Phyllis’ Giant Burger

I drove by today, and Phyllis’ is closed. :(

I visited this burger joint a day or so after Christmas just for some French fried to go. I have to say, the place looked extremely dirty — debris left on many tables, food and wrappers on the floor (which looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in a few days). Worse, the cashier, who later, served up my fries sneezed in her hands w/​o washing. Safe to say, my fries made its way to the trash bin. W/​that said, Phyllis’ Giant Burger in Novato has now closed its doors for good… Phew!

I went here to eat and watch a football game one night. This burger joint has TV monitors on the walls everywhere generally showing sports, just the way I like it. Ordered the Turkey burger that comes with slaw plus drink, it was quite good, not dry with good flavor. It took awhile to make it seems but I didn’t mind since my game is on to keep me preoccupied. Here’s the thing that bothers me even now that compels me to write this review. While I was still eating, an employee starts to clean the floors and got to where I was eating, sweeping away with the bloom where I can smell the dust. I had to cover my burger with some napkins until he was done with my area. It was probably an hour before closing but that was just WRONG! The floors there looked like it hasn’t been clean all day so he can’t wait til I am finish eating or be more discreet in how to go about sweeping. 4 stars for my burger but the service and sweeping, failed.

So after being very excited to try this place, I was let down. I came here with a large group, my family. We are from the East Coast, so wanted to try something local. We ordered a Junior bacon cheeseburger with barbecue sauce on a French roll, Cajun chicken sandwich, chicken breast with avocado and sprouts, a chicken sandwich, and a regular hamburger. We also ordered the garlic fries and regular fries.
The french fries were good and the garlic fries were very garlicky! My burger (the BBQ bacon cheeseburger) was okay. They give you the choice of what temperature you would like your burger. We all ordered medium rare but they came out more medium to medium-​well. I had the ¼ burger so the bun was way too big for the burger, so the burger/​bun ratio was not great. The bacon was nice and thick and the pepper jack cheese was great. There was not enough BBQ on the burger but I was able to get a side for free. Overall mine was very dry and overcooked.
The person with the Cajun chicken sandwich was happy with his choice. The person with the chicken breast sandwich said the ingredients were all very fresh but the bun was too large. The chicken was flat and well-​seasoned. The others commented that their buns were a little dry.
There were a lot of choices and my sister enjoyed the ice cream options. The service was excellent and the employees were very friendly!
Overall, we wouldn’t go out of our way to eat here again, as we had today.

I love Phyllis’! First few times there I ordered the big burger (not sure what they call it) but then learned! Couldn’t finish it! Jr. Burger is perfect for me! Phyl: you COULD have earned five stars from me but your onion rings (WHICH I LOVE!!) are WAY too greasy. They start out fine but by the time you get to the bottom of the bountiful basket they are literally sitting in the grease… lighten up on the oil! Friendly — clean and worth the price!

The food is pretty good, but since so many homeless from the creek hang out here, I am really worried about getting hepatitis from the shared condiments, dirty tables or the cut up seats… They need to clean house. Good for kids, but get a gamma globulin shot beforehand would be a good call.

Decent burger not the best, how ever it is definitely worth the price. always clean inside and the staff is very friendly.

I like it! Not sure why so many people don’t. I’ll eat another over all the rest in Novato.

I ordered the Jr. burger which was cooked to order and pretty good. I loved the curly fries. We were there early, beat the lunch crowd and service was fast. I wouldn’t go out of my way to return but if I’m stuck in the neighborhood for an all day meeting it would be worth considering.

Service is a little so so… Burger was good. Fish tacos good. Nothing really stands out here, it’s just ok for quick bite.

Good burgers

***************disgusting***************
Ok I am not one to complain, so when I do be sure to know its for a reason.
My wife and I came into Phyllis’ Giant Burger for a take out. After we ordered our food I went to the restroom, when I walked in one of the cooks was coming out of the toilet, the smell in their was disgusting, what’s more disturbing is that he didnt wash his hands!!! When I told my wife she asked which cook it was, we looked over and there he was preparing peoples food and he wasn’t wearing gloves! — We walked out and will be writing to the owner for a refund of the food we didn’t touch.
Until they teach their staff some better hygene and until they start wearing gloves avoid this eatery in Novato!

Burger places that don’t offer combos bug the hell outta me. So I have to order everything separately and pay over $ 10 for a burger, fries and drink? The service is also just so-​so. Not much in the way of smiles, no above and beyond as far as service or food.
The burgers are mediocre. There’s no excuse for a blah burger place if they’re going to charge top dollar. I can get more food with better service at half the price at In-​N-​Out.
So In-​N-​Out, if you’re reading this, please open a location in Novato and put places like this outta business.
Seriously, «Phyllis». Do you have any idea what a great local burger place should be like? Because your place most certainly isn’t it.

Had a junior cheeseburger (means it is ¼ lb instead of ½ lb). It was decent, definitely had that American fast food vibe (not trying to say they are pretending otherwise). Fries were good! My friend got the philly cheesesteak sandwich and that was also really good. It was served on ciabatta bun, it got greasy really quick but it was still yum. If I went back, I’d get that but hopefully split it with someone and try a shake (and probably try the sweet potato fries that I saw an ad for).
The inside set up looks like this place used to be a Baja Fresh (in what looks like the ex-​salsa stand are pickles and salad dressings). It was nice sitting outside on the patio in the sunshine, even if the view was the shopping centre carpark. Service was unmemorable (I’m having trouble remembering details and I only went there yesterday but could have just been distracted by the prospect of pending junk food oblivion).

I have given this place 3 tries…
Giant burgers? Really, giant? No they are regular size (I’m a 125lb woman with a healthy size appetite), they are pretty good except they always come well done and they are crazy expensive for what you get (because its not much). The service is awful. Most of the seats are torn and the place is always dirty. I normally go when its not that busy, maybe one other table, yet all the tables are dirty/​not busted and there is garbage on the floor. There always seems to be enough staff, but they are hanging out and feeding their friends/​family and not doing any work. Seriously like a total of 6 people working, one at the counter being RUDE when you try to place an order and one taking FOREVER to make your order and then 4 standing around. I feel bad for whoever is shelling out the money for these people to stand around.
Overall the food is fine, if you have a coupon and want a dirty McDonalds atmosphere with bad customer service.

This place needs a more active manager or something… The food is good, what you’d expect. BUT, there are a few «issues» with the restaurant. Today for example the only non-​sugared beverage, iced tea, was out. The little iced tea machine only had sweetened green tea and sweetened black tea with raspberry… GROSS! I can’t imagine what kind of artificial crap is in that tea. Really, soda, sweet tea, or nothing were my choices for beverages (or beer/​wine, but it was lunch with my daughter and I was working after, so no alcohol for me at the time.) Sugar, sugar, sugar… Also, a few seats have rips in them which is kind of trashy and the staff doesn’t seem real familiar with the menu. The last two times I’ve been there I’ve had to point to what I wanted and they say «Oh, I never saw that» or something.
Anyhow, I’ll re-​review with more stars if I see an improvement.

Menu is a good selection on meat options and a vegitarian.
Potatoes come in both standard french and curly spicy fries, plus a couple of my friends swear by sweet potatoe variety.
There is a condiment bar that I use to drop a load of jalapeños on my buffalo burger.
Neither fast nor slow on the service, soda fountain is standard coke products.
Good casual environment conducive to conversations.

I ordered two burgers, fries, onion rings and a milkshake for take out. While waiting for my food, I saw another customer picking up her called in order leave with her bag of food and come back not a minute later asking for the rest of her order — another burger and fries, neither of which had been made.
I thought to myself that they couldn’t possibly do that twice in a row. I was wrong.
I checked my order before leaving (thankfully) and noticed I was also missing one burger and the one order of fries. I brought this to their attention and they made the extra burger (and I thought!) fries and I went on my way without checking the bag. My fault, yes, but COME ON. When I got home with one (now!) cold burger, one warm burger, cold onion rings and a melting shake, I noticed the fries were still missing. Instead of going back to get them I decided I’d just not go back there again.
The burgers were a disaster — half cooked, sloppy and oily (how they managed to get burgers oily is beyond me) — and the onion rings weren’t much better. They were also sopping in oil. The only decent but not great thing was the shake.
I won’t be going back.

I went there 9−10−10 for a burger and fries… The burger was cooked right
and the fries were fried to a perfect crispness. I sat at the bah with 3 big
screen TV’s all with sports station on them. Thank you Phyllis!

As the name says, Phyllis’s is a great place to stop for a huge burger. The portions are large, and that’s a good thing because the burgers are delicious!
All sandwiches can be substituted for a piece of grilled chicken or a vegan burger. They’ve got a bunch of different things you can add to spruce up your burger like avocado, sauteed mushrooms or onions, chili or even pesto.
I opted for the pepper-​jack ½lb burger which comes with pepper-​jack cheese, avocado, sprouts, a chipotle sauce and served on a ciabatta bun. At first I was skeptical if ordering «just the burger» would be enough to eat for lunch. But moments after eating the burger I would be thrown in one of the heaviest food comas I have ever been in. It was so intense I was left speechless except to mutter «I’m ruined!» over and over.
In the midst of this debilitating yet somewhat happy food coma, I noticed Phyllis’ has an outdoor patio area and a bar towards the back that probably serves beer.
Great lunch spot, pretty reasonable prices for great burgers.