We had lunch at Burgerville in Centralia, Washington on Sunday, March 10, 2013. We went down there to shop at the outlet stores. I had first heard of Burgerville from a friend who lives in the Olympia area back when I met up with him over a year before (see earlier review of Ezell's). Burgerville is a chain based in Oregon who uses local and natural ingredients for their patties, salads, and sandwiches. Their Centralia location is their farthest north on the I-5 corridor.
It took an hour to get down to Centralia. The weather was rainy but it wasn't too cold. In the morning we went to the outlets east of I-5 just off the Harrison Avenue exit. They are closer to Burgerville. We spent about two hours shopping at the outlets and noticed that the sales tax was lower in Lewis County, around 8% versus 9.3% or so in Pierce County. At around 12:40 p.m. we made the short drive to Burgerville. They're at an intersection and, I think, on the north or northeast side of Harrison Avenue. They're in their own small building surrounded by ample parking. They also have a lane for drive-thru. We parked and as we entered noticed the sign for halibut fish and chips for $9.99.
Burgerville is a medium-sized eatery with many colorful booths and tables, a counter for ordering along one wall with the menu posted above. Around half of the tables were occupied when we were there and it kept fairly busy. There wasn't a queue at the counter but they still let us take our time thinking about what to order. The menu was fairly small with sections for burgers, sandwiches, salads and special items such as fish and chips and chicken sandwiches. On one side was a kids' menu. For drinks they served Coke products. Most of the burger options had cheese such as the double cheeseburger and pepper jack burger. I wanted to order a burger, but my only choice looked to be the regular hamburger for $1.49. We placed our orders and sat down at some stools at a small counter. They gave us a number and gave me a decent size glass to fill with water, even though water didn't cost anything.
They brought our orders very quickly. My wife got the halibut fish and chips in the 3-piece size for $9.99. It came with three pieces of fish and an ample pile of crispy chips. They came with a very ample container of "toddah" sauce, as they say in Portland, Maine. She shared some fish and chips with me and they were very good: crispy and not greasy at all. I could really taste the halibut. She also got a cup of fire-roasted ancho tomato soup that was slightly larger than a regular cup. She enjoyed it. I ordered a regular hamburger with mayo and mustard. Normally burgers come with ketchup and "Burgerville" spread. Before I ordered I checked some jars for sale on the counter and saw that the Burgerville spread contained HFCS. The burger was pretty small and didn't come with anything other than the bun and lots of mayo and mustard. It still tasted very good, especially the bun. On the side I got a small bag of apple slices whose packaging said they were grown in Washington. They looked and tasted like galas.
For dessert, my wife got a "Timber Joey" milkshake that was a cookies 'n cream milkshake with Oreo cookie crumbles and whipped cream. We brought it out with us and she drank it in between trips to stores in the afternoon. We drove from Burgerville to the outlet stores on the west side of the I-5. On the way we noticed that the outlet store Bass was no longer there and saw a couple selling or possibly giving away some German shepherd puppies. We shopped for a couple more hours and then returned home. Now we have two reasons to return to Centralia: the outlets and Burgerville. Next time I want to find out if they'll make some of the cheeseburger options without the cheese.
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