Main Street Cafe is a staple of Searcy cuisine. Imagine a humble diner in a small town in a movie, and you can pretty much visualize Main Street Cafe. The cafe is open for breakfast and lunch, and the menu offers a wide variety of home-style options. It’s the type of place you might go with your grandparents after church, in the best way possible. Their base burger — a quarter-pounder called the “Regular” — starts at $3.69. The “Jumbo” weighs in at six oz. as opposed to four and costs $4.59. Cheese can be added to either burger for an additional 59 cents, and bacon for $1.49.
Hunter: Main Street Cafe’s standard burger is pretty good for a pretty good price. I think the “Jumbo” is a really nice option, because while a quarter-pounder isn’t always enough, a half-pounder can sometimes be too much. There isn’t a whole lot to say about the burger itself; the meat was fresh and well seasoned, with a slightly bold accent. However, it was dry, apparently cooked well-done. It wasn’t bad, but it certainly wasn’t anything special. I prefer a juicy, greasy burger, and the “Jumbo” didn’t offer that. The burger stands to benefit from a bacon add-on, but it’s hard to justify at such a high price. It is still a burger I would recommend, however, as the bold seasoning and fresh meat gives it a strong, distinct flavor at a good price. I give the Main Street Cafe “Jumbo” a 6.5/10.
As a side note, the fries were very bland – sort of like that of a bag bought from the freezer section and baked in the oven – so the diner probably won’t satisfy any craving for a classic “burger and fries” meal. Another side note, I will definitely be going back to try the “Main Street Burger”: “Two cheese and bacon infused patties on a toasted bun.”
JP: Two bites into the Jumbo Burger at Main Street Cafe, it was already falling apart. Now, this fact alone should tell you everything you need to know about the burger. “Falling apart” is often what we look for in meat — ribs, especially — but not in burgers. When a burger is crumbling, it is halfway perfect, which is another way of saying not perfect at all. For a burger to crumble it must be tender, but it cannot be juicy. And the beef must be high quality, but it is likely overcooked.
All of the above was true for the Jumbo Burger. It was mostly delicious, but it failed as it lost its coherence, messily ruining the bread-to-meat ratio that can make or break such an experience. Yet for all its shortcomings, this burger fulfilled my innate desire for classic diner fare and scored a solid 6/10. More than anything, it piqued my curiosity for Main Street Cafe’s eponymous burger, which takes a full 30 minutes to cook.
Bottom Line: Main Street Cafe’s standard burger is pretty solid. It’s nothing special, but it won’t let you down or break the bank. Averaging our scores, it receives a 6.25. We’ll return next week with the diner’s flagship, the “Main Street Burger.”
