XXX Rootbeer Drive-In

Words cannot describe how amazing XXX’s root beer is. I’ve tried dozens of different kinds of root beer, and this place is the best I’ve found.
Food is only okay. High prices for huge portions — it’s sort of annoying unless you are very hungry for something very greasy. Milkshakes are good.
I love retro stuff, but the cluttered interior doesn’t do much for me. I would much rather the place have a clean «authentic» old diner feel that relied on it’s architecture and furniture to convey its theme rather than tons of random pictures and car parts affixed to every spare inch of wall (and ceiling!)
Been to a few car shows here, those are always fun.

I loved this place! Great food, incredible root beer and ice cream! Only drawback is that it’s cash only, which isn’t the worst but you know.

We dropped in for a burger and root beer. Good burgers, fast service and love the decore! Defintely not healthy eating, but damn its good!

This was our first time eating at the XXX, and the experience was kind of mixed. I was happy with the cleanliness of the place. I’ve been to a number of 50’s décor places and they almost always have a greasy sheen to them, but not here. First off: the root beer. Maybe it was an off day for them, but it was flat, and too sweet. This is kind of a big deal. If it’s supposed to be your signature thing, it should be solid. Serving flat soda is a faux pas, serving flat soda as your signature drink should be an embarrassment. It’s visible. You can SEE that it’s flat. And it was like 3 bucks for a SMALL. Step it up, guys.
They were redeemed by the food. We got a chicken philly, and it was pretty great. Spendy, but easily two portions. The wife and I were completely full off of this single menu item and a barely touched root beer.
One last thing: they only take cash. This is just dumb. OK, we all realize there’s a cost to doing business, but this kind of thing makes it really difficult to be a repeat customer. You want me to make a run to the cash machine every time I come in? Increasingly, people don’t carry cash. Full disclosure: XXX does give us an ATM to make a withdrawal from, but I due to a bizarre twist of fate I actually had a 20 on me, so I don’t know if that ATM charges a fee. Anyone want to take bets on whether it does or doesn’t?

This place isn’t just a burger stop, it’s a little piece of history. You go here with the expectation that the food is going to messy, greasy, and delicious. Triple x feels like you’ve stepped back into the 50’s, and it’s a good feel. I would recommend everybody passing through the area stop by at least once, if nothing more than to get a root beer, which by the way is incredibly delicious and served in a huge chilled mug. Perfect for summer. Their burgers are mountains of greasy deliciousness, the beef is juicy, the fries are great, you really have to try it to understand. I always get the roadster, an open faced burger heaped with chili, jalapeños and onions and served over a bed of fries. The triple x burger is big enough to feed a family, honestly most of these burgers are enough you could happily split it with a date. The ambiance here is noisy and fun. I honestly think this is one of the best date spots in Issaquah. Go here, bring cash, bring your kids and enjoy.

Stopped by this historic landmark last night after a day of playing in the snow. My mom suggested XXX rootbeer as we drove from the mountain so naturally my fiancé and I looked up the reviews. After some not so nice comments I sill decided we would try it for ourselves.
We walked in and were greater by several waiters asking us to grab a menu and pick a seat. My mom walked to the bar style area but told me she was cold. A waiter had overheard we were Coke and suggested we move over to a table rights by the fireplace. Talk about caring about guest needs!
The whole restaurant is covered, literally covered bursting off the wall with 50’s/60’s memorability and car related items. It’s pretty wild to see and defiantly a must see. During the summers they have weekly car shows.
After reading the extensive menu we got a large root beer float and spilt it three ways. They make their root beer from scratch and it is fabulous! With the soft serve and ice cream it is beyond delicious! We started to take pictures with the giant root beer floats when the waiter came running over with giant glasses to take pictures with! The waiters were on it all! They came around with great energy and really paid attention to us with positive attitudes.
I got the basic cheeseburger with onion rings and spilt the plate. They do charge $ 2.00 to spilt/​share a plate.
The bun was incredibly buttery and perfect with the fresh veggies, special sauce (thousand plans type) and tasty. He burger is small and a little over cooked. That was he only reason for one less star.
This is a cash only place. I loved the service and the food would have been amazing if they cooked the burger better. Defiantly worth a stop to try the food and be taken care of my the great staff!

XXX burgers are NOT good. The fries and onion rings are good as are the root beer floats which are what I stick to when I go. Seriously the burgers are such a disappointment.

Awesome place many choices. Great service. Very busy in summer. Not as much in winter. But worth it!

This place is an icon! If you ever driving down I 90 east or west, you will have passed this sign as it stands at least 150 feet tall. It is a picture of a barrel with three X’s on it.
When you walk in the restaurant is covered in memorabilia. From pictures to the diner when it first opened till now, people’s licenses that have expired, pictures of the most random locations, a jukebox is connected to every table, and the gigantic gumball machine at the front door.
You could already tell this is going to be great!
The service staff was super friendly, warm and quick.
We actually ordered one of their larger burgers and split it and it was plenty enough food for two grown people! If you’ve ordered this burger before you’ll know what I’m talking about it’s gigantic! We also ordered their signature root beer in a frosted mug. That is a must!
Awesome dining experience I highly recommend!

This week Burger Aficionado returns to the gorgeous Issaquah, WA to try a spot that’s name keeps cropping up when burgers are the subject. XXX Root Beer, known for their house made Root Beer and large portions. With sights set on a good burger and stomach ready, I head on over!
Located at 98 N. E Gilman Blvd, this car enthusiast hot spot is decorated top to bottom with different car related items, from street signs to car parts, they proudly showcase the décor throughout the establishment. Most interesting is that patrons of the establishment donated many of the items on display.
I’m not here to talk about décor, I’m here for a burger, a big one at that. I started my order off with a good ol’ root beer float, served with their house root beer. XXX Root Beer quickly lived up to their namesake; I was brought a monster of a stein, filled to the brim and topped with a more than generous scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream. If this is any indication of the hamburger’s portion size, I can’t wait to see the burger. I ordered myself a 58 Impala. The car theme carries over to the menu.
Esthetically, the burger was massive; however, upon further inspection I was disappointed to see that the bacon was anything but «piled high.» The first bite was underwhelming at best. I expected a burger of this size to be juicy and full of flavor, the 58 Impala burger was anything but. While seasoned well, this is a remarkably dry patty. Fitting ½lb patty on a larger than normal bun required that the patty be thin causing it to loss it’s moisture. In addition the extremely thin bun left me with a case of hamburger cottonmouth. If there is a redeeming quality to the 58 Impala burger is the fact that it reminded me of the beautiful car that shares it’s name.
The dryness of the patty and the large amount of empty bread coupled together made for an uneasy burger to eat. Needless to say, I was thankful for my root beer float.
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This place deserves every star I can give it. This is one of the few places I am very passionate about, the amount of true aged diners and restaurants is growing ever shorter. XXX is easily one of the most memorable spots on this side of the state! Stepping into the place is like a time capsule, and yes this place has a few gimmicks like cash only and some of their food is sub par… But order well and you’ll be leaving satisfied! This place feels real because it is real… Not a themed restaurant like Rubys diner because this place has stood the test of time and sits proudly today. I can’t drive on i90 without making a quick stop here if even just to look since I’ve had the pleasure of having some amazing experiences at this location through out the years. I’ve made friends here, I have gained inspiration here and stored away countless memories here. It might be just a restaurant but for myself and countless others it is more than that and always will be. Drop by and judge for yourself. P. S they have amazing root beer floats!

Haven’t been here for years and last night me and my husband were trying to answer the age old question, «What do you want for dinner». I went on Unilocal… was trying to find something that we haven’t done in awhile… stumbled on XXX! Read the reviews on Unilocal,was a lil scared, but we ALWAYS try a restaurant regardless of reviews… lawrd knows we would have missed out on a lot of great places if we went strictly on Unilocal reviews…
It was quiet when we arrived, only one other couple. We sat down and started starting at everything on the walls! GO GOD, EVERY INCH OF THAT PLACE IS COVERED! Really cool articles, tons of picture and tons of peoples old school ID’s!
I ordered the cheeseburger with fries, my husband ordered the Hawaiian chicken burger with onion rings. Only had to wait about 10 minutes for our food! My burger was great, good flavor, cooked just right, WAAAYY TOO MUCH SPECIAL SAUCE FOR ME… had to wipe some of it off. Fries were overcooked, I like my fries crispy, but these were brown overcooked…:(
My husband said his burger was good, I took a bite and loved it… VERY VERY MESSED THOUGH! Huge grilled chicken breast with tons of cheese and pineapple. His onion rings were really good too!
Liked it, didn’t love it, but will come back again!

This place puts seven scoops of ice cream per milkshake. SEVEN. Seven delicious scoops.
…
Seven.
Oh and the root beer and ambiance is fantastic. The food though… it is what it is. Don’t come here looking for a beautiful gourmet burger, finish your shake and walk to Jak’s for that. This place is a piece of history (seriously, it’s one of the only two left from TONS of old locations that had closed) and its wonderfully all-​American. I’m not even into that sort of stuff and I love the feel of this place.
Seven scoops of ice cream.

This place survives on pure nostalgia. If this was just a regular burger place it would have closed a long time ago. There’s no need to explain the theme as I’m sure if you’re reading reviews you already get the picture.
The service is odd. You come and grab a menu and sit down and there’s an order here sign hanging so I assumed it’s all self service. It is for some tables and other tables have a waiter. No rhyme or reason to which tables get a waiter and which have to get up and order and pick up their food. Now I don’t mind doing this, but have some kind of system and give me a tray to take my food out on so I don’t have to balance food on my arm (I almost lost a burger and fry onto another customer).
For lack of a better term the food just plain sucks. The burgers are thin and dry, and I was expecting thick juicy drive in style burgers. Fries were fine, but I mean come on they are fries.
Everything is way overpriced. They also nickel and dime you for everything and have some kind of fee for everything. Not too mention as I was trying to figure out how to carry my drinks the guy slides my change and I realize later he shortchanged me.
No cards accepted because hey its like the 50’s and 60s. Don’t your grandparents remember not having cards, $ 13 burgers, atms with $ 3 service fees, and $ 60 lunches for 3 people… ah the good ol’ days. I’m sure it’s not because the owners don’t want to pay for card transactions, nope just for the nostalgia.
2 stars because root beer.

This place is definitely a staple for Issaquah. I’ve driven past it many a times & it’s usually always packed full.
For starters, their root beer is pretty darn amazing. The large size comes in a huge cooled mug & needless to say, I would go back just for the root beer if nothing else.
Other than the root beer, they have a HUGE selection of burgers. The menu is a little… overwhelming. They have SO many different burger options that it’s hard to even know where to begin. I ended up just choosing on of the first 5 burgers & chose the one that sounded the best. I got the Low Rider, which is a bacon burger with grilled onions & jalapeños
The first couple bites were delicious. The burger itself was HUGE (think Red Robin x2). After that though, it goes downhill. The grease starts to mn ake your buns soggy & then it drips into your basket that holds your fries, which turns your fries soggy. I could only finish half of it & after that, i’m pretty sure my body was shutting down after the grease intake. The flavors, were delicious. But having to wipe your hands after every bite, is kind of a turn off for me.
Also, I wouldn’t consider this a «drive-​in». You don’t order from your car & have someone come out to you in roller-​skates to deliver your meal. You park & can either dine inside or outside.
Overall, I won’t go out of my way to come here again like I did today. I was already close to Issaquah & I knew that for everyone that I was with, burgers would be an easy choice. If I want to recommend a good burger, i will send them somewhere else. But if you want a delicious, cold drink, try the root beer!

Bulking? Craving delicious greasy fewds? This place is for you. This restaurant screams ‘Merica from all the local memorabilia on the wall, to the heavily decorated menu. Stopped by this place on my way back from a short but sweet hike to Franklin Falls in the Snoqualmie Area. We were greeted right away from a lovely young man who handed us menus and told us it was open seating.
It took us a FAT minute to try and decide what to get. There are probably 200+ things on the menu… Not going to lie, I was a bit overwhelmed at first, but then I finally came to a decision!
After ordering, it only took a few minutes for our food to come out. And by a few minutes I mean I checked social media for a bit on my phone, gazed at the memorabilia for a bit, went to go use the restroom and came back and my food was there. I felt like I was in Jack Rabbit Slim’s from Pulp Fiction, minus all the violence. THAT FAST.
I ordered the Mushroom Burger which came with curly fries and onion rings. My friend got a Bacon Cheese Burger (? I totally forgot the name) which came with regular cut fries. We both shared a XXX Root Beer Float which was more than we both could handle. Everything was REALLY good but VERY heavy. I wanted to knock out into a food coma afterward.
The root beet float was my favorite part of the meal. I was so happy that they presented it in this ridiculously huge glass mug.
I was really confused before on why they charged an extra couple dollars if you split one burger with a friend and after eating here, I know why. PRO TIP: If you’re a small little Asian girl like me who thinks that they can devour anything and everything your way, this place will stump you. I was not able to finish my food because there was just so much!
I have to come back to try other parts of the menu, possibly the shakes!
This place only takes cash! They do have an ATM, but there is a small fee.

We had been told to come try this place out. Weeknight wasn’t too busy. The inside is crazy busy with stuff all over the walls. It was interesting to see all the junk, but it was too much junk. The table wasn’t super clean. I wiped it down. But I kept thinking about the dirt my whole meal.
We ordered root beer but got root beer floats. These things are HUGE. So now we have 4 of them. No way kids are going to eat a meal with that first. We opted to get less food and share. They have a charge for sharing. However, the portions are way too big.
I tried the philly cheese steak. Why cilantro? It was weird. I wish I had left it off. The flavor was good, but it must have had MSG on it. I got a migraine that night… lasted 3 days. And since I only get them when I eat MSG and I hadn’t eaten lunch that day… it must be something on the sandwich.
Husband got a double bacon burger. It had 1 slice of bacon on it. Seriously? The waiter agreed to get more bacon. But the bun had sesame seeds on it, so my son couldn’t eat it. I didn’t see any mention of this… most of the pictures were of non sesame buns. Husband said it was just ok.
So we ordered corn dog for the kid. He didn’t like it. And for some reason we got a side of fries we didn’t order.
The onion rings were good but covered in my sandwich stuff.
All in all we decided the root beer float would be worth a summer treat. but food wise none of us wanted to come back.

Your standard burger joint with great décor. Our grandma took us to lunch here and had chicken strips, fries, and root beer float. Chicken strips were good, not the cheap thin ones you get some places but hearty, real chicken deep-​fried to artery clogging perfection!
The root beer float was delicious — good root beer and quite a bit of ice cream.
Perfect place to take parents or grandparents for lunch to take them back in time — memorabilia from the oldies.
Good spot for when the sun is out too, there are tables outside to sit under and a lot of parking.

Ive driven by the place plenty of time. Always wanted to try it. So a friend and I (both our first time) decided to finally try it.
Well, big disappointment! This is not my favorite sit down diner place at all. The moment you walk in, its super cluttered. There was peoples actual driver’s licenses hanging on the wall along side school ids and etc. personal much?
We ordered a rootbeer float and garlic fries (which had tabasco sauce all over it) weird combo and taste to it. Not my favorite at all. The rootbeer floats were great! The regular size could be shared amongst two people! It was huge!
Anywho, for first timers, didnt feel welcomed. Barely any service at all. Also, its a cash only place. Who knew? Didnt see it til they gave us the receipt, lucky I had cash on me to cover our drink and fries. Which cost $ 20! Fairly pricey if you ask me.
It was nice to see the history of it and all, the drive thru, car show and etc, but I wouldnt come back here for anything other than a rootbeer float, but then, I could always make my own for less than half that cost!
Im just not impressed with the place at all.

I really wanted to like XXX Rootbeer Drive-​In, I really, really wanted to like it.
— I wanted to like it because I have driven by it for 45 years and I was going to try it for the first time today.
–I wanted to like it because it’s a throw-​back; not too many drive-​ins still around.
–I wanted to like it because its part of the Seattle history; its nostalgic.
–I wanted to like it because of the cool cars that have stopped by over the years.
–I wanted to like it because of its almost racy name, XXX.
–I wanted to like it because I like rootbeer and hamburgers.
But alas, it has fallen short. Yes, it was fast, but there was not crowd at 1130 on a Friday morning (I think the burger was pre-​cooked).
The waitress was very pushy, I think that she was being cute, but it came across as pushy (am I just getting old?).
The overall cleanliness fell real short. The floor was very dirty under some of the tables, and under other parts of the common area. The overall restaurant felt dirty.
Its really nostalgic, cool stuff everywhere. But too much, it was very cluttered. Perhaps 75% of the stuff should be removed and the rest cleaned.
My Patty Melt was fine, not great. The quality of the beef was mediocre. The fries were fine.
How was the rootbeer? Fabulous.
XXX is cash only, there is a cash machine on premises.
Will I return, probably, perhaps in another 45 years.
Did I mention that I really wanted to like XXX, but it fell short?