Gus Jr

If I can edit this later I will gladly do so but I just left the parking lot at 8:45pm and this place was closed and the lights were completely off. There was no other car in sight. If they’ve closed permanently or are going to they should notify the public.

If you’ve lived in the Inland Empire long enough, you’ve probably passed by a Gus Jr. at least once. It’s one of those franchaises that is synonymous with the IE. This particular branch is pretty simple looking, they do offer party seating if you have a group of people coming. Also note the free chips and salsa by the drink section in case you’re starving and can’t wait for your food to come out. There’s a lot of food you can get here. Breakfast, Mexican Food, Sandwiches, Burgers, Fried Chicken, Soups, etc. You’ll probably find something you like here, they even have daily specials too.
Despite the big menu, I only come here for the chicken strips dinner. During my College days, I used to get one of those at least once a week at the branch by UCR. It’s $ 9.99 and you get six chicken strips, fries, garlic toast, onion rings, zucchini and soup/​salad. It’s a ridiculous amount of food, it’s hard to keep the container closed since the food keeps trying to bust out on the way home. You can easily get two or three meals out of how much stuff they give you.
As for the food, chicken strips are good. Wish they were seasoned a little heavier and they can sometimes be a bit dry, but that’s nothing that a little bit of ranch can’t fix. Fries have a nice seasoning to them, but lose their crispiness over the ride home. Onion rings and Zucchini are pretty straightforward, ranch dressing is definitely your best friend when ordering one of these dinners. If they’re offering Albondigas soup, I definitely reccomend that. Two huge meatballs and a lot of big chunks of vegetables, it’s good stuff.
For the most part, the food is pretty good, but I find myself coming here for the portions more than the food itself. You’re coming here because you’re hungry more than anything. Value menu is pretty solid here. Nothing overly spectacular about the food, it’s good, plentiful and cheap. There’s definitely a time for these sorts of meals and this place delivers that in spades. I’ll be back every now and then.

One of my favorite treats! Whenever I’m in town, I must stop a few times and have burgers, fries, onion rings & fried zucchini! I grew up on these type of restaurants and Gus Jr still reminds me of my childhood! I’ve traveled the country, and haven’t seen a burger/​Mexican «mom&pop» quite like it!

Chicken soup was all bones no white meat. Carne asada taco had meat with absolutely no flavor and the guacamole that topped it was very bland. Semi-​Edible food but will never return here. $ 10.02 very wasted! :(

I used to be a huge fan of this place. The food quality has gone downhill as has the salsa quality. The pricing has slowly creeped up as with most things
An example is, a large drink is $ 2.97 which is a lock for a 32 ounce drink compared to most places
The burritos are all rights for a bean and cheese but anything else, is a little bit of a letdown. I would suggest going to Del taco down the street for better food at a cheaper price.

Just paid over $ 35 for two burgers, a pastrami sandwich and some onion rings. Sandwiches were mehhhh, but 99% of the onion rings ended up in the trash. Completely inedible (see pictures) it takes some special skill to have burnt and soggy onion rings all in the same order.
We won’t be back!

Customer service is excellent every time I’ve been here and portion sizes are huge. Come hungry. Yara always gives 5* service!

The only thing I come for (less and less frequently) is the value menu. Everything else is way overpriced. Workers have a sense of urgency, but this only (tries to) compensate for the fact that the place is understaffed. I guess that’s why people are complaining about getting their orders botched. Someone is lining their pockets while hiring a few polite ladies rushing to take your order, and a bunch of non English speaking illegal immigrants to work the back.

The customer service is horrible and completely disorganized. When you dine in they give you a number, but don’t bring the whole order out. They brought each plate 1 at a time about 5 minutes apart. My kids ate my plate because it came out first then I was stuck with a grilled cheese. Also we ordered menudo and 40 minutes later I went to ask where it was and they said they were out of menudo. I watched them fill a pot of menudo for a lady that came in a few minutes after we ordered, but we never received ours. Such a messy operated business. I will go to else where from now on.

They always mess up my order and you never can understand them when you go through the drive thru.

I would give no stars if possible. Customer service is awful at the drive thru and they ALWAYS miss up your order. Thumbs down on this place.

Can’t ever get the order right at the drive thru. Always missing something. Taste is lackluster.

With the exception of the order not being 100% correct 100% of the time… This place rocks. I dont like the pastrami but most everything else is tremendously tasty. The fried zucchini is really good and they have ranch dressing that makes you want to shower withe the stuff son! Its that good. Anyways, its always piping hot and straight off of the grill. Recently, the drive thru girls have changed for the better… They’ve been very accurate and nice. Love this place… American, Mexican… Doesn’t matter– its all good. Breakfast all dat… Whaaaaaat? Thats right son… all day loooong.

Okay I was not so pleased with customer service there a few months back. Absolutely lacked friendly service from the Get. Then,. I thought I’d give it another try because I was working directly across the street. Guess who the main cook is now. None other than Edgar from the Woodcrest Farmer Boys cook line!!! Hell Ya I will return just for this guys cooking!!! EDGAR IS THE BEST! He made the best food in the mid-​90s for Farmers Boys which launched into what it is today! Mad Props to Edgar the Main Cook! Cheers

Really like this place, whenever I’m in the area around lunch time I always stop in. Now do me a favor and open a place in Lake Elsinore and ill really be happy!

I went there early morning for breakfast. I really can not say anything bad. The service was great and the food was good. I oder my food to go which i waited a little bit longer than usual but everthing was made then and there.

I only give 4 instead of 5 because the orders are sometimes incorrect… But the food is made to order and is always super fresh. It does depend on what you order… So experiment! I’ve received something in the past that I didn’t like, so they offered to replace it with anything on the menu… Sweet. Keep it up… Highly recommended, but check your bags inthe drive-​thru

While I didn’t come to this place thinking I was going to get a great meal, I did expect it to be edible. I was on the way home from work and thought a bean & cheese burrito sounded good. I chose the drive-​thru window which was a mistake. I waited for 13 minutes! I got my burrito and started driving away. Most bean & cheese burritos can be held in your hand when they are not big. Not this one. I took one bite (which was disgusting) and the back side of the burrito shot out the watery beans onto my lap (thankfully I had the wrapper sitting there to protect my clothes). So I gave up until I got home. When I got home the burrito had settled in a mangled mess that I didn’t care to try eating. So, I waited a long time for a less than edible burrito.
*Note, this wasn’t my only time eating here. Other times I have gotten mediocre burgers and salads (the lettuce was warm). I’d give it 2 stars for the other visits, but this visit was so bad that I feel compelled to give it 1 star. Save your money for Mr. Taco across the street. Better food with quicker service!

On my way to a job site at the Riverside National Cemetery, while driving East on Van Buren… I see this sign; «Burger $ 0.99»… and a photo of a burger with lotsa’ lettuce, tomato and pickle! I had to make my meeting, so I «bookmarked it in that part of my brain that controls «un-​controlled salivation over burgers!» :-)
On my way back to So. Orange County, almost three and a half hours later, I saw Gus Jr. coming up on my left. I did a U-​turn on Van Buren, and drove in, parked and walked in. For 99 cents… even if it wasn’t edible, I just had to see what Gus Jr. was passing off as a burger. And guess what? It was, and IS if you’re planning on stopping, a pretty decent sandwich. While I’m thinking the burger is not 100% beef, but may have filler, I do know that it was abundantly stuffed with fresh tomato, lettuce, pickle, diced onion, and a Thousand Island dressing. Not bad… not bad at all !
Unlike a certain pastrami sandwich I tried at another joint, which was more bread and condiments than meat, and 8 times the price this burger… Gus honestly will provide you with a decent sandwich. The burger doesn’t have that char-​grilled flavor, but the more I think about it, also didn’t have much if any fat? That’s good if you’re trying to hold down the calories.
This «gentleman» standing next to me, waiting for his two burgers, heard me asking the young counter gal if they actually had a One-​dollar burger. After I ordered, he volunteered that… «Hey, if you like the one-​buck burger… they also have a bean and cheese burrito for a buck!» He and I watched them prep’ 5 of those burritos while we waited. I was totally amazed at the portion of refried beans and cheese they heaped into that large flour tortilla.
All in all, my expectations were more than met. I definitely got more than I expected. Would I recommend Gus Jr. Why not? I do see some negative reviews, but they aren’t price related. And I have to add that I watched the cook, in about 5 minutes, put together at least 15 burgers. He was clean, kept his station organized, and so far… at least three hours after eating… I’m no worse for the wear! I say give Gus a try!

Do I have to give it ANY stars?
We were excited to try Gus Jr’s after looking for a spot to grab some good and filling food and saw this place on our Unilocal radar!
The prices were great!
Where do I begin?
Well, first off the damn drive thru barely works!
My BF had to SCREAM his lungs out (and had a headache afterwards) because the girl’s headset OBVIOUSLY did not work.
We ordered $ 13 worth of food that we had the SCREAM about getting. She asked us to repeat EVERYTHING…2x! WTF?
When we got the window to pay, (Monday ¹¹⁄₂₈) we suggested she «turn» the headset up so she can HEAR the customers, she got an attitude! WTF?
We paid via credit.
As we sat there, we WATCHED the short order cook, WITH BARE HANDS prepare our food.
No stocking cap, no hat, no gloves… nada! WTF?
He went from touching the meat, his face, the cabinets, the food, the containers, his face, his head, the apron, the stove, blah blah blah… with NO gloves on… seriously?
My BF was so pissed (and hungry and with a headache) he knocked on the drive thru window and asked for our $ back, canceled the order and we got back cash… even though we paid for it via credit, not cash or debit… ridiculous.
FIRST AND LAST experience with Gus and his chain.
Took my $ and time over to Mr. Blues… read that review… Geez…
I dont think I can eat in Riverside anymore…