Cook Out

Had Cook Out for the very first time 3 years ago, and when I moved out here and found this spot, it was an easy choice to expand on the menu. I love their burgers and that’s what mostly keeps me coming back. I never had a burger with cole slaw, chili, and mustard until I came here. It’s the best burger in my personal opinion for a great price. I hold it better that Five Guys. But I also am an In-​n-​out fan and nothing is higher that In-​n-​out burgers for me. Since they don’t have one out here, I’ll stick to Cook Out. Another high light to this place is their shakes. They are the Bombdiggity.

Great fast and inexpensive. What more could you as for with 2 middle schoolers. The cookout

I was truly satisfied. I always hear about people ranting and raving about cookout song just HAD to try this place. I tried it years ago but can’t remember enough to give an actuate review. But this time, I remember. Lol. It was GREAT!!! I got the pulled BBQ sandwich, hush puppies, chicken tenders and a tea just to try an assortment of what they offer. All of it was good. All of it came to less than $ 10 too. I heard the ones that are actually in NC are better but this will do for me. It’s the closest one to my house which is still 1.5 hours away. I’ll take it.

If you are craving a cheeseburger with that good cooked on the grill taste then this is the place for you. The price is excellent and with $ 4.99 combos you get better than average tasting food in a clean fast food environment. My daughter and I both ate for less than $ 13 and left feeling well fed. The cashiers were friendly and the place was clean with quick service. We will definitely be coming back regularly. Much better than Five Guys and not greasy.

The negative reviews that I’ve read on here are ridiculous and funny to say the least. People are so nit-​picky. The food is great, and you get so much of it for very little money! On top of that how many other places do you know of where you can get any kind of shake you can pretty much possibly imagine, and in place of your drink for little to nothing as well? Bottom line is yes they are extremely busy most days and most times of the day, however there is a reason for that and it is very well worth it!

For my first visit at 11.30 at night it was a great experience. Selection is vast, I cant believe I’ve been driving past this place for over a year and haven’t tried it. Quality well above pricing for this one. I had a grilled cajun chicken sandwich, which was very good. ⁴⁄₅ for taste and size. fries were amazing, boardwalk quality. And sweet tea was better than most fast food places. Not your grandma’s tea though.
Side quesadilla was lacking, but hey. it’s a cookout style restaurant, I wasnt expecting the best mexican food ever.
Also, service was incredibly fast, I went through the drive through and they had my food almost immediately after I paid.
Almost went back for seconds immediately.

Been here three different times. Today was the last: the place was not crazy busy but, while waiting for my order, I noticed several people returning to the cashier because «I didn’t get _​_​_​_​_​,» or «I asked for no onions, but _​_​_​_​_​,» or «You forgot to give me _​_​_​_​.»
Stupidly … yep, it’s on me; I didn’t check my order when I received it. So here’s the tally:
— Wife ordered onion rings … not there.
— Wife charged for a bottle of water she didn’t request OR receive.
— Both milkshakes were the wrong ingredients.
— Out of mustard and couldn’t find any staff to locate some.
Only realized this all when it had gotten too crowded to go back to the cashier.
Summary: Food’s cheap, OK in flavor, but I feel like they just throw down whatever is handy.
Not returning. I’d rather go someplace that gives me what I ordered … hey, Cookout management, you’ve lost me as a customer, but you need to spot check order correctness or you’ll lose MORE customers!

I heard much about Cookout before it opened in the area, and when it randomly popped up one day, it became all the rage in the ‘burg! The place is always busy, and the drive-​thru line is insane!
Let’s begin with the positives: I really like Cookout’s morals and how they are a Christian-​based company. From the little verses on the bags to Christian music playing, as an American, I appreciate how they are bringing God into their restaurant. The food is good and basic: burgers, fries, chicken, BBQ, etc. I enjoy their «Out West Style» burger, and their burgers come in 4 different sizes. The star of your meal will definitely be one of their 40+ different milkshakes… yes, over FORTY! This makes it almost impossible to decide which one to get, and you can even create your own, which I did to create the CHOCOLATE OREO CHEESECAKE SHAKE-​best decision of my life (exaggeration…or maybe not?). I am telling you now, out of the shakes I have tried so far, this one was the best. Their shakes are also extremely thick (think ice cream in a cup!), so get a spoon! Also, the prices can’t be beat-​4 of us ate for less than 30, each getting a sandwich, 2 sides, and a shake. You can’t eat that cheap and get that much food even at McDonald’s!
Now, onto the negative; the reason why I can’t give Cookout more stars: the service. The 2 times that I have been here, I have received poor customer service and messed up orders. They speak into a microphone for your order and I can’t even understand them, so how do the cooks even understand our order? Especially as a Christian-​based company, you would expect friendlier service, and this place is no Chick-​fil-​a. Perhaps it is just the nature of the people in the area that work here, but they need to clean their attitudes up a little-you’re getting paid, at least PRETEND to be happy!
Cookout is a great spot for a good deal on comfort fast-​food and shakes, but don’t expect service with a smile. Have your order ready and present it assertively, or else you may get home only to be disappointed that you didn’t get cheese on your burger!

I don’t get it… This is not even close to a 5 star burger joint. The burgers are lackluster even by fast food standards and yet people seem to flock to this place in droves. I made the mistake of ordering onion rings which I was told would take more time to cook. What’s funny is the onion rings they gave me were stale and obviously not fresh.
I understand that this area is probably more health conscious than most so greasy burger places may be few and far between. Still, a proper burger just hits the spot every now and then. This place fell well short of expectations on all accounts. The food gets a 2 star rating and the unfriendly and unhelpful staff drops the overall down to 1.
If you haven’t tried this place before save yourself the disappointment. Sunken Well and Foode have better burgers in his area.
Posted this review twice because there are review spots for one location.

Pulled off I-​95 looking for something new and different. This place exceeded our expectations. Cute décor, but tables a little sticky when we stopped by for late supper. Food was perfect and super cheap! We got a cheeseburger, grilled chicken sandwich, onion rings, fries, two orders of hush puppies and two large drinks (with free refills) for 11 dollars!
All fried stuff was fresh and not overly greasy.
Great place! This makes a nice change from the usual fast food joints!

Second time going here. Really not worth the hype. Burgers are small and lack flavor. Kind of like going to a family cookout at someone home that buys the cheap frozen patties and then slaps cheap cheese on them. Go to sonic if you want a huge step up and no stomach ache. Very poor quality of drippy grease. Won’t make this mistake again. Two times the charm. Cheddar bacon should have at least (real Cheddar and more then a half a piece of bacon). Just saying!

Seriously, people gave this place 5 stars?
I got the cheddar burger; and i use the word cheddar lightly, because seriously I couldn’t even get a slice of processed kraft cheese, it was nacho wiz of some type. The burger was bland. The onion rings were bland and too greasy. My milkshake wasn’t a milkshake since I had to eat it with a spoon, way too thick. My friends bbq was so dry that I was getting cotton mouth just by looking at it.
So now let’s hit up the environment: hectic with long lines. The clientele are rowdy at night especially after drinking at the nearby bars. The counters are sticky and gross, and the floor is gross. Somehow, ketchup from the floor managed to get all over my white scrub pants and white work shoes, so I had to leave right after and go home and change before heading back into work. People told me it was really good food for cheap, but I’ve always said cheap and food should not ever be used together.
The staff was nice.

The parking lot and way folks line up to order at a busy lunch time is horrendous! They REALLY need to fix this! I made the mistake of parking in the lot and the idiots in the drive through blocked me it, so after eating I had to wait for their slow drive through to move up to allow me to pull out. But the next car quickly pulled up, blocking me as well. It’s far from a good system, they could learn from the traffic studies that ChickFilA has done to correct their lots.
But, when it comes to the food — It was Very Good! Nicely done, but they’re rushing because of how busy they are and this causes less than a perfect burger. We ordered several different burgers and dogs, just to split them all and try them. Each burger was not centered, the patty was shifted off one side, the condiments were very uneven and the toppings were too. An example — When I cut the «steak style» burger in half, the onions all ended up on one side. When I cut the one with bacon in half, the bacon all ended up on one side.
More attention to the lobby is also needed, as the Hi-​C Fruit Punch in the machine to the right was all water and stayed that way the entire time we were there. The ice in the machine to the left wasn’t working.
This restaurant has been open long enough now to have resolved all the «quirks» of opening a new place, so things like this can and should be caught through better QC from the management and Cook – Out’s regional management.
The fact that they only have two cashiers during lunch is not good either with a line out the door.
Again… The food tasted nice, but could have been SOOOO much better with small execution changes in the preparation. Place could easily be a 4 star place if they’d concentrate on these small issues.

Walked up to the window at 12:31pm on Saturday afternoon, placed my order, and had it in my hands within less than 4mins! Ordered a Cookout Tray with ¼lb hamburger + cheese & tomato ($.50 extra for both) with onion rings, fried okra, and a Cheerwine soda for only $ 5.49! Everything was delicious, just as it’s always been at every other location I’ve visited previously in the south. So glad we finally have our own, right here in FXBG!

They were insanely busy because it was their first week being open, but the staff handled it very well and the drive thru moved so quickly! Staff members were taking our orders as we pulled around so our food was ready when we pulled up to the window. We each got a burger — I got onion rings and my husband got French fries. We also both got a bottle of water and it was only $ 13 + some change. For both of us. Seriously. The onion rings didn’t hit the spot for me personally, but the burger was SO good! & at $ 13 for 2 people, they’re sure to give restaurants like Five Guys a run for their money. We will definitely be back to try one of the many milkshake options too!

Wow. What can I say. Good quality food/​cheap prices. Get the combo and the deal is even sweeter.

We’ve eaten at the Cook Out in Jacksonville NC so we knew the drill — the food is very good, charbroiled burgers but served «Cook-​out» style — which is mustard, chili, slaw, onions and I think pickles — the way we used to order them when I was a kid in NC (or as we called it: «all the way») — the chili is exceptional but the slaw could be sweeter, it is fresh tasting and that’s a good thing.
The sides are very generous and super reasonable, most being .99 — the combos are the best value by a mile — two hot dogs «all the way» or «cookout style» for those among us not from NC, two sides (okra and onion rings in my case) and a bottomless drink — DRUM ROLL PLEASE: $ 5. Double Cheese or BBQ sandwich w/​slaw, same price — in fact most things on the menu come as a combo for $ 5. Truly an amazing value, especially given the quality of the food.
Since Cook-​out opened about 2+ weeks ago it’s been a mob scene to get inside and the drive-​thru typically wraps around the building twice or three times but they have it well organized and even staff outside directing traffic. Walk-​up window is your best and shortest wait; inside was busy but they move the line quickly, you go to your table and they call your number — so it works to keep people moving out of the way.
A few suggestions for the powers to be at Cook-​Out corporate:
1) SIGNAGE: PLEASE move the combo signage (or add a second one), that faces sideways, to instead face the approaching line — almost all the delays are when people get to the register and ONLY THEN do they finally see the combo sign and of course it’s a lot to take in so the inefficiency of that is not good — if customers could read it as they approach they might be closer to ready to order — you literally cannot see it until you are AT the register — not good.
2) BBQ: I’m only going to say this once: the BBQ is excellent, moist and tasty BUT seriously «Texas Pete»??? Aren’t you guys out of NC? Shame on you for putting Texas Pete on NC pork BBQ — I had my first BBQ sandwich there today and suffered from indigestion for two hours afterward (Texas Pete!) — NC BBQ is vinegar based with red peppers — yes, there is Eastern NC BBQ and Western NC BBQ (a little ketchup mixed in — yuk!) — let’s not split hairs here, Eastern wins every time but could you not at least honor your NC roots and serve BBQ with NC authentic sauce? AT LEAST OFFER IT AS AN OPTION? And perhaps work on that slaw recipe just a little — it’s kind of bland (it’s okay but not NC style — but then again NC style Slaw is whatever restaurant you are at because it varies wildly.)
3) SPLENDA: PLEASE don’t put the UNsweet tea in a pitcher on top of the sweet tea dispenser (hey, you have TWO huge sweet tea dispensers — why?) — I hate to break it to you but you are not REALLY in the south and ice tea, especially sweet ice tea consumption drops the further north you go — I prefer Splenda vs sugar but I suspect you will soon figure out that Virginian’s and the transplanted Yankees here are different, especially Northern Virginians, when it comes to how they drink their tea. UNsweet is very popular here (then they put Splenda in it — gotta watch that waist line.) Speaking of Splenda — YOU DID NOT HAVE ANY — only that pink stuff. Don’t get cheap on us Cook-​out — we need our Splenda.
Having whined enough, all in all, for fast food, this restaurant is very good and the prices are very fair (hope it stays like that) — you are kicking Mickey D’s butt and all the rest too — so please just hone your slight deficiencies above and you will likely be a huge success here.
I hope you put a Cook-​out in Massaponax (exit 126) one day. AND MAYBE ADD A BREAKFAST MENU — I’m talking grits, sausage gravy, REAL biscuits: Better than Hardees? Even better than Popeyes? You’d have to open at 4am to handle the crowds!
One star off for the Texas Pete on BBQ. The BBQ is very good but you ruin it with Texas Pete — fix this please and you will earn my undying patronage and loyalty. Please, stay true to your NC roots — it’s refreshing for us transplanted Tarheels. Yankees don’t understand.
UPDATE JUNE 8, 2015: lines continue to wrap around the building 2 – 3 times if you go to drive-​thru; lines are to the door inside but if you go to the walk-​up window on the left (most people don’t know it’s there) there is almost never anyone there or only one or two at the most. Save yourself some time and eat in your car.

Cook Out is brand new in the area and they are generally rare in Virginia. It’s actually quite good if you look around the hype and look at the restaurant objectively.
It’s quite cheap right off the bat and in my opinion its burgers are better than Five Guys — they’re a lot less greasy. Their food also doesn’t feel processed like McDonalds or Burger King; it feels as though they were made fresh at the store. The food isn’t up to the quality of proper sit-​down restaurants but it comes very close. This is the fast food place you want to go grab a quick bite, that’s cheap, but good quality and honest food.
I only gave four stars because of the long lines. It’s pretty much the Carl’s Ice Cream of fast food right now — everyone hypes about it, you wait in line behind a bunch of people, and you could go to an arguably similar place and get your food faster.

After hearing all the hype, we decided to check this place out Memorial Day weekend. The drive thru line was double wrapped around the building. They had people outside directing traffic. The lines for the walk up window and to eat inside were incredibly long.
I have to say for an opening with the amount of traffic they had, the business was very well organized and not nearly as chaotic as we expected.
We ordered two shakes (Oreo and peanut butter), side of hush puppies, fries, BBQ plate, cheddar style burger, and a regular hot dog.
The shakes were amazing! The Oreo shake had actual Oreos in it and the PB shake actually had PB in it. So sad that now a days you get excited to have actual food in your food, but I digress… The BBQ plate was tasty (pulled pork, coleslaw, fries, & hush puppies) was good but I wasn’t a fan of the hot sauce poured on top of the BBQ. Slaw was similar to kfc.
The burger was similar to Five Guys, and really good. My 3 year old seemed happy with his hot dog.
All in all, this place seems a step up from your standard drive thru fare and we will return.

I recently notice this long line near my bank. It was around lunch and I decided to pick up a few options for my students. I ordered mostly burgers with an assortment of cool sides like nuggets, okra & corndogs. Each meal came with a drink at a whopping $ 4.99.
The burgers beat out Burger Bar in Vegas, In-​N-​Out, Burger King, Sonic, McDonald’s and close to Five Guys. The difference, Five Guys is expensive! For burger lovers they know it’s clearly worth dropping the extra money but not if you have a Cook Out in your area.
BTW– They have 41 floats and milkshakes flavors. Maybe I will try after bikini season.