Cook Out

We’ve been going here about twice per month for about a year. We had an incident last night where we asked for one of our sandwiches to have no mayonnaise on it due to serious food allergy. We made sure — as we always do — to verbally confirm and have it on the receipt. Both of which were done.
Lo and behold, mayonnaise on the sandwich. Thank goodness we checked. Food is good, but we won’t be going back — we can’t trust that they will take necessary precautions.

Good food when they get the order right which is pretty rare. I always catch attitude from the people at the window. Are you mad at me because you misheard me?

I love this place. Close to work, close to the house… always open and always fast! Ironically, I’ve never had a shake here but their cheeseburgers are to die for! I’m pretty amazed at their quesadillas too. YUMM-​O!!!

Pros
I’m pretty sure you can get a hot dog with a side of a hotdog with the side of a hotdog. But I prefer corndogs.
You can mix up to ten flavors in a Fancy Shake. My go-​to is always Oreo meets peanut butter, but I’m always looking for new suggestions.
A DOZEN HUSHPUPPIES FOR A DOLLAR??? Always.
Bring your out-​of-​town friends here and wow them with «Durham’s Best Combo.» $ 4.99 for a main and two sides. Spicy chicken wrap all day.
One time they got my order wrong. My boyfriend ordered an orange creamsicle shake and I ordered a peanut butter banana shake. They made one shake that was orange peanut butter. Then they gave us that shake for free and made us the ones we had originally ordered. Here’s the thing: orange peanut butter ain’t bad.
Can’t finish your whole fancy shake? Stick it in the freezer for later.
Cons
This location is drive through only. You have to go to
You might feel slightly sick after eating an entire combo by yourself, so do yourself a favor and split it with a friend. Eat some carrot sticks later to even out the grease and add some fiber to your life.
Your roommates all have leftover fancy shakes in the freezer and you eat someone else’s thinking it was yours. That’s okay. It was only $ 2.50.

Imagine going to a friends BBQ, and taking home a to-​go plate… THIS PLACE HAD THAT SAME PLATE!
Great food and wide selection makes this a MUST STOP! If you have never tried their food, you are missing out… Best Fast Food Burger EVER!

0 toppings in shake. Waste of money. Clearly dont care about the customer

For better than normal fast food burgers at insanely cheap prices cook out is the place. The cookout try has to be the best deal in town. With endless combinations ranging from burgers, hotdogs, and chicken sandwiches you cant go wrong.

Cheap and plenty but also… Quite GOOD!
Went to the Hillsborough Rs location and ordered a huge cheddar/​bacon burger with fries. Not too greasy and tasty. I did NOT get one of their famous milkshakes, no room for it.

The * best * fast * food * chain * ever!!!
My faves:
–burgers
–grilled chicken sandwiches
–99 cent BLT
–pulled pork bbq
–Cajun fried with extra Cajun
–onion rings
–the milkshakes (You can mix 2 flavors too)
Cheap, fast, awesome, and open late!!! Oh yeah, they have CHeERwINE! And you can even get a CHeERwINE float! I just made myself hungry, I think it’s a Cookout kind of lunch day:)

Depends on the time of day as to the speed of service and the reliability of them filling your order properly. Great milkshakes and burgers. Sometimes the French fries leave something to be desired. And sometimes you will find your food if fried tastes bad due to old oil.

Great CHEAP late night food. There’s a drive through on each side of the building, and a walk up window, but no where to stay and eat on premises. Feeling adventurous, my friend and I tried the walk up window. We were not disappointed. Got some bar recommendations from the woman at the window (granted, one of them was chipotle?), and watched a drug pass off. A hopping night in Durham.
The food is decent, keeping in mind you are paying pennies for it — a burger for $ 1.39?! And you can pick a variety of toppings, including grilled onions. Just FYI, if you order a $ 4.99 tray with chicken nuggets and hush puppies as sides, you will get 3 nugs and 3 pups. I say it’s worth a stop the next time you have the munchies — but I’ll vote for taking one of the drive throughs.

Milkshakes are made with real ice cream but are too thick to use a straw. Luckily they give you a spoon! Fries had good flavor and are made with real potatoes. There are no vegetarian protein options which is unfortunate. Prices are reasonable. Food is decent. It’s worth a shot if you’re in town.

Cook Out is the best VALUE for barbecue in the Durham area. It’s not the highest quality, but is quite good for the price. Also, the option to have chicken nuggets as a side is a nice touch.

Got the late night munchies? Come to Cook Out! It’s open til 4am on most days. PLENTY of options. CHEAP.
Opt for the Cook Out Tray — one entrée, 2 sides, and a drink — all for less than $ 5! I went with a BBQ burger for entrée, corn dog and hush puppies as sides, and sweet tea for beverage for only $ 4.99. I didn’t expect the burger to have coleslaw, nor did I expect it to be slightly spicy, but it was still tasty. Not a huge burger, but not tiny either. You get one corn dog and about 6 hush puppies. The sweet tea (aka sweetened iced tea) is REALLY good! Not only that, but you get a LARGE sized cup.
This place has 2 drive-​thru lanes — it’s not even an option to eat inside. Most be a lot of regulars who come here because the lines were fairly short and went by fairly quickly when I was here. I was surprised because the menu has SO many options to choose from! I could imagine many people taking FOREVER to decide what to order, especially when it comes to the milkshake. You absolutely HAVE to get a milkshake — all for only $ 2.79! You have the ability to create your own milkshake by choosing from a LONG list of possible ingredients — everything from banana and strawberry to cheesecake and mocha to oreo and M&Ms. For someone who has a major sweet tooth (like me), it can be an incredibly difficult choice to make! Can I just have EVERYTHING??! Wait, that probably won’t taste so great… In the end, I went with mocha, cheesecake, and strawberries. It turned out pretty good!

Their chicken tenders are made of real chicken. The honey mustard is alas, Ken’s Steakhouse, but whatever. They’ll do in a pinch.
Overall, I’m happy to say this place lives up to its cachet. It’s a real scene, and I find myself mistakenly calling it In-​n-​Out sometimes, which is a HUUUUGE COMPLIMENT.

So. Freaking. Good.
Cook Out is definitely my fast food of choice and even though we live in Chapel Hill, the bf and I will make a trip out here every once in a while rather than hitting up any of the places by us. You may or may not get exactly what you ordered because their speakers are pretty crappy but everything’s good so we’re always happy. The shakes are absolutely phenomenal. They are almost too thick to suck through a straw and are loaded with whatever you order (order a cheesecake shake? there’s a whole slice of cheesecake in there) plus there’s a whole panel of the menu devoted to the shake options. I’m partial to banana fudge :) So delicious.

Look… I would’ve posted a photo of my meal, but it disappeared before I knew it! One of my photography buddies suggested this joint and I’m glad I listened.
I ate here three times during my weekend trip with the sig. Matter of fact, we both agree that it was the best thing to gorge on in Durham. I ordered the ¼lb Cookout Style with a side of onion rings. The sig ordered the ¼ Steak Style with Cajun fries. Good god were we full! Before we left Durham, we went to Cookout mainly because it was calling my name. And after I finished eating (more like inhaling) my burger, the sig informed me that a Cookout location was just opened in Atlanta. Our God is an awesome God.
One more thing to savor are their milkshakes. The blueberry milkshake had me in batido heaven. Yes, it was good enough for me to include the Spanish term for milkshake in this review.
As you can read, I’m definitely in love with this place. Hopefully after you read this review, you’ll find the need to save some change, drive to the closest Cookout location, wait in line, and enjoy the sight of the greasy bag they hand you from the window.

This is a typical Cookout. Greasy food, open late, has a TON of milkshake flavors (everything from mint chocolate chip to Hi-​C Fruit Punch). For fast food, you really get good portions for the prices you pay.
The milkshakes are awesome; the fries less so. But Cookout is open late and definitely a step above your typical fast food run – in both calories and taste.

Ok, seriously this is as good as it gets for the price…~$ 5 after tax for combo plates, which come with one item + two sides + 1 HUGE drink, with $ 1 extra to upgrade that drink to a milkshake. The burger combo plate is my favorite, because for the price you can’t get a better burger that comes with the option to select from a decently diverse selection of toppings for free, w/​cheese costing a little extra. On top of that, Cook Out is open at amazingly late hours (I think 4AM?), which makes it a very, very tempting option when you’re out late and getting hungry.
The burger itself is surprisingly juicy, flavorful, and good quality for the price. Don’t expect a gourmet burger by any stretch of the imagination, but this beats McDonalds or any other chain with similarly-​priced burgers for the taste & quality. My favorite sides are the nuggets, which have this nice fried taste to them, and the cajun fries, with a yummy seasoning. The small chicken wraps, which are comparable to McDonalds snack wraps, also come as a side and are VERY good value as a side and pretty tasty too. The hushpuppies are decent as well. Their iced tea is awesome, and they offer Cheerwine.
Now for the cons. (1) I might be in the minority here, but I actually dislike their milkshakes, no matter how cheap they might be: overly sweet, any chocolate-​based ones taste like fake chocolate, and honestly they might taste awesome if they didn’t have an insane amount of sugar. Expect the sugar crash of your life if you attempt to drink an entire milkshake in one sitting. There is an insane diversity of flavors, but the flavors sound better than they taste. (2) Soda tastes like they were contaminated with the oil/​smells from all the preparation that happens in the same kitchen, or that they used really old ice. I might just have hypersensitive taste buds, but it really makes the soda taste funky.
Update: They seem to have fixed the funky soda problem!

Dear Cookout… I love you… Why must you be so far down south… Please bring your tasty goodness to the DMV so I can love you more than once ever two months…
I digress…
So… I went to NC for a wedding. Any time I go down south I make SURE to visit the cookout… This place is like a backyard barbeque, but it’s a fast food chain! They have the best pulled pork sandwiches! And you HAVE to make sure you try the burgers and fries!
The people here are always very accommodating, and very patient with first timers. Not to mention you get sooooo much food for soooo little money!