[My ongoing series for 2016 continues ... with the THIRTY-SECOND of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA (coming to you on sequential Thursdays. All. Year. Long.)!]
Establishment: Pincho Factory
Location: Pembroke Pines
Meal: Dinner
Drink: (Maybe) Cherry Flavored Orange Crush
Appetizer: n/a
Main: Toston Burger (Add Patty)
two fried plantains as the "buns", then topped with jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, and homemade cilantro sauce
Side(s): Bacon Cheddar Ranch Fries
topped with chopped bacon, cheddar cheese, and ranch dressing
Dessert: n/a
Server: Kieja (counter service)
Website: http://pinchofactory.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pinchofactory
I'm growing fonder of these unique to southern Florida chains (six locations down here and one up in Orlando) and I feel like I might be getting in on what may one day be franchised across the country. And this business model was interesting. There were parts that reminded me of a Noodles-n-Company style set-up (choose a specific protein kebob [steak, chicken or shrimp], choose what you'll place it on [wrap, rice or salad], and choose a flavoring [from seven different styles] ... but then they also had quality burger, chicken and hot dog choices. If you've been following along, you know it's rare that I'd pass up a burger .. and so despite the fact that the restaurant is literally named for their kebobs, it was one of those quality burgers that was the base for this particular score:
AMBIANCE: 10/10 (it was bright, clean, open and welcoming ... and the Olympics were on the many TV screens ... plus it was getting close to closing time, and yet there was no pressure to speed up the meal ... as a matter of fact, folks continued to arrive to place orders even in the last half hour ... so no complaints here)
FOOD: 7/10 (the fries were perfectly topped with ranch and cheese AND bacon and were skinny and crispy and the burger was definitely of high quality, which is something that the establishment heavily promotes on its menu/website ... and the use of fried plantains instead of "buns" was something different -- I don't know that it added that much to the taste, but it certainly didn't detract from it ... where there is a point lost is that by the end of the burger, those plantains were breaking up into pieces and making it more of a challenge to keep a hold it ... also a point is lost for having a make-your-own-*Pepsi* machine [you know I like my Coke] and a final one is lost for that same machine that professed to be adding a cherry flavoring to my drink but that lied, as near as I could tell)
SERVICE: 9/10 (this was another counter service place [provide your order, get a number, take a seat and wait for delivery], but everyone with whom we interacted was smiling and friendly and a special shout-out to Kieja who was extra helpful and took time to explain the various options in the menu ... there was a bit of a wait for the food -- but no points are being docked because the food was of a quality to make the wait worth it ... there is one point lost for the size of the drink glass, which was practically a courtesy cup in our mega-gulp world)
BACON: 10/10 (it doesn't get any more simple than this ... the customer can get bacon added to any of the menu items -- burgers, chicken, hot dogs, fries ... you simply can't beat that)
BONUS: 7/10 (+3 for having an award recognized burger worthy of my other series on the Facebook [my burger quest based on the Zagat top 25 in the country list from a few years back], +3 for a well defined mission statement that is so bold as to be called a "pincho movement" and +1 for being a place to which we will return ['cause we didn't even get to try the actual pinchos {kebobs} yet])
TroyScore: 43 out of 50 -- aka 86, a solid B
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