Highway 55 Burgers – Knoxville Tennessee

We’re always looking for a new place to eat.  When I perused a recent listing of rapidly expanding fast food and fast casual restaurants, (the latter with servers), I discovered that we had a Highway 55 Burgers, Shakes and Fries location in Knoxville.

We love a good burger so on a recent weekday when we were in town running errands we gave Highway 55 Burgers a try.

This is the Highway 55 Burger location on Kingston Pike in Knoxville.  It’s one of four franchised locations now operating in the greater Knoxville area.

Here are 2 views of the dining area inside Highway 55 Burgers.  The pink and teal colors, old time music playing in the background, 50’s décor and murals on the wall are all intended to evoke the old 1950s diner atmosphere.  I was never fond of pink and teal, even back when I was a teenager in the 50s but it was a fact of life in those days.

The first negative Laurie picked up was that the dining area was, to use slang terminology from back in the day…‘grody’!  The very first thing we noticed was floors were really sticky, table top was sticky, the condiment bottles on the table were sticky, the whole interior could have used some serious attention.  

Highway 55 Burgers uses the open grill concept much like Waffle House and a few other fast casual restaurants.  The idea is that customers can watch their food being freshly prepared and the staff can greet customers as they enter the restaurant. (We were greeted by the grill cook)

It was interesting to note that while we were in the restaurant, all the customers sat in the back in booths rather than at the high tables or at the bench/chair seating in the front.

We liked the murals on the wall in the back of the restaurant.  There were 5 of them.  This was the only one I could take a photo of without the overhead glare from the lights…but it gives you the idea.  We thought that the rest of the wall décor was a bit sparse and didn’t really project the 1950s very well.

For a beverage, we both opted for a small lemonade.  We had a $2.00 coupon for a combination meal.  The lemonade was a decent choice.

Highway 55 Burgers, Shakes and Fries was founded in North Carolina in 1991.  While the majority of the locations are still in North and South Carolina, they have expanded to about 140 locations in 14 states plus Denmark and the United Arab Emirates.  Beyond the Carolinas and Tennessee, Highway 55 Burgers can be found in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Montana, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

On to the food… This was Laurie’s burger and fries.  She ordered a double “All-American Cheeseburger”.  They come topped with mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, pickles and your choice of American, provolone or pepper jack cheese.  She chose the provolone and left off the lettuce and tomato.  FYI, the waitress told us that each burger patty weighs 2.5 oz. so Laurie’s double was a 5 oz. burger.

The burger was OK…but nothing all that special.  When it comes to fast/fast casual burgers, we would much prefer Freddie’s Steakburgers or Steak ‘n Shake. 

I ordered the same thing…a double All American Cheeseburger.  I also left off the lettuce and tomato but added pepper jack cheese and grilled jalapenos.  I liked the addition of the jalapenos.  It provided some heat and a bit of crunch!   

The French fries… We thought that they were under-cooked.  The outside was as soft as the inside.  They were a little mushy to the taste…definitely not our favorite fries!

Highway 55 Burgers ‘lost’ Laurie with the sticky everything… She said she’s not going back.  Beyond that, in our opinion, the food wasn’t anything special.  I will admit that with 140+ locations, it’s obvious that somebody really likes these restaurants.

This particular Highway 55 Burgers, Shakes and Fries location is found at 9314 Kingston Pike in Knoxville Tennessee.  They are open daily from 11 AM.  Phone: 865-851-7304.  Their website can be found at https://www.hwy55.com/locations/knoxville-kingston-pike.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave