When I walked into the Uptown Grille at 12 o’clock on a Thursday and there was no one else there, it wasn’t the best sign. I actually questioned if they were open, but there were a couple of people sitting at a table outside drinking beers. The bartender asked if she could help me (which seemed like a strange question as I was standing in front of a “Please Wait To be Seated” sign) so I asked if they were, actually, open for lunch.

A young man came over and he seated me in a strange side room with four and a half booths and four TVs, two of which were turned on to sports channels. It was oddly silent, music was playing barely at the realm of hearing and there was no sound from the TVs. I could hear all of the conversation in the kitchen, across the large empty room in the picture below, off to the left. And I learned that they have a really loud air conditioning unit, when it kicks on.Had the server come around more often, I might have discovered what was going on behind the plastic. As the summer TV season has come to an end, I’ve been catching up on Torchwood, on-demand, and based on an episode from earlier this week, I assumed that’s where they butchered the alien whale-creature. That was not likely the case, but I would have liked to confirm. Before my meal arrived, a couple of senior ladies came in and were seated behind me. The lady sitting right behind me started with a CC Waterback. It is, apparently, 1982 in olde towne Suwanee – I could almost hear Merle and George sing. If only her friend had ordered a Tequila Sunrise. The bartender then turned away a party of six because their computers weren’t working. Good thing I was paying cash – the server did come to check on that about five minutes after taking my order. Did I mention how dead the place was?

I asked the server for suggestions and he recommended several sandwiches, before I told him I’d like a burger. He suggested two and I asked about their signature (stuffed with chorizo, bacon and cheddar cheese). He warned me off that one as it had to be cooked well (due to the sausage) and he didn’t like his burgers that way. I like mine less cooked, also, and I did ask for his recommendations, so I guess it wasn’t too odd of a response, but I would think asking if I liked my burgers “well” would be a better choice than assuming that I wouldn’t like it because he didn’t.

I settled on the Wyoming burger with bacon, cheddar and barbecue sauce (hold the onion straws)which was excellent. It was cooked to a perfect medium and the cheddar and barbecue sauce (coupled with a near perfect tomato slice) made for one of the most satisfying burgers I’ve had in a while. I savored every bite. The fries were double fried, good and crunchy, but could have been warmer.

The downsides were the price ($13.25 + tip, for lunch is on the high side) and that the service was slow. The latter was particularly shocking as there were only three people eating lunch the entire time I was there. Not only was the service slow, the attitude was lackadaisical. When you walk up the table and ask if I need anything else when I’m halfway through with my meal and my drink glass is nearly empty, it seems kind of obvious you weren’t paying attention. And then, when the next glass came around a few minutes later, the bartender brought it over. I can only imagine what the service would be like if they actually had any business. From reading the Urbanspoon reviews, it is, apparently, worse. It is a shame the service was so poor because, on this venture, the burger was very very good.