Are you a typical RPI student sick of Commons food? Are you also sick of sitting around bitching about having nowhere to go and nothing to do? Well, I found myself in that situation, so I decided to go out and find something actually edible outside of boring RPI. My eatery of choice was Red Robin.
Red Robin is a gourmet burger joint just outside of Latham Farms. It opened up this summer and is now a rather popular spot. If you go on a weekend, expect a wait. When my friends and I arrived, we were given one of those vibrating discs and told there was about a 25-minute wait. So with time to spare we went outside to pass the time and found that there was really nothing to do. You’d better hope that you can spark decent conversation to get through this. Or, bring a cell phone to call people while your friends bicker about how the summer did or did not conceptually shrink due to RPI’s new academic calendar. Thank you, Verizon and April, for helping me keep my sanity.
The staff is good at the estimations for wait time. We were seated after 26 minutes and the server was taking drink orders within 3-4 minutes of that. Upon entering, you notice that the décor is somewhat haphazardly thrown together. I couldn’t really place a theme, since, from what I saw there were pictures of Marilyn Monroe next to The Pink Panther next to a poster for Spiderman. All in all, I guess it works in some odd way.
Red Robin really isn’t joking when they say they are a burger joint. They have a huge selection of appetizers, burgers, and a few entrees to choose from with something for everyone. It doesn’t take a genius to see though, that they mainly deal with burgers. They have gourmet options for beef, turkey, chicken, fish, and garden burgers.
To start things off we all ordered the “Freckled Lemonade.” This is the house specialty drink. It’s lemonade with a twist; they also throw strawberries into the glass. One may think that $3.79 each is a bit much, but you get free refills and in my opinion, it’s definitely worth it.
For the meal, I ordered the “Towering Onion Rings” and the “5 Alarm Burger.” The onion rings come as a large tower, and I think it’s a rather good-sized portion and quite tasty. The 5 Alarm Burger is a spicy burger with jalapeños, zesty salsa, and peppers. I enjoyed it. When you get your meal, you may think the portion of fries is small, but the main kick of Red Robin is that the burgers come with bottomless fries. That’s right—you get as many as you can eat. They don’t give you much at a time, but you can stay and munch as long as you want.
If you’re looking for a more traditional hamburger, one option is the “Natural Burger.” My guest ordered it, and it comes with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and pickles served on the side of a fairly sizable burger. The burger, of course, also comes with bottomless steak fries.
He ordered his burger with sautéed onions, as opposed to raw ones, and thought the burger tasted very good. He also liked his Freckled Lemonade and the Towering Onion Rings.
All in all, I liked Red Robin. It has a nice atmosphere, competent wait staff, and the food was pretty good. It’s moderately priced, and you definitely get your fill. If you are looking for a good burger, Red Robin just might be your place. All things considered, I give it a 4 out of 5.
To get to Red Robin, take Hoosick Street to Route 7. Follow 7 West to Route 9 in Latham. At the end of the exit ramp, take a right. Red Robin will be on your right after the sign for Latham Farms.
