Herb’s Tavern
Though I haven’t read the vast majority of the reviews on this Rocky River institution, I’m betting that mine will probably be one of the few ‘negative’ ones. Truthfully, I just don’t see what the big deal is with Herb’s. The quaint little building is pretty cool, but being voted “best patio”..really????? It was large and nicely laid out, but personally, if I’m dining outside, I don’t want to be sitting in the middle of noisy traffic on Detroit Ave.; not to mention the exhaust fumes. But that’s just US. Neither of us had really heard too much about Herb’s prior to this visit, with the exception of some not-so-positive things one of our friends mentioned a few years back. That was probably the only thing keeping me from wanting to give it a try, but this particular night was Mr. Z’s choice, so Herb’s it was!
When we walked in, we saw a sign that said “seat yourself at any clean table you can find” – hmmm never saw that before, but that’s what we did. Within a few minutes, a super-friendly server named Ally brought us menus and took our drink orders. Since burgers seem to be their claim to fame, that’s what we both ordered and both of us went with Herb’s Super Burger. Mr. Z added cheddar cheese to his and I added bleu cheese crumbles. One thing I have to mention with regard to one of the reviews that I did read – yes, they will absolutely ‘customize’ your burger for you with any number of great-sounding toppings/add-ons, but….there is a CHARGE for every single one of them (example – $1.15 for a few bleu cheese crumbles). If you order Herb’s Super Burger, you get exactly what it says on the menu – a ½ lb. burger with “a few” (VERY few) grilled onions and mushrooms and nothing else – literally – no lettuce, pickle(s), tomato, etc. Though I can’t say we are burger connoisseurs, we have certainly had our share over the years and we have our favorites (the place that did WIN #1 BURGER for 2019 being one of them, as well as a place we go regularly). Herb’s didn’t even come close to being as good as either of them (honestly, though they’re not cheap either, we’ve had better burgers at Five Guys). We both thought the meat had an odd taste to it and the bun was surely no big deal (a little on the stale side). As for the $$, I thought the menu said they were $8.99 but when we got our bill, it said $6/each, plus the cheese we added. Had we actually been charged $9.00 for that burger, I would have hit the roof – we didn’t even feel it was worth the $6 we were charged, so $9 would have been robbery! Again, please remember that this is simply OUR OPINION – there are those die-hard Herb’s patrons out there that will most likely think we’re crazy for feeling the way we do, but that’s also THEIR opinions. In addition to the burgers, Mr. Z had a side dinner salad. It was $5.99 for basically a small bowl of mixed greens (mostly iceberg), diced tomatoes and some shredded cheddar cheese – that was it. Needless to say, we were both very unimpressed. To go with my burger, I ordered a side of the deep-fried zucchini. If memory serves me correctly, it was also $5.99. The portion was smaller than I would have expected for that price and though it was prepared well, I think that they used the same fryer for it as they do the fish, because the breading on all of the zucchini strips had a strong fishy taste. Thankfully, they had given me some ranch dressing to dip them in.
Overall, I can’t say that we actually disliked Herb’s Tavern (cool little place and our server was great), but we didn’t LIKE it enough to ever return. The burgers were certainly not anything we’d ever order again and though we have no problem paying for quality, we felt they were grossly overpriced for what the customer gets.
Herb’s Tavern is located at:
19925 Detroit Ave.
Rocky River, OH
(440) 201-9231
https://www.herbstavernrockyriver.com/