While visiting in Rhode Island for the past three weeks, I've passed a sign that proclaims that Ozzie's is Rhode Island's "Best Burger".
I initially thought this was some kind of local chain with one of those "we love ourselves" banners just hanging outside. Boy was I wrong! It turns out that Ozzie's is indeed a one of a kind place, in the one location, which makes it the kind of place that I automatically like.
And after eating here, I have to say, that unless something truly more amazing reveals itself while I'm out here, I'm going to have to go with thinking it's the best too.
The burger is great! I loved it.
This burger was absolutely well built, starting with a perfectly cooked burger patty which comes in 6 or 12 oz sizes, from there, its BYOB "build your own burger". But not in the silly salad bar sort of way that Fudruckers does it, but rather, in a more civilized way, one that intelligent folks should appreciate.
When you order your burger, you custom build your dream assembly by filling out a laminated menu card with a dry erase marker and checking off the various boxes of available toppings, which range from bacon, grilled onions to avocado. There are several choices of cheese and multiple types of breads or buns, as well, easily giving you dozens possible burger outcomes.
The hand cut fries are made using a 1/2" square die, which makes for a thicker fry, which is not my preference on hand cuts, plus they weren't salted enough for my taste, but I still respect anyone doing the added effort of doing hand cut fries, as it speaks to high quality. The milkshake was excellent and I enjoyed snacking on fresh popped popcorn while I waited on my dream burger creation to be prepared.
Visit number two unfortunately was an entirely different story...
Thirty hours later I was back, that first burger was still fresh on my mind and I had a taste for another. And even though I have so much to see in New England and only six month window in which to take it all in, I decided to do a revisit for dinner.
Ozzie's was just about as busy as with my first visit; as in the same amount of tables were filled with customers, but there was a different staff at the helm being as it was night. The front counter gal was clearly flustered and stressed out, as an elderly gentleman who was confused over whether the burgers were "hamburgers" as in beef or not didn't understand the menu. While she was polite and not rude by any means, she was running around and going nowhere fast.
I ordered my burger opted for a shake, this time instead of bringing me a cup of shake and the metal shake mixer like on my last visit, the shake was poured into a plastic cup and that was it. The burger that I ordered took a long time to cook this time around, and it arrived on a freaking nasty looking pressed down wheat bun; which I did not order. When this was pointed out, my waitress replied "we ran out of buns, so that what we had". In my head I'm thinking: "Thanks for wasting 45 minutes of my life at 8 PM, plus now no one else will be open for me to go get what I really wanted to eat now".
The burger was put on an onion roll, not what I had in mind at all, and the meat was overcooked, I asked for medium, I got well done. I was not happy about this visit at all. Had the visits been reversed, there wouldn't have been a second visit, and this would have been a 100% drop kick of a review. I'll also add, that no consolations or comps were offered to make up for it either. As it stands right now, I'm on the fence as to whether I should even go back for a tie breaker on these guys, knowing that they are capable of better, even if last night's debacle did not even remotely demonstrate it.
| Visit#1 | Visit #2 | Averaged Totals |
| Taste: 8.5 | Taste: 5 | 6.75 |
| Experience: 8 | Experience: 3 | 5.5 |
| Value: 7 | Value: 5 | 6 |
| Score: 7.8 | Score: 4.6 | 6.08 |
What a difference a day makes! 
If you're still here in RI, you might want to take a swing by Crazy Burger in Narragansett. It's a quirky burger place, right near the beach, in a tiny, homey, beachy shack with twinkle lights. They have all manner of burgers -- their regular burgers are fantastic, but the chicken, salmon, vegan, and other burgers are really great as well. I keep going back for the homemade ketchup, though...it's awesome over the sweet potato fries. (I don't work there, I'm just a happy customer.)
ReplyDeletehttp://crazyburger.com/burgers.html
You might also like Chez Pascal (for a sit-down dinner), or follow the remarkable food truck, which can usually be found around downtown Providence and has amazing things like pork belly sandwiches, all gourmet-made and fantastic.
http://www.chez-pascal.com/menu.html
Hope you're enjoying your trip!
Thank you for visiting my blog and the recommendations!!
ReplyDeleteI will be visiting back & forth to Rhode Island for the next 6 months, so please keep those suggestions coming. I love thats there is lots to see and do in this area of the country and I'm embracing the chance to turn over every rock exploring it!
Take care and stay in touch.
-Burt
fellinis pizza on wickeden st in providence is awesome for pizza,then stop by the hot club for a drink (walking distance)Its 'on the water',with nice people of all ages! If you like chinese food ,go to the hong kng buffet in cranston after 4 pm for dinner ,and sat/sun they have a carving station thrown in.Marchettis around the corner in cranston services a really great and inexpensive lunch ,i believe mon-fri only from about 1100 am-3pm or so,check yelp or whatever.Italian food,mostly and the chicken cutlet is great.they give you all the salad and bread you'd like,and it's gooooood !with (i believe),about $1.50 martinis and wine,never had them,probably cheap,but cant beat the prices!
ReplyDeleteI live two streets over from Ozzi's, and after almost two years of seeing a mostly empty parking lot, and the family staring at me hungry, curiosity killed the cat, and we went. We ate with our coats on because apparently the heat was off, or turned down to save money. One of our burgers had grilled onions on it instead of tomato, so they took it in the back, scraped off the melted cheese with the grilled onions melted into it, and put a cold slice of cheese on the same burger and added tomato to it, nice huh? Another one was medium rare instead of medium well, they just slapped it back on the grill (not sure if that’s sanitary since two bites were taken out of it). The cheese and bacon fries were just fries with a slice of American cheese thrown on top, but the bacon was good. Wednesday's are buy one get one free burgers, and today was Wednesday, so we ordered four burgers, but get this, when I received the bill, there was a $3.00 charge for the two "free" burgers. When I inquired what this charge was, I was told it was $1.50 charge for each free burger. When I asked why there was a charge for free burgers, I was told that it was to cover the cost of providing the burgers. The Manager, or Owner knocked the charge off because I questioned it, and still would not agree with me that a burger is not free if you charge for it. I wonder how many people have paid this charge without knowing about it, or they knew about it, but it wasn’t worth fighting over for 3 bucks. I’ve lived in RI for all of my 33 years, and I have to say, this is the most disappointing restaurant visits ever, and I should have gone with my gut, and stayed away…………………
ReplyDeleteSame experience, a place to uneven to venture in more than once. About the only thing more difficult than finding a great burger is finding a truely great meatball sandwich......
ReplyDeleteThere's a new BYOB bar in downtown providence called LUXEBURGER. Right by Providence Place Mall and Capital Grille.
ReplyDeleteThe offer Kobe beef, or gold label beef your choice. It sounds alot like what Ozzis offers with consistent, delicious experiences!
My favorite way is - bacon, pastrami, garlic aioli and jabanero cheddar -- mm delicious
Barry says
ReplyDeleteIn most cases the food is very good,hot,fresh.
I am glad you liked the shakes as they use a local ice cream from Warwick Ice Cream co. which is an 85 year old maker of ice cream the old fashioned way. Fresh butter,milk from local farms,real sugar. 14-16% butterfat.Yum.
The owner really tries to make sure his customers are happy and he would have made it right by you. Just tell him.His name is Tod.
A really nice young man. My suggestion is give them another chance. Do not miss out on the shakes either. They are always great.
Hey Barry thanks for reading and leaving a comment.
ReplyDeleteSince I wrote my initial review back in September, I have been back to Ozzi’s on three other occasions, bring the total number of visits by me up to five. No return visit has recaptured the delight of the first visit, and on my last visit I decided it would be my last. The evening staff just doesn’t care, every evening visit has had something wrong with my order or the food tasted “off”. On my last visit, the fries were dark brown and nasty, the place was cold with the heat down low or off and the burger did not agree with me. The shakes have also been of varying quality as well, while the first was perfect, two have been runny and one I had to send back because it was full of course ice crystals from being freezer burned.
I just don’t know what to say other than my title of Dr Ozzi and Mr. Hyde still stands since some days things are dead on great and on any given night it’s an experience I’d rather forget.
Best regards and thanks to everyone for stopping by!
-Burt
sorry to hear you didn;t like Ozzi's. I agree with the writer above who said that Todd would have made it right. I have found Todd to be a very engaging, caring proprietor. It's nice to see that business has picked up since the Providence Journal did a review of the restaurant. For my money, this is the best burger and fries around.
ReplyDelete