Pounders Burger Bar

The worst service ever!!! Took 10 minutes for the waiter to acknowledge us, took my drink order and left my beer sitting on a counter. Didn’t even stay long enough to have a burger!!! Never again!

CLOSED due to lack of business.

So, saw this new place, was craving a good burger so i decided check it out with some friends. Place wasnt even packed. There were maybe 6 people inside and it took 30 mins for someone to come and take our drink orders. The waiter gave the impression that he didn want to serve anyone. Then another ten mins pass and no order taken and i was starving. so i paid for my drink and left. They didnt even try to look sorry for their crappy service and werent even surprised that we were pissed. I never had such terrible feeling from service before.

Can’t go more than 3 on this one service was so so considering when I got there I was the only one there! (Note to all servers were talking saying the owner is trying to sell the place) not a good thing. Burger was ehh ordered the cajun the sauce was too much over powered the burger and the andouie (sp) sausage and was just really there not much flavor. The pretzel roll bun was the best part, fries were fries nothing special. All in all I’ll walk the extra block to Kincaids better burger oh wait it’s closer ++++

We had a small group in tonight, there were only about five more customers in the place, so relatively slow. The server got our drink orders to us pretty quick, the food took a while, but there were a few of us, so no biggie. My burger (Rajun Cajun on a pretzel roll) was good, the fries were very good. Everybody seems to enjoy their burger selections, although the consensus was that they were a relatively bland. The kid got the meatloaf, and was not impressed, she left most of it behind.
For me, the star was the O’Connor Great Dismal Black IPA. I would have liked to have a second one, but the waitress never came back to our table. Eventually I had to lean over the railing and wave at the texting bartender because the waitress had her back to us while she read her Kindle. C’mon people. You can make up for «ok» food with good service…
I love the space, great set-​up, lots of potential, I will probably return, but I hope they work on the service.

We didn’t see ANY of the issues that other people have mentioned. We had great service, and GREAT food.
We got there at about 6:30 on a Thursday, it was pretty quiet when we walked in, but within about 45 minutes it was packed. Apparently Thursday nights are trivia nights, and you need to reserve tables! Glad we got there when we did, and we will definitely be coming back for trivia one night.
We made in time to enjoy some of their happy hour — $ 3 well drinks, $ 2 drafts and $ 1.50 sliders. We tried 4 different sliders; burger, pulled pork, buffalo chicken and meatloaf. All of them were great, but I especially liked the burger and the buffalo chicken. The pulled pork was missing some hot sauce. The meatloaf was good, but just good. I do like they gave me a ramekin full of gravy to dip it into, though. Who doesn’t love a ramekin of gravy?
I had the Mediterranean burger, it has feta, roasted red peppers and spinach on it. I asked for mid-​well. It was cooked perfectly and it was a HUGE burger. The ingredients were delicious, a really awesome combination. The only thing that could have made it more amazing would have been goat cheese, but you know, I’ll settle. It was messy, hot, and delicious.
My husband had the sunrise burger, with egg and bacon on it. He loved it! The egg was cooked perfectly, nice and runny.
It says something that neither of us were able to finish our burgers, those things are $ 10 burgers if I’ve ever seen one.

In downtown Norfolk, on the corner of Granby and Tazewell, sits Pounders Burger Bar. A restaurant that, from the outside could be mistaken for a small dive restaurant is actually somewhat of a classier version of a bar on the inside.
After stepping out of my cab at Pounders, I could smell the smell that simply IS America: a burger on the grill. I quickly rushed into the restaurant to get out of the cold, but after stepping through the door, I was promptly greeted by no one. I stood around for a minute or so waiting before I began to meander around the restaurant, looking for a place to sit.
I was eventually greeted by a gentleman who asked if I had a reservation, which I did not. I figured a small burger bar on a Thursday night would not require one, but apparently Thursday nights at Pounders are Trivia nights. I was informed that I would be able to stay and eat, but would not be able to stay past eight o’clock as they had already reserved my table.
After being seated, I looked around the dark restaurant to just take it all in and really get a feel. This place was definitely a local hot spot. It seemed to me like the female bartender, while running around like a chicken with its head cut off, still managed to find time to greet each and every person who walked through the doors, most on a first name basis.
Aside from being somewhat dim, the restaurant had a very vibrant and lively feeling to it. The 60’s & 70’s music that was playing, along with the Stewarts Fountain Classic table toppers, made me feel like I had stepped into a diner.
The first item to arrive at my table was what they call the «Crab Bake.» The crab bake is a crab dip that consists of fresh chunks of lump crab meat, cream cheese and spinach. The first thing I noticed when the appetizer came to my table was an ingredient that can be deadly to any dish, multicolored tortilla chips. These sharp cornered, paper-​thin, tasteless chips have been ruining flavorful and delicious dishes for as long as I can remember.
Now, I know that my reaction to these red, white and blue chips may be somewhat dramatic, but there is nothing I hate more than multicolored tortilla chips. The issue I see is that if a chef is going to take the time to develop such wonderful savory, succulent and bold flavors, such as those in this crab dip, why stop at the dip. Should the chip that comes with it not be allowed to be equally as enjoyable?
If it were up to me, some sort of cracker or bagel crisp with a complimenting seasoning would be paired with this crab dip. Not only would it add a depth of flavor to the dish, but also it would set you apart from the thousands of other restaurants that take the easy way out and serve plain old chips!
With that being said, I will say that the crab dip itself was a tad bit salty, but it was delicious and I would have just taken a bowl of it for dinner if that were an option.
Soon after, my burger arrived. Placed upon a narrow rectangular plate sat a Truffle Mushroom Burger on a pretzel roll with a side of their house cut fries. With my first bite of the burger, I not only received a nice charred flavor from the meat, but the earthy tones from truffle cream and the mushrooms really work to give the burger a real fresh flavor. The truffle cream was heavenly and was something that they can be proud of. The light and fluffy texture mixed with the earthy tones and flavors really gave a great contrast to the burger as a whole.
The pretzel roll that the burger was on could have been a dish within itself. Not only was it both buttery and salty, but it had a bite to it that really gave a great texture to the burger.
At the end of the night, my entire meal cost me $ 36. Which, for one appetizer, one burger, and one dessert, which was just an average brownie sundae, is just a tad bit pricey.
Overall, I would have to say that the burger here was right on. While I think that they have some areas in which they could improve, Pounders Burger Bar is doing a pretty great job at what
they do and definitely holding up to their «Burger Bar» name.

Another excellent lunch today. We stopped in around 1:30pm and our server from last time Erin greeted us when we walked in the door.
We timed our visit to miss the lunch rush and were able to immediately get a seat at the bar. I ordered with the ½lb «Don’t Mess With Me» burger an my co-​worker had the Tuesday special called the «Tar Heel» which was also a ½lb burger.
As far as my burger went it was absolutely perfectly cooked to perfection. The «Don’t Mess With Me» comes with cheddar cheese, bacon, onion straws and bourbon sauce. I was totally happy with meal. My co-​worker unfortunately wasn’t so happy with his choice. He liked the burger, that was fine, however the «Tar Heel» comes with pulled BBQ on top of the burger and said it really needs a little zest in his opinion. Otherwise the burger and fries were fine, it’s more of a personal preference.
Our server Erin was on the spot keeping the soda’s full and checking up on us. All in all another great experience at Pounders.

The size of the burger and the price are spot on, the server was nice and they do offer turkey, chicken or black bean substitution in place of beef on the burgers, but it was just ‘meh’…nothing about this place stood out enough for me to feel as though I had to start planning my return visit ASAP.

bring some money! They automatically charge you a 20% tip before the groupon is applied so wether your server did a awesome or sucky job they get 20%. also they will try to trick you to tip again in the new receipt when the tip has already been applied. Food is so-​so, 26 bucks for 2 burgers I’m not sure if I’m going back. Calamari is good!

Go here for the taste! The burgers were excellent. I had the Coastal Sunrise burger (bacon with sunny side egg) that was incredible. Their fries are crisp and well flavored. They have a $ 5 burger special for lunch (with beverage purchase) that sounds pretty good as well.
My biggest drawback was the service. The waitress was polite and friendly, but she was swamped during our stay there. Maybe it was just this one instance where the restaurant was packed (she even said this was the busiest she’s seen it), but beware if you’re looking for a quick lunch.
HOWEVER, the waitress (and possibly the manager) did apologize for the delay and without prompting from us offered all of my party free appetizers for our patience.
The décor is pretty eccentric (multi-​colored walls meet checkboard patterns) but you’re not really here to enjoy the scenery any way.
Will definitely try again to see if they fine tune the hiccups.

I was really excited after seeing Joe D.‘s review (who is always spot on in his reviews) AND seeing their Groupon becoming available. Asked the Hubs to go on a lunch date with me to get our burger on and couldn’t wait for the yumminess to ensue.
Unfortunately, since we went with the Groupon being offered and Joe’s awesome review (who wouldn’t want to go after reading that??)…we entered the place being the ONLY people there to, as our order had been put in, seeing the place fill up almost to capacity… with only one server!!!
We started out with the «Crabbake» for our appetizer. It was good… neither bad nor superb… besides the fact that a hot crab dip would’ve tasted better rather than one that had been sitting around for a bit. Perhaps the only real negative was a ton of breadcrumbs that it was topped with. The Hubs and I decided to order two burgers and split them. He changed his mind last minute, and lucky for him, it was a good decision. ;o) He ordered the Tarheel, which had pulled pork, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, onion straws, and 101 bourbon bbq aioli. The flavor was great! The burger could decently enough. However, the top of the bun was super toasted (aka HARD) and the bottom was completely soggy and had already turned gummy. The onione straws didn’t fare too well either sitting in the burger for a while. I ordered the Mediterranean burger (spinach, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms, feta, and lemon garlic aioli). Despite our server initially asking me if «a little pink in the middle» would be ok, the burger came out well done and too charred on the outside. I’m the household grill master, so as much as I love a good char, that was toooooo charred. My husband, not a picky man by any means nor someone who complains, was asking for gum on the ride back to work to get the burnt taste out of his mouth. As with the Tarheel, my top bun was completely toasted but luckily the bottom wasn’t soggy (probably since my burger had done run outta juice at that point). To top it off, our fries were cold and overcooked. Wah wah wah.
An hour and 15 minutes later (again, for two burgers and an appetizer), the server hands us the bill apologizing for the wait and saying since it took so long to get our burgers that she is giving us the bill before she gets too busy to give it to us. Unfortunately, we weren’t as lucky as Bevan C. and his group (which I think sat right next to us), we just got a «we’ve never been this busy in the 6 months we’ve been opened».
I can see how Joe had a great experience since the food definitely had potential! I think with the unexpected tide of customers (ummmm, hello, they JUST released a Groupon), the place was just ill-​equipped to handle that many people (at least for today). P. S. Groupon users will find that your server needs to know that you’re using a Groupon up front… they charge 20% gratuity on your bill if you’re using a Groupon.