The Original Red Onion

The food is fine with a lot of variety for a «greasy spoon». However, they are EXPENSIVE!!!
I have been there several times over the years since I live nearby, but every time I go there it’s $ 30-​$ 40.00 for two people. I have officially made my last visit. Just left with two burgers and two sides, NO DRINK and the bill was $ 30.06! The problem is mainly the side dishes. A SMALL side of fries I ordered for my girlfriend is just under $ 5.00. They give you basically a lunch bag size of fries, but we do not need that many fries! I hate griping about the quantity, because they DO give you a lot of fries I also ordered a small fried zucchini. Again a lunch bag size and it was just under $ 8.00! Repeat $ 8.00! The quantity of zucchini was easily enough for 4 people as a side dish. We ended up throwing the bulk of the fries and zucchini away! What a waste of food. The quantity they give you for the price is fine if you have 4 or more people, but if you are just two or a single person and want a side of fries and zucchini, be prepared to pay a small fortune. For my cheeseburger I ordered with some avocado slices. That was $ 1.99 for a 3 – 4 thin slices. Really? They need to offer way smaller sides at a lesser price for those who do not need a pound of fries and a pound of zucchini. For two people I should be able to get a couple of burgers and two small sides with a soda each for about $ 20.00 or so. $ 30.00 is unreasonable. Anyway I have said my peace – my last visit there unless I know I can get some smaller sides. PS I went to Big D’s in Rodeo and spent way less money and didn’t throw most of my food away when I was full!

If you want a good greasy burger with grilled onions and oozy doozy cheese and the best crinkle cut fries, then come here. This is last burger joint in the area that actually taste like a burger.

After giving red onion two tries, I’m disappointed. Both times I went they were out of multiple things on their menus and didn’t act very apologetic. The kicker was when they were «out» of pancakes by 9am. Don’t go if you came with something specific in mind. Waffle fries are really good, otherwise they’d only get one star.

They may be pricey but their staff is so kind! I love how it has such a family feel to it. They all get along, it doesn’t seem that there is any tension and they really work together. It seems like their business model is structurally sound and that is something I appreciate. I also enjoy watching them make the burgers… It truly seems like an art! The food is yummy but a little on the expensive side. It is something I would love to change but it also won’t stop me from going there

Delicious milkshakes! The burger was a little messy ad hard to eat but it was good. We ordered the fries and onion rings, which come in a huge serving-​enough for 4 people.
The staff was super nice too.
The only bad thing I can say about the Red Onion is that its sort of a greasy spoon. But then again, sometimes that is exactly what one craves!

Pretty good burgers, not my favorite though. It seems like they are greasy and fatty just so they can be called a greasy fatty burger but they don’t necessarily have the best taste or quality meat or cheese. It is kind of a dark greasy place to sit as well, so get it to go. The desserts there are great though, which is surprising based on the look of the restaurant and the food they are serving. Guess you can’t always judge a book by it’s cover.

I was craving a good home style burger and since I was close by I decided to try Red Onion. I have driven by this place a million times but never stopped because it’s right next door to a high school and during the week I knew it would probably be packed. Since it was late night and the place looked dead I figured it was time I gave it a whirl. The exterior is totally average and exactly what you would expect a strip mall diner to look like. The interior was sad and messy looking, the walls were covered in miscellaneous art straight out of grandma’s sitting room or parlor. The staff also looked sad and a little messy/​sloppy; none of this really mattered though, because once I tasted the Cheese Lover’s burger I was in HEAVEN! Hands down this was one of the best tasting burgers I have ever had, it definitely ranks up there with Gordon Ramsay’s Burgr burger. The meat was well seasoned, the lettuce and tomatoes were nice and crisp, the bun was nice and soft, and it was smothered in cheese. I added grilled red onions and mushrooms which just added to the deliciousness. We ordered the small fries with our burgers; on the menu it says small feeds 1 – 2 but it really could feed 3 – 4 people easy. The prices are reasonable, after the extra charge for mushrooms my burger came up to about $ 11, the order of fries was about $ 5. Totally worth the price. The Red Onion Cheese Lover’s burger gets 10 stars in my book!

Pretty awesome value for your money and when you compare the comfort of this location over the others it definitely wins…
And the staff is eager to please… Way to eager. Our pleasant afternoon burger and fries was constantly interrupted by one repeating please.
«Would you like a refill?»
«Would you like a refill?»
«Would you like a refill?»
«Would you like a refill?»
«Would you like a refill?»
«Would you like a refill?»
«Would you like a refill?»
«Would you like a refill?»
«Would you like a refill?»
«Would you like a refill?»
«Would you like a refill?»
«Would you like a refill?»
«Would you like a refill?»
«Would you like a refill?»
«Would you like a refill?»
«Would you like a refill?»
«Would you like a refill?»
«Would you like a refill?»
«Would you like a refill?»
«Would you like a refill?»
Burger = awesome
Fries = awesome
But…
Eager to please… Too eager.

Got the garlic fries, which were huge!
Got a bacon cheese burger cut in half, delicious.
Not somewhere I would consider going to unless I really have a craving for it. Considering that it’s a little our my way and a tad bit pricey. But overall good food, and girl who took my order ¹⁰⁄₂₀ at about 12ish was really nice.

This place NEVER disappoints! Whether it’s a juicy burger with all the fixings or just breakfast off their griddle I am always happy with whatever is on their menu! This time I tried their Reuben and it was SO good! I was pleasantly surprised to be asked «4oz or 8oz» of pastrami. What amazes me most is the staff! They are a young and hard working bunch! The hospitality is great and the waitresses are so thorough with taking your order and take such care to get it just the way you want it. Thank you all for always making my visit so enjoyable!

Dirty, sticky, trash all over, and a bunch of kids in their pajamas and PE clothes that have no idea what they’re doing running the place.
Orders came wrong, long hairs in the food, and attitudes when their hair was pointed out.
Three item plates, yet they forgot one item on both plates.
Out of home fries, out of corn dogs, no butter, no jam, no one paying attention to customers’ needs.
If they get their crap together, it could be enjoyable once again.

I agree with Lara, but I must give a 1 star. If I read Lara’s post before I came here, I would not have come.
The tables were sticky and gross when I arrived, the waitress wiped the tables and that didn’t help the stickiness. Maybe they should use cloth table cloths. I can’t write a review on Unilocal because I can’t rest my elbows on the table, so I must wait until I get home. The floors were very dirty, all the trash cans were full and the outside of the trash cans were dirty. Graffiti is in the bathroom. The front door and glass was dirty and sticky, I didn’t want to touch it. Half of the light bulbs were out and the light fixtures were dirty. Cob webs in the corners, dust in the window sills, and I saw some flies.
I had the chicken fried steak and I didn’t like the gravy. The coffee was ok but the coffee pot looked dirty. The prices were high for quality of the food.

I’ve been going here off and on for literally 3 decades. Seems different than it did in the past. Same high prices, a bit less satisfaction. It would also help if they cleaned off the grill before making my patty melt, so I don’t get all of the gristle that shows in my picture!

Came here to see if this place reckons with 5 guys just around the area.
Ordered
–corn dog (last one available)
this was decent, came out fresh of the fryer but it wasn’t the best corn batter
–western burger (has bbq and onion rings)
Omg this looked sooooo good! And taste did do justice. Waited about 5 – 10 minutes before biting into it because it was steaming hot, but burger was still fresh and oozy (tender meat and perfect mix of sweet and crispy from bbq sauce and onion rings!
–the cheese lover with avo and Swiss/​cheddar wrapped in lettuce
I’m surprised this place catered to my picky low carb dieting! It was wrapped it huge lettuce leaves but was rather hard to hold up and eat together. Kinda messy, but good nonetheless!
This place has huge chunk of patties that keep you satisfied and happy!
Huge selection from sandwiches — salads — wings — pizza sandwiches and more to delight any food lover!
Only negation is the cleanliness of the venue — there are dead bugs behind the seats, and lots of flies. But if you don’t mind eating at a casual, little run down place for good food, by all means this is the place for you!
Oh, btw this place over 5 guys hehe

I have to say, the only thing that kept me from posting a 1-​star was this:
The burger I had, a garlic-​spinach-​mushroom number. It was messy, but full of flavor.
That is the ONLY good thing I can say.
1) the soda, first Orange soda — had to return it. it didn’t taste right
then I tried a rootbeer, again, tasted off.
2) the service was off. The girl did not seem like a food server/​employee AT ALL. She was dressed in spandex tights/​leggings like you’d see in the gym, tennie and a hoodie, and just the general look was … not professional, even by casual standards. And she kind of had a bored attitude and did not smile.
3) This is the worst part: IT WAS GROSS. The entire area, from the tables, to the walls, to the mini-​blinds (oh god the mini-​blinds), to the kitchen area — was FILTHY. Like, the the naked-​eye filthy. The tables are sticky, there was a LAYER of dust and crumbs all over all the napkin dispensers on all the tables, and the mini-​blinds…
Let me tell you about the mini-​blinds. All the blinds in the room were pulled up, except for the one directly behind my husband. It was COVERED in, something. A reddish black color. It was a splatter of something. And you could tell that it was several different splatters of varying ages. Not counting the layer of general dusty ickness that coated over it all. These were metallic looking somewhat heavy duty blinds. THEY COULD STAND UP TO AN OCCASSIONAL WIPE DOWN — Grab a rag people.
Everything around us just looked dirty. Not old. I know the difference. DIRTY. Unkept. And the kitchen, while my husband was paying for the meal, I was at the front counter TRYING not to look to closely to the kitchen/​cooking area. Eww. There is this gross area under the stove where they set the spatulas inbetween uses… onto these GROOOOSSS muck covered washrags. There was crusty stuff all over these washrags and they did NOT have the look of recent food from recent cooking on them. They looked like they have been there … awhile. And that is what they had the utensils on that they used to cook our food with. After that I forcibly willed myself to not look at anything else before I started convincing myself that I was going to catch some scary food ickness.
They also have these displays in a acrylic case full of ‘cakes’, I presume to advertise for some cake baking/​decorating service. These things were also VERY dusty, OLD dust, not the ‘Oh we just haven’t dusted this week (month) yet”. No. This is obvious unkempt layers we are talking about.
That being said… the food wasn’t bad. The hamburger was good. The fries were cooked right. The sodas were completely off in their mixture. and the place was so filthy that no matter how good the burger was. I can’t bring myself to come back any time soon.
And for the record… I don’t normally post things this negative. its very rare. But a food place this dirty. Something needs to be said. If they get their act cleaned up… yes, pun intended… I would definitely be willing to give it another shot.

Great old style burger joint. They have quite an extensive menu, but the wife and I went for the burgers. I got the double bacon cheeseburger and she just got a single cheeseburger. I wanted to do the supreme burger with a Sunnyside egg on top, but wasn’t that hungry.
Here is a couple of tips:
They will give you a choice of grilled onions or regular onions for your burger. The grilled onions are great but get them on the side. They give you a lot and it makes the burger slip and slide and fall apart. Very hard to eat, but good.
There are a lot of different choices for fries. They come out in very large orders. My wife and I split the «serves 2 to 3» order but should have done the smaller version. We left at least half of our fries.
Staff is really friendly and goes on their way to accommodate.

I’m temporarily staying in the area and when I was looking up food and saw their menu I think I almost died from excitement. This is definitely a stoner food type of joint!
So when we got here my boyfriend and I shared the garlic fries, and like the fatties we are added cheddar cheese to it :3
The fries are sooooooooooooooo fucking good! One of the best I’ve had. I’m pretty sure they fry those babies at least 3 times because they are stupid crispy on the outside but still moist. My gripe about most places that I order garlic fries from is that they don’t add enough garlic, here however, they did not skimp at all!
Also, I originally had intentions of us both ordering our own fries since they had so many options, but saw they were kind of expensive so we decided to share. That was a good thing because they were HUGE. We were only able to eat half of them despite how good they were.
Onto the burgers we both got bacon cheese with an egg on top. The actual patty itself is bland (moist/​greasy though) but the bacon, cheese and egg covered it up pretty well. While it said the egg was going to be over easy it come more like over hard. Not a problem but would have been better with the yolk jizzing down the center of the burger.
I also ordered the chipotle sauce on the side. It was a dollar and at first I was thinking that it was kind of expensive for a side of sauce, BUT, they give you a decent amount in a togo container. It’s surprisingly really good too! It’s actually got a good kick to it unlike most chipotle sauces I come across. I think I’ll be adding this to my sandwiches for the next week haha.
Oh and they have a dessert case near the entrance, they actually look pretty good too! Impressive for a diner… however they also have deep fried banana cheesecake that is calling my name. Will definitely be coming here for some more fries and to try their spicy chicken or spam sandwiches!

It was a surreal experience eating at the Red Onion. The Red Onion was out of onion rings. The sign read «burgers and pie.» They had no pie. They did, however, have burgers and the burgers we had were good.
Service is spotty to say the least. I phoned ahead to see if they take AMEX [note to Unilocal: it would be much more helpful if you listed which credit cards are accepted in the info rather than just a yes or no] and was greeted with, «Red Onion, hold on.» After that I sat for eight minutes listening to dishes clattering before someone hung up the phone. My husband thought I was crazy to keep holding but, like a train wreck, I just couldn’t look away.
Bottom line: bacon burger was good, fries were fine. Prices are okay though a soda is $ 2.99 which I consider high.

3.5 stars
I don’t care if this is the ORIGINAL, Original Red Onion, I like this place! Wide selection of burgers, sandwiches, sides, and desserts. Great local diner vibe with the open grill. The people there are friendly and make sure you’re satisfied. The food is definitely GREASY, so don’t come in here expecting a healthy meal.
I’ve had the Garlic Spinach and Mushroom Burger. Pretty greasy, but very garlic-​y flavor, which I like. I also had the cheese steak fries. The fries are thick crinkle cut and the meal is overall not that flavorful.
They also have a bunch of pastries and desserts on display, such as macarons! As a macaron fanatic, I of course had to try some. They have many flavors, but I went for a few of the more unique ones: ube coconut, maple bacon, vanilla with strawberry filling. The macarons look kinda lumpy on the outside but fear not, the texture and flavors are perfect on the inside! You can definitely taste each of the respective flavors and they are perfectly sweet. Delicious!
I recommend giving this place a shot if you’re in the area. It looks like a good place to meet for lunch that will provide you with good service and a hearty meal.

How many Original Red Onions can there be. I would think that only one of the four in this area can be really the Original. But who knows maybe it not location, but the owners.
Never the less this one, so far, is my favorite, the building doesn’t look that old. There are more menu choices at this location. There are a lot of burger choices and sides. It looks like they have an extensive breakfast menu that might be interesting to try. A grilled cheese pass by my table that looked good.
I ordered a bacon cheese burger and it was pretty good. Perhaps I need to go on an East Bay hamburger culinary quest, and take notes, to really know what the perfect burger will taste like. I also ordered onion rings. I thought them might have been house-​made because they were not uniform in sized. I asked the very competent young server and she told me no she wished they were. Nevertheless they were good.
I ate here about 9pm and was surprised that they were busy. Hopefully, the 5 Guys Burgers down the street doesn’t hurt their business too much.