“You’re not gonna get that unless I do it,” he laughed. Guess that’s a chef joke I’m not in on. I lowered my expectations so as not to be disappointed.
Earlier that day, I had checked the menu online for Wild Willy’s Burgers in South Portland. I was unimpressed. There are 12 burgers, all with unique names, but there was nothing all that experimental about the ingredients — it just seemed like a clever way to organize the menu. If you wanted a burger with sautéed mushrooms and cheese, you’d order the Round Up burger. However, if you wanted a burger with sautéed mushrooms and onions with cheese, you’d order the Wicked Good burger.
And then I saw the three drink maximum — an atrocity to the burger-eater. I wondered why is this place so pretentious?
When we arrived, it all made sense. Inside the log cabin was a whirl-wind of the wild, wild west (can’t get that Will Smith song out of my head) — wooden booths and walls, lanterns, cowboy hats, faux cacti, horseshoes, wagon wheels and, best of all, a Disney-esque mannequin playing hokie piano songs.
A casual-looking gentleman welcomed us, asking if we’d ever been there before, then explained how to order — do so at the counter, pay there, grab a seat and wait for the food to be brought out. You leave a tip at the register (bring cash — you can’t tag it onto your bill) and nearby is the condiment bar.
For drinks, my daughter ordered a blueberry pop, the boyfriend a 22 oz. IPA and a blueberry float and I had a Magic Hat beer and chocolate float ($4, to be picked up on the way out). For dinner, we ordered large fries with chili and cheese ($4.20) and burgers for each of us: the little one had a plain Willy with cheese ($5.85), the boyfriend had a Willy with no condiments and I had the Wicked Good ($5.95) ordered medium-well as the boyfriend had suggested.
There are also two chicken sandwich choices at $5.95 each and three steak sandwich options at $7.75.
Waiting for our freshly cooked burgers, we decided Wild Willy’s really isn’t pretentious. It’s simply geared to families looking for a fun dining experience. The cap on the beers is most likely to keep people from hanging out all night and getting blasted. The menu is simple — burgers, fries and floats — no chance for the indecisive to fuss over too many choices.
Although the novelty of the piano player wore on the boyfriend’s nerves halfway through the meal, we were all happy with our burgers, fries and floats. And next time we’re heading to Mall Portland (the South Portland mall area), we’ll be going to Wild Willy’s instead of Burger King or Wendy’s for a quick-ish bite to eat.
Wild Willy’s Burgers is located at 449 Westbrook St. in South Portland and open from 11 am-8:30 pm from Sun.-Thur. and 11 am-9 pm Fri.-Sat. Call 822-9999 or go to www.wildwillysburgers.com.