Royale With Cheese

This is a great burger joint in a great bar. It’s located in an outdoor space that has darts, a smaller structure often used for live music, and ping pong. The ambiance is cozy, staff are nice, and the only beef I have is of some pretty high quality (as is the bread for the buns and the cheese). The tots are also wonderfully crispy on the outside and juicy inside.
As a heads up, they participate in Burger Week– i.e., $ 5 burgers!

Click the link for a video review of the food and restaurant experience:
Great, great place to eat. This gem is hidden inside and behind Park & Rec. You have to walk through the bar to get to this place. They serve waygu beef, which is the America version of Kobe beef. They didn’t ask me how I wanted my meat cooked. Usually this would bother me, but the way they cooked it was perfect. It was in between medium and medium rare.
What got me to come here in the first place were the countless reviews of their tots. THIS DID NOT DISAPPOINT. I would come here for the tots and tots only.
I love the ambience of the place. It opens up with a bar, then an outdoor area, and a little house that house TV’s and ping pong tables. This is a great place to have a drink and hang out with your friends for a few hours.
Service was great! Try this place out!

The burgers here are insanely good! They’re perfectly cooked and served on super fresh bread. We had the buffalo tots that were a special tot on our first visit (now a regular item). I TOTally need to figure out how to make those at home!
Be careful not to miss this place though. It’s tucked away behind Park & Rec (a nice little bar in itself), where you order your drinks. I love the patio seating back there and the people watching seats up in the front on the street.
Gotta get back here soon!

I’d like to preface that this review has nothing to do with the food (which I find to be good) but entirely to do with the service I receive there.
I eat here nearly every Tuesday (as I play trivia there that night) and am ALWAYS greeted with the same AWFUL service.
I try to be pleasant; and yet seem to still get attitude and straightforward rudeness.
I don’t know if this guy thinks he’s the actual «Burger King» (but he’s certainly taking the «Royale» a little too seriously).

In case you haven’t read the other reviews, this place is tucked away inside Park & Rec. A little service window with limited menu options.
I tried it for the San Diego burger week special. $ 5 for a really solid burger (royale with cheese) is hard to beat. And I got ½ order of tots to go with it. I usually think tots are underwhelming but these are actually really good. The seasoning and side of aioli was great.
I probably wouldn’t drive across town for it, but if you’re near or at park & rec and are hungry I recommend trying the burgers.

CITYBEAT BURGER WEEK #8 (and the last!)
Sometime in 1994…
Vincent: And you know what they call a… a… a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?
Jules: They don’t call it a Quarter Pounder with cheese?
Vincent: No man, they got the metric system. They wouldn’t know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is.
Jules: Then what do they call it?
Vincent: They call it a Royale with cheese.
Jules: A Royale with cheese. What do they call a Big Mac?
Vincent: Well, a Big Mac’s a Big Mac, but they call it le Big-​Mac.
Jules: Le Big-​Mac. Ha ha ha ha. What do they call a Whopper?
Vincent: I dunno, I didn’t go into Burger King.
The Royale with Cheese, normally $ 10, was a steal for only $ 5, and not the crappy Quarter Pounder at McDonalds. «1÷3 lb. wagyu beef patty, bacon, caramelized onions, gruyère cheese, pickles and a high grain mustard on a brioche bun». DELICIOUS! It was a bloody medium rare, so I’d request it medium next time… too much red creeps me out! I also added a $ 3 half order of the tasty tator tots too… yum! Overall great food for $ 8, but full price for $ 13 seems a little steep considering its just a self service food shack.

San Diego Hamburger Experiment: Royale With Cheese at Park & Rec
Wagyu beef patty, Gruyère, bacon, carmelized onion, Dijon, special sauce, and pickle
1 BJ: Burger Juiciness: ⁷⁄₁₀ medium + juicy
2 BG: Bun Goodness: ⁷⁄₁₀ nice toast marks on bun not crumbly
3 BF: Burger Flavor: ⁸⁄₁₀ pretty juicy had to google Wagyu beef. high quality beef
4 BV: Burger Value: ⁹⁄₁₀ $ 5 for SD Burger Week
Great deal
5 S: Service: ⁶⁄₁₀ beeper to pick up food
6 FS: Fries/​Sides: ⁷⁄₁₀ Tater Tots Crispy
7 P: Presentation: ⁶⁄₁₀ carmelized onions
8RE: Restaurant environment: ⁷⁄₁₀ very «laidback» backyard-​like environment with games: shuffle board ping pong bar room atmosphere.
TOTAL SCORE: 57 *SD Burger Week

I came here with my wife and a few friends during burger week. I heard a lot of comments on how good the food was so it was a must visit. We were fortunate to find parking right out front the restaurant in usually crowded University Heights. We made our way to the back to the grill and were drawn in by all the wonderful aromas. My wife for example was originally planning on getting a salad but changed her mind after smelling the burger deliciousness in the air.
Prices were excellent during burger week with the $ 5 royale (normally $ 10) and $ 5 more for the Tony Gwynn Alesmith. Between the five of us we ordered four burger week specials, 1 patty melt and 1 ½ orders of tots. We placed the order for take-​out as our friends had their kid with them and there really isn’t any kid friendly seating since they are located inside Park & Rec. There are a few chairs out front but no tables. Not a big deal for us as we were less than a mile away from our friends place. They were able to accommodate us so all our food came out on the same pager which was cool.
After playing a few games of pinball our food was ready and we headed back to our friends. All 5 of us really liked everything that we ordered. The burger, patty melts, tots were all really good. My burger was really flavorful and had a nice cook on it. The menu said no mods for the burger week special so I ordered it as is. Typically I order a burger without onions but I really didn’t mind them on the Royale. The bun was a good size and held up well throughout the demolition of it being eaten. They also included some additional sauces in our take-​out which I took advantage of on the tots and burger.
I haven’t been to Park & Rec before but it looks like a cool place to hang out while you grab some burger/​tots and drinks with bowling pinball and shuffleboard, a lot of fun if you like to game and smack talk with some friends.
Thanks for participating in burger week!

I have ate the Royale with Cheese twice in my life now and I must say what a heavenly food coma I fall into. I went to an event a while back and got to sample this burger. Since then I have been raving about ot and finally I have the perfect excuse… BURGER WEEK. Please, Unilocalers and foodies alike… in no way, shape, or form do I get special perks for saying this… Try this intergalactic cosmic godsend of a burger. Waygu beef, American cheese, BACON, $ 5 need I say more.
By the way, in order to get there… you have to go through Park & Rec and there will be a sign above the door that says «Royale with Cheese.»

Ten stars out of five. Came here for Burger Week and they’re very generous charging only $ 5 for a full burger with full flavors! It isn’t too late to get your burger fix for this great price!
The burger bun was plump, perfectly buttered and toasted. The beef was as wagyu as it could get, full of flavors and cooked perfectly medium and charred. With the cheese, grilled onions and mustard sauce with the seeds, the burger was scrumptious and perfectly balanced. You know how some burgers can be soggy or too dry, too salty or under seasoned? This one was nothing like that. That’s what I meant by balanced!
Tater tots with corned beef, bacon and sunny-​side egg, a sky-​high fat and cholesterol dish, yeah I’m in!!! The tots were crispy and hot, and the flavors were just bursting.
The dining atmosphere was casual, fun and relaxing. Royale is located at the back of Park and Rec bar and there is only a window to order, so they share the same dining area as the bar. They have a community table, few regular tables and bar seating outside. In the main bar area there is a pinball machine with of course the bar. In the back building there are two ping pong tables. It’s just a happy place overall with people chatting loudly, playing games, hanging out, and having a good time!

Located in the back corner of San Diego’s version of Blue Bayou, Park & Rec. That could be a good or bad thing depending on the night. On off hour weekdays it’s a very fun spot to grab a bite and a libation, but if you are anti-​crowd like myself this spot needs to be avoided on weekends.
Ordered the Vegan Royale (Black Bean Quinoa Patty, Pickled Red Onion, Avocado, Arugula Pesto, Sriracha Veganaise) and was blown away by the complexity of flavors from a Non-​Plant Based Establishment.
Veggie Friends, come here for a very good burger and a nice pour when you have a hankering for such.

4.5 stars
Came here for Burger week, to try their Royale with Cheese, ¹⁄₃ lb. wagyu beef patty, bacon, caramelized onions, gruyère cheese, pickles and a high grain mustard on a brioche bun. (normally $ 10 but $ 5 for burger week)
The burger was delicious, the bun nicely toasted, the meat juicy and tender. I’m not usually a big fan of mustard but it really added something to this burger, just the right combination of ingredients to create a very tasty burger.
I also got a half order of their «Koontz’s magical tots» ($ 3), They were very crispy, and tasty, but i don’t know what makes them «magical» it did come with a Sriracha mayo which was very good, i also found myself dipping my burger into it as well. The there was a good amount of tots for a half order, i think a full order would be the right amount for 2 guys or 3 ladies watching their waistline.
Royale with cheese is no more than a service window located in the back left corner of Park and Rec a very cool indoor out door bar, it features corn hole, ping pong tables, a shuffle board, bar seating, lounge seating area, TV’s to watch a game, an indoor and outdoor area, its got it all. A very cool place to hang out!
The only drawback is parking, it took me over 20 minutes of driving around to find parking on a non busy thursday evening. Despite parking, I’d gladly come back and pay the full price for this burger and tot combo or even one of their other burgers. Definitely one of San Diegos best burgers.

San Diego Burger Week 2016 is on! I checked out the list of restaurants participating and narrowed it down to 2 – 3 places that we felt might be good to start with. After some discussion with our group, we ended up selecting Royale with Cheese!
We have never been to the place and I actually thought it was a separate restaurant. It’s kind of a strange layout. I was actually expecting to see signage for a restaurant that said «Royale with Cheese» somewhere, but I didn’t see anything.
Come to find out they actually share the same address with Parc & Rec in University Heights. Best way to explain it is Parc & Rec is the bar, but you can order food in the back area behind the bar (which is Royale with Cheese) and dine anywhere in the bar.
Another thing is the whole place is considered part of the bar, so I suggest you leave the children /​babies at home. We didn’t realize the place we were searching for was in a bar and my buddy and his girl brought their 2.5 month old baby.
The bartender at Parc & Rec explained to us that legally no one under 18 was allowed in the bar and that the whole place was considered «the bar». That included the tables and area in back right outside of Royale with Cheese. He was nice about it and genuinely seemed to feel bad, so I’m not going to knock him for doing his job. If he was a jerk, things would be different.
So we ended up ordering our food for carry out. We ordered 5 burgers along with 2 full orders of tots. The young gal that took our order was super friendly and felt bad that we couldn’t eat our food there. Our food was packed and ready to go I would say within 12 – 15 minutes.
We got back to the house, unpacked our food, and inhaled it. Everything was pretty good! The tots were seasoned with Koontz’s «magical» seasoning. It had a pleasant salty and slight sweet taste that kept you wanting to eat more. The Corned beef hash tots were delicious also! The fried egg on top was a nice touch.
The burgers are cooked medium by default; «No mods please unless dietary» (says the sign). The beef (Wagyu according to the menu) was well seasoned and juicy. The other toppings: bacon, carmelized onions, mustard, special sauce, pickles, and Gruyère cheese added to the deliciousness. I have to say… it was one of the best burgers I’ve enjoyed in a while.
Interestingly, this place is open for breakfast on the weekend if you want to grab a breakfast sandwich (10 am I believe). I think I’m going to have to try it one of these weekend mornings.
I would have liked to eat there and gotten an adult beverage, but there’s always next time. Parking in the area isn’t the greatest… you may get lucky (like we did) and find parking right away, but it could easily take 10 minutes or more if you’re unlucky.
If you’re looking to enjoy a good burger and possibly a good beer, and you’ve never been to Royale with Cheese featured by Parc & Rec, come check this place out!
4.0 /​5.0 — Service
4.5 /​5.0 — Food (Burger and Tots)
4.0 /​5.0 — Atmosphere /​Cleanliness
2.5 /​5.0 — Parking in the area (not the greatest)

(Cue in Lil Jon)
Tots, tots, tots, tots, tots, tots
Tots, tots, tots, tots, tots
Tots, tots, tots, tots, tots
Everybody!
These are one of the most addicting tots, I’ve ever had. That’s a big statement considering I eat, dream, inhale all things tater tots.
The royal and cheese, well that’s one really fine burger! Nicely done using waygu beef and well, they had me at bacon. With the rest of the added toppings, my taste buds are left extremely happy. It’s best paired with one of those crafty beers that you can order just litterally a few footsteps away inside the front building. It sits in the same property, that is Park and Rec. And as for sides, must I even mention to get an order of those magical…
tots, tots, tots, tots, tots
Everybody!

I’ve seen Pulp Fiction multiple times, but only because I kept falling asleep. Nevertheless, I have been a patron of various Pulp Fiction inspired burger joints around the nation (or one, but who’s counting), so I had to try out this spot. It is essentially a shack nestled in a back corner of Park & Rec.
The service at Royale is awesome! Everything on the menu creates a mouth-​watering reaction, partially because 99% of the includes cheese. The tots were a hit, and the grilled cheese was mesmerizing, but the eponymous burger stole my heart. Even though I was initially confused as to how to order, I like the quirk of this place not being a freestanding establishment.
The food is outstanding and the clientele appears friendly and diverse. Stop by if you don’t mind strangers playing corn hole in the background while grazing.

Awesome burgers, too bad it’s located in Park and Rec and not at its own place.
Located in the back corner of the bar, it’s just a window that serves really good burgers. I wasn’t sure what we got but the beef is wagyu and it tasted delicious. Or whatever I managed to eat.
We came here for a Unilocal event when it first opened and had a taste of the burger and couldn’t stop thinking about it. A friend also suggest that we try it.

The tots are pretty good. But, come here for the burgers. They’re well above average and can match some delicious beer selections. Sauces are pretty tasty.
There’s a little door with a window all the way in the back to the left of Park and Rec. There should be menus next to it. Order and pay there – someone will deliver your food to your table with a number (enough time to order a drink). There’s plenty of free parking on the neighborhood streets to the west or to the east.

I ordered the traditional tater tot’s and the grilled cheese brie with caramelized onions and fig jam. It was very yummy! I really did enjoy the food. I know that this is kind of being picky, And I know that you expect heavy food with a grilled cheese sandwich made of brie, but this meal was too heavy for me. There is also a little too much jam, so the balance was not perfect. That being said, I really didn’t with this meal and especially loved the tater tot’s with the spicy house sauce! Definitely thinking of coming back just for those!

Get the tots! Only $ 5 for a ton of tots and the magical sauce that comes with it :)
One of the best tater tots I’ve have yet :)

I ran to these guys inside of the Park and Rec in University Heights. They are located in the back patio, and as soon as I learned they used Wagyu for their burgers, well I just had the have one. I ordered the Royale with Cheese which came with bacon, Gruyère, pickles, caramelized onions, high grain mustard seeds, a house sauce, and served on a toasted brioche bun for $ 10. For an additional $ 5, I ordered the Mystery Tots.
I asked for the Royale with Cheese be cooked to a medium rare temperature, and I was very please they hit it on the money. Other than needing a bit of seasoning via some salt, the Wagyu beef was most excellent. Its beef flavor was milder than I expected, but very good indeed. The meat was very tender, soft to the touch except for a gentle seer on its exterior, which helped insure juiciness of the beef.
The caramelized onions stood out in the burger because they provided a mild sweetness, given they were well rendered down. The high grain mustard seeds were a great choice because it balanced well with the onions. I like the choice of Gruyère because it’s earthy and nutty flavor complimented the rich Wagyu beef. The bacon was of very good quality and was thick, so it provided great flavor and texture to the overall burger. The brioche bun was the perfect vessel for the burger. Even though it was thick, it was light and moist, had great flavor, and held up well to the burger’s ingredients.
The Mystery Tots were very well prepared to a perfect golden brown. They were crunchy, not oily, and had slight sweet flavor to them. The sauce them came along with them was great. It reminded be of a chipotle mayo, which I am pretty sure that’s what it was.
They employees were quite friendly and welcoming. They no doubt have a great thing going here, and I hope to see them in their own eatery some day under their own roof. Nice people and great food.