Sam Adams Atlanta Brewhouse Sellout Burger

layover in Atlanta. while instinct says "get Popeyes", there are burger cravings raging for me & the man. Option #1... Heineken Bar and Grill. burgers on the menu look borrr-rrring. across the airport, the next best option, Opt #2 is Sam Adams Brewhouse, conjuring up images of solid New England hearty classics. after we settle into our table, we realize the burger options are really the EXACT same thing as Heineken Bar. not only that, but in addition to the standard Sam Adams beer list, they also offer Bud Light and have ads for Coors Light. what IS this place?!

i order the tex-mex burger (guac, pico... same old). looking around, the guy next to us is served a very gray looking burger patty and his wife a ceasar salad with this rubbery looking fake chicken on top of it (think "Subway"). not looking good. nor do the "chips" which are bags of Lays... no cutesy kettle chips that i was kinda hoping for. now don't get me wrong... nothing wrong with classic Lays, or being served them in the right food joint. love them. BUT. not what i was expecting here. Sam Adams has a name... and it's a name of high-quality, discerning taste, beer palate of a crazed idiot savant taster. hmmm...

burgers arrive.

as you may notice, there is no guac. didn't know this until i looked down sadly and then hunted down the waitress for the news. the burger itself is dry, and bland with an odd seasoning taste i've had before. can't place it... thought it seems like a really bad sausage patty. like some kind of clearance walmart sausage or something from a shitty cafeteria. i'm glad i keep the pickles on because they're drowning out the bad patty flavor and compensating for the no-flavor of everything else. after digging through a few (suppressed) memories, i place the flavor. vending machine burger from my days working at the PennySaver (i know, i know, though I had 3 very specific reasons for ordering it at the time... 1) poor; 2) starving; 3)sickly curious).

Sam Adams burger has better presentation than the soggy vending machine bun, but the taste is right on par. we can only laugh at what a-holes we are for not getting Popeyes and look around at the photos of hand-picked hops adorning the walls. thinking one of two things have happened here: 1) the brand is a sell out, prostituting their name to a shitty corp restaurant chain for a few bucks without taking the time to check what they were slapping their label on; or 2) they were so hammered when they taste tested the food and their "delicate palates" ruined by the salty Popeyes they just consumed that they didn't know any better.

In conclusion, 1/2 star ~. the 1/2 is a kudos that i was able to finish it (i was THAT hungry), and was able to hold it down. what WOULD make a SA Brewhouse great would be recommended beer pairings with the the entrees; beer battered onion rings; hot pretzels with tangy ale-mustard dipping sauce; steak and ale pot pies... you get it. goes without say offering a real burger.

i might not be as critical if it were Bobby's Brewhouse, but it's Sams. and it sold out. points LOST.