Saturday, August 08, 2015

Burger King and the Living is Easy............

I have finally figured out that kids would rather have a play area and a crown then a hamburger and french fries.  Well, that is how it seemed on Thursday, at least when as a mini surprise, we (John, Matilda, Sebastian and I) headed for the new Burger King.


 It's a counter service restaurant of good size.  Spotlessly clean and ready for business.  Open a couple of months or so, we stopped in to check it out.  The great part is while you are waiting for your food, which seemed to take quite a bit of time, the kids can be playing in the small, but fun, play area.
 Decor items are well done and have an environmental feel to them.  No bright colors, but subtle, soft ones with a crown on every table.
 Interestingly, there are different seating areas.  Booths, tables and even  comfortable chairs in a lounge kind of setting.
 The Kid's Clubhouse was definitely fun for Mati and Sebastian.  Interactive stuff from the floor to the ceiling.
 The construction was great.  A tilt wall building but with lowered decorative elements to make it feel softer and comfortable as with this lowered ceiling element with lighting.

 What was hilarious was when Sebastian put the crown on his head.  He turned into a knight or a king
or something.  Note his pretend sword.
 The next thing, I think, was some kind of a karate chop.  All this because of a piece of paper on his head and an imagination.
Oooops, its not just little boys who can play act, so can a Dad.
 Then the proverbial funny face from Mati was part of her schtick!  Hilarious.
Last, but not least, the family with their burgers, fries, cold drinks, crowns and happy faces.


The new Burger King is on the libramento between the glorieta by Mega and Bodega Aurerra.  It also has a drive thru. Our first in San Miguel de Allende.

Life is good!

18 comments:

Unknown said...

The ikea ballroom was a great hit with our two boys, people used to say how unsanitary it was!!! I laughed, figured it built up their immunity.
Looks like they had a lot of fun, John too.

sparks_mex said...

But those play areas get the kids all wound up and the screaming can lead to indigestion. My neighbor kids love to go to Burger King in Manzanillo for the food. Manzanillo, an hour away, has a new Carl's Jr that we will try next time. Hoping they have something like the "family meal" .... and not big fat burgers

Tancho said...

Your experience with the service is what I have always expereinced For some reason anytime I have visited one of these Mexican franchises, the amount of time that it took for an order to be process was obscene. They should learn from the street hamburger stands that are able to take and order and deliver the burger in less than 5 minutes. My experience was always 10+ sometime 15, I wanted to jump over the counter and help the clueless people...
What they need to do is send the workers to the states for a few weeks for training, perhaps that would speed things up, probably not.

Jvineyard said...

What a beautiful family!

Retired Teacher said...

Cute pictures of the grandkids!
You can probably remember the old days (I know I can) when there were hardly any American restaurant or fast food chains in Mexico. If you wanted an American-style hamburger you had to go to Denny's or a Mexican chain called "Burger Boy". There are no longer any "Burger Boys"... I heard that they were bought up by McDonalds.

Babs said...

Shelagh - Great comment. I never went to an Ikea food court because it was no where near where I lived in Houston. But, I remember my pediatrician telling me when my kids were itty bitty that the kids were going to eat or put in their mouth all kinds of unsanitary things and that would build up their immunity system. Indeed, he was correct. They didn't have allergies or illnesses or things like that is little ones!

Babs said...

Tancho, the McDonald's here is one of the most efficient (although I don't go to McD in the USA) counter service food establishments I've ever been in.........BUT I was surprised that the Burger King seemed so disorganized. Especially since the manager just stood talking on his phone while about 10 employees scrambled, but didn't seem to accomplish much. BUT, hey, I'm not in a hurry! ha, especially since the kids had somewhere to play.

Shannon said...

And a good time was had by all! One of the things I have always thought was great about restaurants here in Mexico are the kid's play areas. Almost every family restaurant has one. The kids can play in a safe area and the adults can enjoy time to relax and eat. Todd, of course, has been to Burger King, but fast food is not one of my favourite things, so I have not seen it yet. It looks like a very nice one though, great photos.

Babs said...

Sparks, I've never been in a Carl's Junior. I think that is a West coast chain. Never saw them in the South or East. All chains now have salads and things like that on menus for those who don't eat meat.........That started about 20 years ago.

Babs said...

Thanks Jvineyard. They are very special and fun!


Bill, I've never seen a Denny's in Mexico......VIPS yes. I remember too that up until about 25 years ago, one could not find hamburgers and french fries in Mexico except in beach resorts where the US visitors demanded them! I never saw a Burger Boys either. Now of course we even have Dairy Queen in Mexico, but not in SMA.

I'm waiting for Wendy's as I love their chicken sandwich......I heard they are in DF, but haven't seen them anywhere else.......on my travels.

Babs said...

Shannon, the thing I do like about the burgers at BK is the taste of a broiled burger. I don't know how you could get that taste unless you did broil it. I'm not a big burger person anyway, but, for the kids, it was FUN! They also like Pollo Feliz because of the play area........they could care less about the food, ha.

Retired Teacher said...

Barbara, on my first trip to Mexico in 1974, there was a Denny's in the Zona Rosa in D.F. It was the first time I had ever eaten at Denny's... they didn't even exist in Ohio at that time! Burger Boy might have been limited to Mexico City. Yes, Wendy's (which is based in Ohio) is in the Zona Rosa along that pedestrianized street (I forget the name) which is one fast food restaurant after another.

Babs said...

Thanks Bill. I had no idea. Good information..........

living.boondockingmexico said...

I had passed it several times over the last few weeks. I was tempted to go inside to check it out and never did. Looks like a nice addition and it's in a good location.

Steve Cotton said...

The presence of hamburgers in my neighborhood -- the barrio -- surprised me. I suspect workers returning from the north brought back the exotic American food. (That is just a guess, of course.) But, try as I may, I cannot find anyone in the area who can create a good chili burger. Let alone a good bowl of chili. Of course, that was true in my journeys through the southern states of the USA.

Babs said...

Surely you're kidding Steve about chili since Texas is the Headquarters for the Chili Cookoff over near Luckenbach, Texas. In the restaurant industry and by chefs and cooks, Texas is known as the chili state.........it started there with the cookwagons on the cattle roundups, etc etc etc.

There are a couple of restaurants in SMA that have relatively good chili con carne and several that have very good hamburgers. Come on over - I'll share them with you.

Droelma said...

The only place I ever had a good burger was at Denny's in Zona Rosa and that could easily be twenty years ago. They also had the best green chilaquiles with chicken. I have never been in a fast food place in Mexico, except to buy coffee at McD's or once a year some fries, which I also have not done for quite a few years.

I wonder if the love for burgers is a cultural thing, or if one needs to get acquainted with them early in life. I had my first burger in my early 30's ( in a place of which I forgot the name, but they were famous for their root beer on tap and for the funny shape of their building with a red roof) in Minneapolis. I tried a few more times, but just could not get exited...lol.

Now Chili is a very different thing. I would make an effort for a good bowl of Chili and travel halfway across town, make reservations a week in advance, or stand in line for thirty minutes. Maybe my love of Chili grew out of a need for something more exotic than the mostly bland German postwar food that only knew salt and a bit of pepper.
Chili was the first " ethnic " food I ever tasted and I fell in love with it, even though it was Iowa/Minnesota Chili which surely does not compare to Texas Chili.
I remember excellent Chili at times in " Mama Mia " in SMA, but that was 25 years or more ago, when the culinary scene was much more subdued and people still got exited about good chili....lol.

PS: I remembered just needed another cup of coffee for that !
The hamburger place was called " A&W "....I am almost certain.

Droelma said...

RE: Carl's Junior:
A month or so ago I passed at Carl's Junior in Zona Rosa ( I think it's the only one here in the capital ) and they had several big posters announcing in English that their latest burger could be served at an extra price with eight ( yes, 8 ! ) slices of bacon.
I now think of that poster every time I see bacon in the supermarket or mercado....:o).