Wayback Burgers

Jake’s falls at an odd place for me in the «burger restaurant» spectrum — it’s better than most fast food chains, but falls a notch below the fast-​casual places in the area such as Five Guys.
What I do like is the amount of options available for their burgers and milkshakes. What I don’t like is that I’ve been neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with anything I’ve gotten there before; everything I can remember eating has been firmly middle of the road.
The problem with middle of the road with a place like Jake’s is the price you pay and amount of time you have to wait for your order. If Jake’s burger quality were at a place like a Burger King or McDonald’s, where you pay next to nothing and don’t have to wait long, you would have a great value.
However, you pay about same amount of money and wait roughly as long as you would at a place like Five Guys, and the quality just doesn’t seem up to par with them (at least in my experiences).
The milkshakes are something they highlight, and rightly so. The hand-​dipped shakes are pretty good and they come in an abundant amount of flavors for a non-​ice cream joint.
My last time there, I ordered a burger, fries, and shake, and had to go up to the counter and ask for the shake after about 20 minutes went by — they simply forgot about it.
Also, my girlfriend refuses to go there anymore because she claims that they had messed up a couple of her orders. Those two issues could be from a number of different things, but they can easily happen anywhere.
Overall, it’s not the best or worst place in the area. But for the price you pay and the amount of time you have to wait for your food, I’d like a little more in terms of quality.

I believe I’ve been to this Jake’s Wayback burger location three times since living in Bristol. Last night, stopped in with the wife, we did the BYOB — she got a single cheese w/​mayo, ketchup, lettuce, & tomato. Mine was a double with pepperjack cheese, mushrooms and chipotle mayo. We shared a side of fries, and my wife ordered a strawberry milkshake.
I’ve read a lot of bad reviews here on Unilocal for Jake’s Wayback Burgers in Bristol, but to be fair, we felt that everything we had last night was alright, decent tasting. My wife did feel her milkshake was thin, but it still had good flavor. Fries, burgers were OK.
Crew working there were all friendly. Since we only live 4 miles away, I’m sure we’ll stop back in again if we had a hankering for a burger.

Have been to this restaurant several times and have always had a great experience. I don’t think that there is much on the menu that my family hasn’t tried, and they loved it all. The shakes are delicious. The service has always been outstanding. This is our ‘go to’ restaurant whenever we are in Bristol.

I received a message from the owner and I tried to give them a second chance but unfortunately the level of customer service and professionalism wasn’t there. Here’s the messages back and forth:
Hi Ryan,
When you visited us we were newly opened and were working on developing/​training employees. We have invested much time, money and sweat equity in this franchise to make it a success. Your Unilocal review certainly hasn’t helped us. We re wondering if you are satisfied that enough time has elapsed and would consider removing the comments. We are always available to handle issues as they arise in person and avoid seeing negative public comments. I wish this was the method you had chosen, as I’m sure we could have easily rectified/​corrected/​made you happy. Thanks for considering.
Ryan S.
Ryan S.
Bristol, CT
0 32
6 hours ago
Hi Steve,
I might remove it but I don’t really appreciate your response… first you say «Your Unilocal review certainly hasn’t helped us»… that’s very passive aggressive and probably not the wisest thing to say to a disgruntled customer. If in fact my review did hurt your business so much why are you only just now responding almost a year and a half later? You also go on to say «I wish this was the method you had chosen» which also sounds very passive aggressive and certainly not professional. Not to mention in the body of my review I stated that I spoke with 2 different associates… are you suggesting the only way I could have gotten a resolution that day was to speak with a 3^rd person that was management? It’s almost like you’re saying that my issues were invalid simply because I didn’t respond to your businesses mistakes in a way that was the best benefit to you. Between your message and your reply to my review you’ve dedicated 1 sentence to apologizing and 8 sentences to justifications or unnecessary statements about my reaction. Furthermore, you neglect to actually mention anything specific that has changed. Did you institute a policy or procedure, maybe some new equipment that would prevent my issue for happening again? That should be what you tell me … to only have justifications for what happened and passive aggressive statements doesn’t make me want to remove my review or visit your restaurant again. In fact the ONLY reason I’m even taking the time to write this to you or give your business a 2^nd shot is because I want YOU to succeed. I loooooove CT and always want to support CT businesses. I don’t want to go to 5 guys or McDonald’s… I want to go to the Sliders, Frank Pepe’s and Jake’s Wayback Burgers. Sure, I’ll update my review and try you’re place again but you gotta tell me what has changed!!! I’ll take some of the less then professional statements with a grain of salt… especially considering they were made at 9pm on Saturday night, lol. I’ll await your response.
Steven M.
Steven M.
Owner
18 minutes ago
Block & Report Owner
As I stated we were newly opened at the time and as with any newly opened business there is a learning curve. Our employees were not equipped to handle customer complaints, nor would we want them to. We were only recently made aware of how to «own» our business on Unilocal,etc., and that is why reply was so long after your posting. That’s why we make every effort to take care of customer issues in person, as they occur. Most customers we speak with are very satisfied with our food and service. We also constantly update the menu and look to improve food taste. Unfortunately, mistakes will always happen in any business, But I will only say we pride ourselves in handling all customer complaints to the customers complete satisfaction. I wasn’t afforded the opportunity to do so in your case. That I cannot change. Unfortunately. Have a good day and I do not wish to anger you in any way so I shall not bother you again.

Steven m. of Way back… I was a walk-​in so you don’t have my email. I never said any such thing. you’re rude and unprofessional and misguided. ha! I’m thinking that you pissed off a number of customers and are getting us all confused!

Cod sandwich was good help was good. But one of my pet pevs watching a employee walk out to there car which is parked at the closest spot to the store.

Went in on a weekday, early afternoon. There were only two people working here and it seemed they were stretched pretty thin.
The burger was nothing to write home about. As another reviewer has noted, there is no sear on the outside to give it a nice textural contrast. I did like however, that they had an extensive selection of toppings to choose from.
The fries were also not spectacular.
When my burger and fries were delivered to my table, I mentioned that I had also ordered a shake, since it was not also delivered. My server abruptly told me that someone else makes and delivers those and walked away.
They really need to work on coordinating delivery of the entire meal at one time.
I was halfway through my burger when the shake finally showed up. It was great, the reason why this place gets two stars and not just one.
For a burger and fries in this price range, I’ll go three miles east to Five Guys. But I may stop back here sometime for another shake.

Tried Jake’s for the second time and the word that springs to mind is underwhelming. First time I tried the Cheesy Burger. 2 patties with 4 slices of cheese on a grilled and buttered roll and this time I tried the burger of the month which was a Brisket Burger. The beef is fresh and not frozen but lacks any crust on the outside of the burger as opposed to 5 Guys Burgers and Fries (their most similar competitor) probably because they keep their grill temperature to low to get any carmelization or searing going. The Cheesy burger was fine but nothing special and the Brisket Burger was not what I expected. When I hear Brisket Burger I have images of a beef patty made of ground brisket not their regular burger with a piece of brisket on top. It was fine. A slight hint of smokiness to the brisket and a nice soft bun were pluses as was the quality of the beef patties but there is just no wow factor. I should also mention that when I walked in to the store I was the only one there but for some reason my burger was just under 15 minutes from grill to table. I understand that this is not fast food but 15 minutes is excessive and perhaps further evidence that they need to boost the temperature of that grill. It’s unlikely that I will return to Jake’s as there are better options close by. I also wonder given the lack of traffic I’ve seen in that Jake’s location whether or not they will be able to survive for very long.

While the burgers are very good I only gave th is establishment 2 stars because I have been 3 times and IT IS ALWAYS FREEZING IN THERE! Now, it wouldn’t be an issue in the middle of June or for take out, but in January you bet your COLD ASS it is. If this hadn’t happened THREE different times I would be giving more stars!

Just got home from my first visit to Jakes and I was underwhelmed. Burger seemed cold and thin and bun looked toasted but was soft and mushy. Don’t know how they did that. Onion rings seemed like they had been spit out of some kind of grease machine, not nice. Sorry guys, your going to have to step it up to be as good as 5 Guys in Farmington

This is a good little place. It’s like 5 guys but with more options.