Burger Central

Meet the new ownership. Same as the old ownership. No, not really. Before, it was at least worth 3 stars.
Table service? No thanks — not for the overpriced burger joint next to the feed store in Leander.
And service? wow. The waiter was nice enough, but he was so uncomfortable waiting tables that I wonder if he has ever even eaten in a restaurant before.
The food was OK — worth 2 stars — but overpriced. Especially for Leander. Gyros meat was good, but the sauce was so-​so. Another friend got a chicken sandwich that was swimming in sauce and soggy. Decent fries, but just a handful for $ 1.79.
Buy 2 Gyros, get one free. Fairly Simple concept. Yeah, you would think.
5 years ago, this place might have been OK for Leander. But now there are too many other options for eating out in Leander to ever have to bother with it again.
Hint: go to the Exxon on Bagdad, just South of Crystal Falls — their burgers are WAY better, and they are reasonably priced.

One of the owners was our waitress when we came for breakfast. My husband got the He-​man and I got the La Bamba burger with fried pickle spears. OMG, the roof of my mouth is gone, but it was totally worth it for those pickles! The burger was ok. I like mine medium-​rare and with a generous amount of guac, but they served it well-​done and with a small T. of guac. Kids eat free Monday-​Thursday. They’re still waiting on their license from TABC, so on Fridays & Saturdays, if you buy a glass for $ 5 w/​an entrée, you can get up to 5 BEERS for FREE! How could you not like this place for that alone?!

Burgers are great on a yummy sweet bun.
Chicken sandwich is also good.
Great fries.
Free beer (up to 4) if you buy a glass for $ 3.50 and dine in. (Sat and Sunday only)

This updated review is late coming. But I thought I’d share my latest experience here. The service was bad. I have since found out the ownership has changed and the burgers are no longer come from grass-​fed cows

This is my second stop in since the new owners took over and made a few changes to the menu. I decided to order the Ruben Sandwich, and I’m so glad I did. My wife ordered the salmon burger, which I’m pretty sure she liked, but I cant say for sure as I was waaay to distracted by my own sandwich. Yummmmm, this sandwich and are will be meeting again in the near future. As good as it is, I think I will stay with the one foot sandwich (they offer a two foot ruben as well).
service was good, coffee was much better than it use to be. The café is a little echo-​ey, so it makes it hard for me to hear the person I’m seated with, but there’s no much they can do about that. We ordered the fried mushrooms and fried zucchini, both were good. Yep, going back. Good work Burger Central!

Not sure I could recommend this to anyone but I haven’t stopped in for breakfast so I can only comment on the burgers and may give them another shot for the breakfast experience at some point.
I think the only way to sum up our visit is: you know there is a problem when everyone you were eating with burps garlic tasting burgers the rest of the afternoon, including an 8 yr old boy. Then imagine it all starting when the three of us are in the car. We had to keep the windows down in hopes of not *smelly burping* someone into a land of nausea. I was having a hard time smelling my own let alone tasting it 4 hours after I left there.
The burgers start off good but then you really starting tasting the garlic in the meat and other tastes that we couldn’t really nail down. It was a decent sized burger, the bun was good, french fries were french fries, and the service was good.
I can only give it three stars because a burger shouldn’t have to be over seasoned to make it taste good. It’s A-​OK (3 stars) but it isn’t «heart stopping or OMG I must go back now» kind of burger.

I stopped here on my way to work and I was hungray for Breakfast and I was happy to see they serve Breakfast all day long which is a good thing. Everything was done perfect nothing was burnt — only thing is that I had to keep asking for refills. Staff is very friendly and outgoing and alot of space in there and not very loud and the music is low.
This is your typical small town place especially being located next a local feed store that has been there forever — I should know I grew up in Leander.
Only negative about the place it is not wheelchair accesiable.
I will return.

My wife and I were looking for something new in the area and I came across the review for this place. Its only a couple minutes from us so wee ran over for lunch. There was only 1 other person there so our 1 year old had a blast running around. The food took about 10 minutes. The burgers are very good. My wife had a chicken sandwich that was so big I was able to have what’s left for dinner. They are in the process of remodeling but overall it’s great food for the area since there is nothing other than fast food in the area. The menu didn’t have any of the burgers listed by others but had a good selection all the same. Waitress was very attentive and friendly.

Off the beaten path in Leander, next to a feed store, is Burger Central. Come in and get your fill of cow that may have fed on the hay sold next door. And while you’re there, stuff some ice cream into your pie hole. Oops, they no longer sell ice cream at Burger Central.
The lovely Ellen J. and I met here for lunch last Friday. We’re the Workforce Rejects, so why not go out for a leisurely lunch? We walked in and sat down in the front room, and were waited on by a friendly high-​schooler. Ellen and I each ordered the Caboose (your typical cheeseburger), and we discussed job-​hunting strategies and horror stories as we waited for our food.
Ellen remarked later that her burger tasted good at first, but the longer she ate it, the less she liked it. I have to agree. As we sat there eating, discussing and dissecting, the lady sitting at a nearby table interjected with, «I agree with you two; the burgers aren’t very good. They’re too mushy.» That’s it! That’s the perfect way to describe it. Despite being cooked medium-​well (which should have been medium, actually), the burgers were, in fact, too mushy. Like Ellen said, the bun was very good, but it wasn’t good enough to hide the mushy excuse for meat that the patty was. The fries were good, though.
I can’t see making a return trip unless I’m feeling mushy. Maybe I’ll come here the next time I fall in love with a guy.

I don’t know if it was an off-​day for this burger joint in Leander, but when Catherine T. and I met for lunch here last week, we didn’t have a 5, or even a 4-​star experience. Don’t get me wrong, the table-​side service was great, but the burgers were a tad on the mushy side. At first bite, my Caboose was delicious (hee, hee), but this plain burger (I ordered sans cheese, with only lettuce, onion, and tomato) soon lost my interest. My bun was very good, but not enough for me to assign more than 3 stars. Butt puns aside, I would come back to give them another shot because I don’t doubt my fellow Unilocalers when they say this place kicks ass.

This is my favorite burger place. I always get the drive-​thru special with chipolte sauce instead of mayo and the sweet potato fries, it’s only 5 bucks which seems cheap to me considering the quality. Mmm, writing this has made me want one now but they aren’t open at 1 am. Curses!
I do suggest calling ahead because they actually wait to cook your burger until you order it, «gasp» even the meat! So it takes about 15 minutes to get it ready in my experience. I have their number in my phone… they may soon go on my speed dial.
Now let’s see if Unilocal can help me find a gym, lol.

OK, I like me a tasty burger… one that comes from bovines that gently roam looking for tasty, green shoots, until they are fat and juicy. These plump cows are then taken to a «happy» slaughter to produce beefy goodness that is ground, in shop, with about 20% fat (ya need this for flavor, don’t believe me… order a burger in Europe). The grind is then patted into substantial patties, placed over an open flame, cooked to medium goodness, and then topped with an oozing slice of cheese. This decadence is placed on a lightly grilled bun that is not too substantial and topped with a wee bit of onion, crispy pickles and a slice of mater, which is squirted with a shot of ketchup and a ring of mustard. Alas, I have yet to find this burger unless I make it in my own backyard (haven’t done the meat grinding thing though). Listen up Leander and Cedar Park, I would pay 10 – 15 bucks for a burger like this with an order of fries (the thick kind with enough «tater meat» and a nice crisp). So I am still in search for this, but in the meantime, Burger Central does fill the gap.
Although Burger Central doesn’t offer up a flame-​grilled burger, their meat is grass fed and appears to be hand patted. But, what I really like about this burger, is its unique taste, nothing like other burgers in the metro area.
I ordered a regular cheese burger (the Caboose with America). This is a substantial burger that required a knife to cut it in half. With the fixins (lettuce, tomato, onion, mustard and ketchup), it tasted like a meatloaf sandwich. This is not a bad thing, because a meatloaf/​meatloaf-​like burger sandwich is a great 2^nd place to a flame-​grilled burger. Although they use a sweet bun, this one was not too sweet (I really dislike buns that are too sweet).
My only disappointment, where were those thick fries that others liked or complained about? Me like thick fries, but the ones we got were rather skinny: o (. They were tasty, so, no-​thick fries is not enough to take down a star.
As to those who think that a burger and fries at $ 8 is too much… Umm, Moonies, Elevation Burger, Mighty Fine and Red Robin sell burgers for this price or more. If someone wants a $ 5 value meal they can walk across the driveway, go through the Golden Chick parking lot and mash a button at Sonic (not hating on Sonic or Golden Chick). Or better, yet, they can super size and drive a block and grab two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, and cheese on a sesame seed bun (heck, you can even substitute the bun for a tortilla) beneath the golden arches. And yes, I AM hatin’ on those arches.

I am obviously not the target demographic for Burger Central. First, I have a strong dislike for sweet bread buns. The buns seemed doughy with a strong sweet aftertaste. I had them replace the buns with wheat and they were better. I also really disliked the seasoning they used for the meat. I wasn’t able to eat more than ¹⁄₃ of the burger before putting it down and eating a few (meh) fries.
When I needed service, I had to go look for it. Despite the fact that I was the only customer at the time, this was more difficult than I expected. I asked the guy lounging up at the counter about the bread for the buns, and he just shrugged and said he had nothing to do with the bread. No offer to go get help. After wandering around for a bit and returning to my seat, the lady who had originally seated me came to see if I was looking for something.
After I explained my problems with the burger, there was no offer for even a partial refund. Even had the burger been good, it still seemed over-​priced to me. It’s a shame, as I had really been hoping to like the place, since it’s convenient to our home.

Delicious! The fact that they serve grass fed beef and hormone free chicken is a HUGE plus for me. The burgers are delicious and the staff very friendly and helpful. I was surprised to see not so stellar reviews about the side items as every time I’ve been the onion rings have been perfect. Very kid friendly — paper and crayons provided.
I had to laugh about the prices being expensive and more what he’d expect downtown, so being located 15 miles or so away makes it acceptable to charge more for a burger?!? If the food is worth it who cares what the zip code is.

OMG OMG this is a new regular stop when near Leander.
Especially high prices, and they nickle and dime everything… but worth the price. I am now a member of the elite group of diners to handle the «Ghost Burger» with the Bhut Jokokia… the hottest pepper on the planet at double the Scoville index of the Habeero Pepper, and you now what… it was delicious. Sadly they would not give me the recipe and wanted to charge $ 3 for little 3oz container.
Also their BBQ sauce is amazing, but the charge 30 cents for the little cup.
The sides are below average, I love sweet potato fries and they were below average and the onion rings were just plain bad.
Regardless of the sides it was still one of the best burgers I have ever had and the sauces are amazing.

Pros: Free Beer. Good Burgers. Great Onion Rings.
Cons: You will smell like a burger after you leave.
Overall: Worth a try. No room for dessert :(

Excellent grass-​fed/​healthy burgers that are quite juicy. I actually got the not-​on-​the-​menu Ghost Pepper burger (check out their website — I didn’t take the challenge though cause I don’t like to make a fuss). It was quite hot — they are not kidding about the disclaimers, etc. The sauce was flavorful and delicious in addition to being very hot. I managed to finish mine quite easily but then I am kind of a hot-​food freak and not much fazes me anymore.
I also got the onion rings and a root beer float. All in all, quite a delicious meal though I thought it was a bit pricey (but that’s probably because of the special burger that I got — their normal burgers are priced quite reasonably).
Service was quite prompt and attentive — no complaints there at all. I hope to visit often.

Ok, it a burger joint nothing fancy and the food is ok. The prices are a little high for this part of down, something I’d expect for downtown Austin.

This place looks small from the road, but I counted about 80 seats (including the patio), so it can accommodate a deceptively large number of people — if you see a lot of cars in the parking lot (and you often will), don’t be discouraged.
I had the «Conductor»: Two 6 oz. patties, two kinds of cheese, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, onions, bacon, and onion rings — yeah, it was huge. It was also very good — the only thing that kept if from being excellent was the fact that it was a bit over-​cooked (I was hoping for medium and got closer to well done). Both of my kids’ burgers came out perfectly medium, so I’m giving BC the benefit of the doubt and assuming mine was an aberration.
They have two types of fries, wedges and sweet potato fries. I got the wedges — they’re good, but a little thick for my taste. I also asked to taste one sweet potato fry so that I’d know what they were like for the next time — they promptly brought us a full order, piping hot, on the house. I thought that was cool.
The sweet potato fries are excellent; they are served with two dipping sauces: chipotle mayo, and a cinnamon/​apple/​butter sauce — the two sauces were very different from one another, and both were fantastic. I will get these next time.
Overall the service was GREAT. This place is nothing fancy, and the service isn’t very «polished», but I don’t care. These folks are genuine, and it shows; it was clear from the moment that we arrived that our satisfaction as customers was an absolute priority for every employee we came across — very refreshing.
I’d give the food 4 stars (five if they cook my burger a little less next time), but the exemplary service wins them back that fifth star, and then some.
BTW, the also have Blue Bell ice cream, and yes — even after that huge burger and two orders of fries I had a scoop of the Chocolate Covered Cherry… it was wonderful.

The burgers were great. They were very tasty. They have a unique seasoning to the meat that really adds to the delight of the burger. Nothing fancy… just a good burger! And so close to home. Will definately be going back time and time again!