Cook Out

So, you’re drunk, hungry, and cheap. It’s super late, but you have unyielding principles. Where do you go?
Say (or perhaps slur) it all together y’all: COOK-​OUT!
Look, this ain’t high cuisine, but it’s our cuisine. It’s for those who think white bread hamburger buns should be declared a national treasure. It’s for those who would trade a thousand McD’s burgers for one BBQ sandwich. It’s for those who know that corn dogs and onion rings totally qualify as side vegetables. It’s for those who know that slaw should automatically go on unless you have an excusing note from your senator.
Let’s all raise our foam cups and toast with our Big Giant Sweet Teas and banana shakes with cheesecake topping. We salute Cook Out: filler of bellies, soother of budgets, and purveyor of satiating Southern fare. Your greasy trays are welcome in my car any day.

As long as you’re not in a rush you should love this place. Try the seasonal shakes and don’t be afraid to dance the endless menu combinations. Customer service A1 evetytime.

Hands down best prices for a meal! Be sure to have yourself a milkshake. They are all so yummy. I must say that the friendliness of staff is never grade A however the milks shakes are!

I LOVE COOKOUT!
I go here everytime i come to visit family in NC. I always get an order of hush puppies and a peanut butter chocolate shake. So good. Even though the food is ok, the multitude of shake options makes up for it.

I cannot say enough positive things about Cookout, and would say that you can’t fully experience North Carolina without a stop.
My picks:
Reeses peanut butter cup milkshake
corn dog
pulled pork sandwich
coleslaw
fries
Perfect late night meal!

The food is good and the pricing is great, but I’m unlikely to come back until they repair the major potholes that have existed for over 9 months at the entrance to this location. I cannot believe these have not been repaired for so long for a restaurant that is based on drive-​thru traffic. These cause damage to low-​profile cars and is just not customer-​centric for a drive-​thru restaurant.

Whoever. doesn’t. like. cookout.
Needs to take a long look in the mirror.
Because cookout is amazing.
You know what’s funny? How californians spend so much time just kissing the feet of in-​n-​out like it’s mana from heaven when they don’t even have a clue what real cheapo fast-​food burger is supposed to taste like. Supposed to look like. Supposed to feel like. They just mumble and yell about their christian not-​even-​open-​late limited-​menu generic-​burger a$$ joint like I’m supposed to care, like it’s supposed to impress me, when I’ve been to cookout. Cookout.
Go to cookout.
Do yourself a favor.
Life is short.

Ran into this place when we made a wrong turn. Didn’t want a chain restaurant for dinner and we were pleasantly surprised. Hush puppies were great, my son ate his hot dog like he had not eaten in days. Cheeseburger was good and so was the quesadilla. Would def. come back. Cheap and filling food. From the reviews, wish I had tried a milkshake. Tea was great.

Best deal in town and it tastes great too! Had wonderful service here one night when I brought some Cook Out newbies with me. To avoid the confusion in the dual drive thru we used the walk up window. The person taking the order was fantastic, patient, and very helpful to them in explaining how the menu worked and in describing the menu items. Gotta get the tray! Where else can you go get a double cheeseburger combo (or other sandwiches like chicken, hot dogs, etc,) that includes a drink and your choice of fries, quesadilla, chicken nuggets, hush puppies, corn dogs and much more?! Try the banana pudding milkshake — or any milkshake that tickles your fancy — they’re great!

I tried Cook Out for the first time recently. I had a burger, fries, and hush puppies. Everything was good! Their burgers are great for being fast food and cheap! I will need to go back and try a milk shake! This place is almost a little too convenient to where I live, so i will have to do my best not to go too often. Haha. But if you don’t want to spend a lot and want a good burger quickly, this is the place!

I like this cook out better than the one on falls off the neuse. The line can be backed up to glenwood and they churn thru all the orders in 5 minutes. Incredible !
The tray is a great value. The milkshakes are thick! They melt to the right consistency by the time I get home. I love cook out. And you should too !

Their food is awesome, but make sure to ask for whatever sauces you want! They never give them to you or ask if you want ketchup.

I ended up with this rating after much consideration. It was at a 4.5, but I decided to round down, only because there have been fast food/​burger places that I’ve been to that are better in taste. Despite this, there are some very unique factors to this place that I think warrants the high rating, and I think if I weighted the price more heavily, this place deserves 5 stars.
The first factor is the HUGE menu and the variety of items you can choose from. There is pretty much everything you could possibly want from fast food: burgers, hot dogs, corn dogs, chicken strips, milkshakes, ice cream floats, etc. But if you are indecisive like me, the easy way out is their cookout tray, which gives you 1 main entrée (choose from a wide array of burgers and other items), two sides, and a drink (+$ 1 gets you a milkshake) for just $ 5! Also just the milkshake menu alone is quite hefty, and you can also choose to mix and match different flavors into your milkshake.
The second is actually the milkshake itself. They are scrumptious and very deserving of their hype here. (PRO TIP: Mocha + Oreo go very well together. A friend told me Reese’s goes well with this mix as well). It is a very good size for just under $ 3, but it is simply a steal for $ 1 more with your tray.
The third factor is the quantity of food. The burger is pretty much what I expected (the Cookout Style is my favorite thus far. the A1 style is also very good). The sides are what really make this tray combo special. One of the sides is actually a corn dog! The others are a chicken wrap, onion rings, cole slaw, etc. The chicken wrap is really delicious, and very filling just on its own. You will find yourself absolutely stuffed with this tray combo, and for less than 5 bucks!
But wait, we’re still not done. You get your choice of drink with your tray as well. The iced tea is delicious and they give you a LOT (with free refills if you are at this dine-​in location). But to me, the $ 1 more shake deal is too good to pass.
A couple final notes: I have heard that the line here can get rather long, but I have yet to experience that. Also, they have seasonal milkshakes that you may love or not care too much for. The watermelon milkshake was okay, in my opinion, but some of my friends claimed it was delicious. Finally, another item worth mentioning on the menu is their cheer wine float. It was really delicious, and just under $ 2.
Overall, very cheap and great late-​night/​dinner fast-​food option. Definitely check out those milkshakes.
David’s VPP (Value Per Price): 9.5÷10

I love me some Cook Out. Their milkshakes are my favorite in the whole world, especially the watermelon milkshake, available only in the summer time. Mix and match the flavors as you please (yes you can combine multiple flavors together at no charge!), and enjoy!
The burgers are also quite good, and their pulled pork BBQ is solid.
The only downside is there’s no indoor seating, so it’s either take it to go or find a place to sit outside and enjoy your milkshake. It may just bring all the boys to the yard. Whether you want that or not.

Good food for a fast food joint and the shakes are terrific… that is, when they get your order right which, with me, is about 50% of the time. No special orders, mind you. I order straight off the menu. Twice I have ordered the burger Carolina style which means mustard, chili, slaw, and onions. One time I got lettuce and ketchup only. Another time I got chili and mustard only. I ordered a shake that was listed on their brand new menu and no one had ever heard of it.
But it was my experience nice tonight that precipitated this review. I took my son out for a milkshake. Yes, it was Friday evening so I expected a line. I did NOT expect a 13 minute wait with 5 cars still ahead of me. I thought I would take advantage of the second lane which no one was using?!? On second thought, I should have known something was up but it wasn’t until I got to the speaker that I saw a hand-​written sign saying it was broken. 15 minutes in line and my only recourse would have been to park and walk up or circle around and go to the back of the line. Big old honking helping of NOPE! I left, quite perturbed.
Here is an idea… put a cone or rope off the area so people cannot possibly get stuck in the lane of no return. Dumb. I went to Wendy’s.

Having lived in North Carolina for eight years, I’ve only recently tried Cook Out. I know; it’s such a shame. I’ve been missing out all these years on their burgers, onion rings and milk shakes. I LOVE their chocolate malt shake. You’ll find a long line now and then, but it moves quickly and the employees are super friendly. If I don’t feel like cooking, I’ll pull into the drive-​thru and pick up three trays with milk shakes for $ 20.19. Easy peasy, and the fam is super happy.

I have been to quite a few burger joints in the area, and while Char-​Grill still remains my number one favorite fast-​food burger personally, Cook-​Out has definitely some strengths in their additional menu item choices. The burger itself, however, is not up-​to-​par for me as much, unfortunately. I really wish it was, and I recognize that I am probably in the minority of opinions on that, but I gotta be honest.
First, the Really Good Stuff:
— Cheap prices (A combo is under $ 5!)
— Cheerwine floats.
— Wide array of side item choices (incl. Fries, Onion Rings, Hush Puppies, Corn Dogs, and a few more things)
— Cheerwine floats.
— Incredible array of milkshake choices (Too many flavors to list!)
— Cheerwine floats.
The «Meh»:
— Burger taste/​quality.
Don’t get me wrong, the burger is decent. In the realm of fast-​food burgers, it sits closer to the top of the stack for sure. But I don’t know, I’ve had a few there now… and for some reason I am just not as impressed as I’d hoped to be. It’s definitely on the greasy side, and the beef seems to be of average fast-​food quality. Nothing is inherently wrong with it… it doesn’t jump out as anything «special» or notably good to me.
Now on the other hand… the Cheerwine floats, and the huge choice of milkshake flavors, and the Cheerwine floats — make this place definitely worth visiting though!

My usual order is a plain grilled chicken sandwich. Always know what to expect and I get it every time. I was impressed with the greeting at the window when I pay. The attendant smiles and always says «Thank You «. I do succumb, not often but every once in a while to a Mocachino Shake.
Cook Out is quick with filling your order. I have to say when I do get a larger order, I have never had any mistakes in the food like I do at Chick Fillet.

The parking lot is pretty small — so spaces are limited. My friends and I walked up to the window and ordered. I decided on a Footlong Hotdog Combo with Onion Rings, Slaw, a Large Diet Coke ($ 3.99 — what, what!) & an extra order of Hushpuppies (a dozen for 99 cents, baby)! Got the food FAST and the food was awesome (as always) — my dog was slathered in a mess of ketchupy/​mustardy goodness. Oh, yeah!
There’s no seating or picnic tables (kind of strange), so we had to sit on the sidewalk in front of my car to devour our Southern fast-​food!
**Also, be VERY careful when backing out of your spot — saw a dude accidentally back into the brick wall in the siding. Yikes!

Apparently, this is THE food place to go after you go to THE place for a night out (Shooters). The prices are super cheap. Most of the people I was with ordered a plate/​platter, which consists of one main item and two sides. Normal, right? Well, at Cook Out, sides can also be main items lol. There’s outdoor seating, but it was freezing that night, so we all drove home.
I’m from GA, so I REALLY wanted to go to the Waffle House right next door, but coming here was almost a rite-​of-​passage/​welcome to Durham kind of thing, so I had to go. Heard their shakes are amazing, as well. I will definitely be back when I’m in town.