and chase me down the street. After I got over this fear, I headed into the restaurant. I opted for a simple double cheeseburger and fries because that's why I was at a burger joint.
Well my friends, sorry to disappoint, but the burger was a huge disappointment. It was flavorless! The patties were small and the only thing I could taste was the cheese and veggies. The meat has no beef flavor whatsoever! WHERE'S THE BEEF?! As I was nearing the final third of the burger, I noticed the meat was gone and I was left with bread! The patties were way too small for the enormous bun so you'll be left with bread.
I truly cannot fathom how people actually gave this place 5 stars! Quite frankly, even something like Carl's Jr. tastes better in my opinion. McD's is a block away and I'd rather eat a quarter-pounder from there than to eat another Giant again!
I eat here about once a year, mainly to see if has gotten any better. If you look at these reviews, you would think this place is outstanding, and if you do, go ahead and give a shot. I was excited to try Giant when we first moved here but I was disappointed. The burgers don't have much flavor, which is surprising, given that there are a ton of topping options (any place that lets you pile on a fried egg and ham should be good, right?).
I love burgers and this place has potential but I am bummed out every time I give it another shot. It's not horrible, but it is also no "Nation's" (a Bay Area chain). It's been about a year, so maybe I'll try again.
And, a burger place like this should really also offer a grilled cheese sandwich, but Giant doesn't.
The first time I visited The Giant was several years ago with my husband, when we lived in Portland. He grew up in the Tualatin area and throughout high school and and his buddies would frequent The Giant. I still hear the stories about the old man that used to work there that would argue when anyone who wasn't under 10 years old would try to order a hot dog - and the old lady with the smokers voice that used to call out the orders.
We moved to LA about 5 years ago and still, every time we are in the area for a visit, we always go to The Giant for a lunch. He and I both have never found a better burger.
The crappy decor, cash only payment, and lackluster service is part of the nostalgia - it wouldn't be the same any other way. It's an old fashioned burger joint with awesome food - wouldn't change it a bit.
Every time I've been to Giant, the place is near capacity. A fact which I find a bit puzzling. This little burger joint in Lake Grove enjoys a loyal following of burger fans of all ages - teens to baby boomers. It is also one of my friend's favorite places to eat, but I just don't quite get it.
On the plus side, the burgers are good, but they don't quite rock my world. The menu is limited, but the prices are reasonable. For me, they fall somewhere in between Mickey D's fast food and a gourmet burger experience.
The owner has quite the rep as a curmudgeon (ala Seinfeld's Soup Nazi) and has been known to tangle with the city which wants him to replace the sign out front with something smaller and more dignified. This is Lake O after all, and a certain appearance is expected.
I've got to give them props for keeping the place very clean, but it is also very basic. Be prepared to pay with cash only. Ketchup packets instead of squirt bottles. No mustard in sight. No jug of water and paper cups for the kids.
Speaking of the kiddos... the kid's burger is a joke, consisting of a tiny bread roll for a bun which is about half the diameter of the patty and it comes with raw onions. What kid likes onions? For the money, just order the regular cheeseburger, plain, if they don't want the fixings.
The decor is interesting. A complete throw back to the 60s and 70s, when yellow and orange were the height of cool. You follow the yellow footprints to the bathroom around back, which is like the kind behind the gas station we all dread.
So it is fine for the occasional visit, but I don't think I'll ever be one of their devotees.
Its just a tiny little building off to the side of the road, but it puts out some tasty GIANT burgers! They can stack 'em high here.
If you are a burger fan, you will not be disappointed.
Three letters sums up my feeling for Giant -- YUM! It is the quintessential burger joint. I noticed the place as I drove by one day around noonish. There were several cars parked outside. So, when I got the craving for a burger I decided to try it out. The joint is not impressive, low on the frills -- which is fine by me -- the selection of burgers is extensive and they are yummy. The fry's are good too!
