Dusty Buns Bistro

While visiting from Texas, my girlfriend introduced me to Dusty Buns. Great food selection and delicious results. Love supporting local favorites. Only suggestion is to make the burger patties larger. That may just be my Texas appetite but that’s the only thing I could say about this beautiful bistro.
Keep it up y’all!

I want to start by saying this review has nothing to do with their food. It is strictly based on how they mistreated my family, how I voiced the mistreatment to them and how they literally ignored me. It is based on their lack of professionalism, which in my opinion, is equally as important as the food in this sort of business.
This past summer, during the farmers market that they attend every Wednesday at the Fresno Kaiser Hospital, my wife decided to treat herself and my daughters, ages 3 and 4, to this Dusty Buns that we have heard is so good. They waited over a half hour in the very hot weather to get to the front of the line only to be told that no more orders were to be taken for another 7 minutes. 7 minutes? How the heck did you even come up with that number? According to the other reviews i’ve been reading, you guys don’t get anything done in 7 minutes. No prob, we are patient people. Now time to order: My wife asked if the Brie on the grilled cheese could be changed to a more kid friendly cheese, such as cheddar (Which they have for other sandwiches). The girl with long brown hair was very short mouthed and rude saying NO, that it couldn’t be changed. ARE YOU SERIOUS? You can’t just change the cheese to please these adorable little girls that have been waiting in the heat that want a grilled cheese? SERIOUSLY? And then be rude about it? My wife was so caught off guard by this insane level of unprofessionalism that she literally thought the girl was kidding and sort of chuckled. So she asked again. Still the answer no. So my wife left and did not end up eating anything there or feeding my girls until they could get somewhere that actually cared about their customers and wanted their money. Side story: The lady that was standing behind my wife in line caught up to my wife in the parking lot and said that she heard the whole thing, was not gong to eat there either and SHE apologized to my wife for YOUR rudeness. Wow! A total stranger who has nothing to do with your business apologized for YOUR unprofessionalism. Yet, nothing from you. Here’s the point: You lost two customers in that short period of time due to it. Are you ok with losing more as I vigorously share my experience? Is that your strategy to remain successful and keep growing?
This girl has no customer service skills and if you don’t make food according to how your customer would like it, YOU ARE IN THE WRONG BUSINESS!!!
So here’s the best part: I message them months later after it has been eating me inside and I have held myself from possibly making a scene at Kaiser, I explained the whole situation and that I would be waiting for a response.
I could see on Facebook, within just a short time, that someone actually read my message and they literally didn’t respond. I said to myself, OK, someones going to think about it, look into the situation, talk to the employee, etc… and then get back to me. Nope. Still nothing.
I don’t give a damn if the food is the best in the world, makes my waistline slim without exercise, grows me a full head of hair and cures the common cold; I will never support a business that thinks it is acceptable to treat customers poorly, get told about it and do nothing. All I wanted was a simple apology to my wife and kids. You failed to do so «Crusty Bums» so you’ll never see a dime from me and I will do everything in my power to make sure that everyone I know or run into knows this story. They can decide to still support you if they want after that, I am ok with that.
I ask anybody that knows me to not support this business and to support my cause of demanding professionalism from them.
I spend a lot of time at Kaiser. I will be heard.

So close to Fresno city for us college students! It was really great, loved the burger I ordered and the dipping sauces! Overall great and filling. Definitely going back for more!

We were quite disappointed with our first experience at Dusty Buns. The food we received was not what we ordered — we ordered Bistro Burgers (beef and cheese, according to the posted menu). What we received had no cheese, had guacamole that wasn’t mentioned (and glops of it! — yuck!), and the burgers had no flavor. The fries were burned on one side and under-​cooked on the other side. AND — asking for a tip before even tasting the food or seeing what kind of service you will receive is completely inappropriate! The only thing we liked was the hamburger bun, which isn’t worth another visit.

Well I’ve been to the truck with my grandaughter Saturday and then I tried the Weldon site today for lunch. My experience here was much nicer. I really enjoyed the enviroment and the seating was nice also. Don’t get me wrong the food was good on the truck also but you lose something. I’m sure it’s me.
Anyway this time I tried the Bistro Chicken Tacos — excellent, tasty great tacos. I also had the Snap Peas — mmmmmmmmm, mmmmmmmm, mmmmmmmm. :):):) — nuff said.
I’m sorry I didn’t take pictures but I was so busy devouring my lunch and then trying to decide whether to go back for more or save room for my dinner tonight. I will defintely try this again and I’m sure I’ll end up going thru the entire menu.

Menu needs improving.
The potato dipping sauces aren’t the best but i like where this pace is goin. ;)

Super friendly staff and cool place! I got the signature Dusty Bun with fries. Everything was really good. I recommend this place for sure

Accidentally reviewed their restaurant instead of their truck! Haven’t had the chance to try their restaurant, but the truck is amazing! I will update when we swing by this location

There are very few places that I have eaten that I can openly say I will never ever go to again, Dusty Buns is one of those places. Probably by far one of the worst meals I have ever had and I would not reccommend this to even my enemies. I had the «grilled» cheese, which was really just a chunk of slightly warmed cheese on what they call their famous buns, the wrong soup that was ice cold and an orange plum tea that was just a glorified tea with a slice of orange. The fries were mediocre at best and to top it off we had to wait 45 mins for our food. Between me and my husband we spent almost $ 35 on our lunch and I left feeling hungry. It was horrible.
Sorry not sorry, but this place was awful!!!

Dusty Buns is hella special. Not many places in Fresno like it. First time I ate here I had the best burger experience of my life hands down, my life changed as soon as I bit into it. On the other hand the place lacks consistency; cooking wise and you never know what they’re going to put on your burgy. I recommend having it with avocado and the other basic ingredients. F”k those little shrooms. PS make sure the guy with glasses is cooking.

Just had the burger here, so delicious. Definitely recommend giving this place a try.

We used to go here all the time before we moved to the bay area. We were down visiting recently and had to stop and satisfy our craving. We were soooo disappointed… I always got the dusty bun sandwich so I was looking forward to it. Seems like a completely different sandwich, was not good at all. Even the bread changed! The fries were a little hard and under seasoned and i was so sad that they didn’t have the chilli aoli for those, probably would have been tolerable. My husband got an eggman and he said it was good, he is usually satisfied with anything that includes an egg so…
I’m so sad, I don’t think we will be going back.

My son goes to Fresno High and raves about this place so we thought we would order some takeout. We ordered the Mac and cheese which was good except for the fact that it was completely burned. Bitter bitter burned taste.
We also had the grilled cheese. The bun was delicious and I enjoyed the fruit in the sandwich. What I didn’t enjoy was the burnt bacon! I’m really not a picky person but it was all burnt.
The other mac and cheeses were burnt too.
The tacos were good, I didn’t eat them, my nine year old did and I didn’t hear any complaints.
Was really looking forward to DB, maybe I’ll just try a burger next time
This joint left a bitter taste in my mouth (literally)

I never would have imagined that I would enjoy pears on my grilled cheese sandwich, but wow! Super soft bread, locally sourced ingredients, and they make their own ketchup. I will definitely return and try more of the menu. Friendly staff and plenty of space.

Awesome love the grill cheese the bread so so good! Loved the snap peas too so yummy!!!

Fresh, local, organic, colorful, delicious food. Seriously so glad Dusty Buns is a thing. It’s by far one of the best food experiences Fresno has to offer! I live right down the street so I always take it to go and enjoy at home! The market salads are always different based on what’s in season but equally as good every time! The tri tip sandwich is out of this world good. I think they have changed the portion sizes because my tri-​tip sandwich was really big! I came in at 12:30 on a Monday, ordered and got my food within 10 minutes. Go support local! You won’t regret it.

For years friends talked about Dusty Buns just when they were a truck, so I finally dragged myself here with a friend to try it out. The menu is very simple, I only came across 2 vegetarian items and so I chose what looked best. It was a sandwich with seasonal veggies (carrots, zucchini, etc…) and feta, I loved it! It was surprisingly good especially cause I’m no fan of carrots, it was lightly cooked but just perfect. I expected to pay what I did, eating local and fresh isn’t always super pricey but if you’re at school or live in the area, you’re fortunate to have such a good place around. I just wish they added more vegetarian options to the menu, that’ll make them golden!

Frikkin AMAZING. I have never ate anything like the tri-​tip melt! Seriously, you can taste the cheese, mushrooms, veggies, and tr-​tip evenly without any overpowering the other in flavor. You taste everything in there that makes it whole… And the dusty buns! WHAT ARE THOSE?! My god, could you be any more perfectly balanced between soft, crisp, fluffy, and hard? Not too hard, not too soft, and just the right amount of grease. The meat tasted super fresh and tender. you can definitely tell they use fresh vegetables. I usually don’t repeat a lot of places because I like to explore new restaurants, but Dusty Buns is definitely the place I will return to when I am back in Fresno. See Ya soon!
tip: Come here during happy hour and get $ 2 off buns and appetizers!

Seriously delicious grass fed beef burger, in-​fact best burger I have ever tasted in California, not just Fresno, but the whole of California. I would suggest coming here Mon-​Friday from 3−5pm to enjoy their happy hour, which brings you the benefit of $ 2 discount on all their food items (which makes this place more appealing because normally its expensive for $ 8), and in addition, the restaurant is almost empty during that time, which translates to fast and excellent service. Street parking is available for free around the restaurant and its relatively easy to score one. The unique selling point of this restaurant is its passion for good whole foods, and thats exactly the experience I received dining here, only the best ingredients are used here, non of those GMO crap. There isn’t a huge choice, maybe 9 choices on the menu, and thats great because they specialize instead of offering a broad menu and also made choosing something to eat for once a breeze.
The overall wait time was 10 minutes which isn’t too bad, now the prices is really expensive, because one burger is $ 8 and even sides is $ 7-​$ 8, so be warned that this place is pricey. The portion isn’t huge either, will leave you full the healthy way instead of bursting feeling that other lunch places normally does. Thus the reason happy hour is perfect because you get to save a few dollars. The expensive price is understandable, so this place is more of a once in a while treat for me.
Gastronomic is the only way I could describe their Bistro burger $ 6 (happy hour price, normal $ 8). The medium rare beef I requested was cooked to order, while the sensation of the sautéed market mushrooms on top made it look beautiful, and the California cheddar was a perfect balance here too. The overall taste had a perfect balance of savory, earthy, slight salty and tartness from the sourdough dusty dusty buns, which really was a party in my mouth. It really was the most delicious and most flavorful burger I have ever tasted. Portion was not big, but it was enough for a power lunch. Balance of protein, carbs and fat with added benefit of fiber too.
Overall I would come back here for the amazing taste of the burger that really has the value of using locally sourced ingredients which does make a difference to the overall taste. This place might not necessarily appeal to fast food goers, so if your not into great tasting food with great ingredients and to you using organic and locally source ingredients is all an excuse to charge higher prices, please drive along to some in and out or Mc Donald’s.
The interior is beautiful from ceiling to tables, however as your eyes make contact to the floor everything changes, it looks like some cheap Mexican cantina, no offense to those establishment, just not appealing is all I am describing, I hope they change their floors to wood or maybe even terra-​cotta tiles to uplift the beautiful trendy décor.

I learned about Dusty Buns a couple months back, after their location on Weldon was opened, and after their über-​success in the food truck business, and I finally know what all of the fuss is about.
As Jules from Pulp Fiction has said, «Mmmmmmm mmmmmmm. Now that is a tasty burger.»
My wife and I have only been a half-​dozen times, and with their locally sourced burgers with bacon (extra $), organic local fingerling fries to share, and their homemade from scratch ketchup, chili-​yogurt sauce, and garlic-​yogurt sauce, the food has flavor that explodes in your mouth, like a terrorist mardi gras celebration. Since we’ve enjoyed our «regular» order so much, we haven’t tried anything else yet on the menu, but it all looks fantastic, as well.
We even went there for lunch on Valentine’s Day and the buns were in the shapes of hearts. Now, that’s love right there.
Since their food is all local and made from scratch, prices aren’t as low as I’d typically like, especially for a burger, but they never cease to disappoint. On advice that I received from the person that recommended me, I recommend going between 3−5PM on weekdays, as you’ll receive $ 2 off each food item to bring the price down to a very reasonable amount.
If you love great food, you’ve gotta try Dusty Buns. If you don’t love great food, there’s a Little Ceasar’s just a couple blocks away.