Rocky’s Charcoal Grill

Pros:
— nicely toasted buns
— decent fries
— $ 4 off with Unilocal check in
Cons:
— flavorless meat
— lackluster atmosphere
Came here in the afternoon, and the place has a grab-​and-​go kind of feel. There’s limited seating, and the table and seats feel like a donut shop more than a diner. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue, but considering there’s a condiment bar and the meat is freshly grilled, the takeout feel detracts from it all.
Regardless, the food is alright. I got the Oakland burger, and I really liked how the toasted sourdough buns had the right amount of crisp on the edges. The patty was nicely grilled and lean, but lacking flavor. The condiment bar also consisted of not-​so-​fresh lettuce, and the cheese wasn’t sharp and flavorful enough to stand out.
The garlic fries were fairly good with bits of garlic topped as a garnish over the fries. The fries were thick cut with a soft potato inside but could use a little more crisp on the outside. I stole a bite of rib from my friend, and the BBQ sauce was decent but again, the meat lacked flavor. The rib was tender, but no smokiness.
Bottom Line: Finely cooked, but otherwise bland diner food. Worth it with $ 4 off but not otherwise

Had another great lunch today with 3 other of my fellow butchers buddy’s. Rockys grill make a best burger in San Leandro… Nice Family business, nice to see all of them working together. Rocky and his family are nice people and I really wanna see this place make it better than that over priced sub par chain restaurants that our city board keep letting them in!!! Try it you’ll like it !!!

I don’t get these reviews. Dried out burger and got order wrong. Nice small business — friendly people but not so great food — sadly.

Love love love the Louisiana Hot Sausage with tomato slices and a Ghirardelli chocolate shake! Need I I say more? …

My go to place for comfort food. Ghiradelli chocolate shake & cheese burger on a sourdough bun = happy tummy.

The last time I was here tried their burger. I have to admit it was the best burger I ever had. I think this is only place that still have old school charcoal grill.

Love the food here. I have been coming here for a few years now. I always lobe to get the pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw. And the ribs! yummy!
I highly recommend this place.

Love the burgers
The BBQ ribs were fall of the bone tender
BBQ Chicken I put on a roll and made a sandwich
Frequent buyer card is handy. It’s a great place for lunch dinner or whatever I’m between

Best ribs I ever had at a restaurant! My girlfriend and I saw this place on Unilocal and decided to give it a try. We were initially iffy about the neighborhood, because the streets were somewhat poorly lit. We went 40 minutes before closing and ordered the half rack of ribs, garlic fries and pulled pork sandwich.
I tried to tear a rib off to give a piece to my girlfriend and the meat came right off the bones! The meat was very well seasoned and tender. The garlic fries complemented the ribs very well also. They have a «salad bar» which has pickles, jalapenos, tomatoes, lettuce, onions (I guess more of a condiments bar) and I took full advantage of it. I can tell that the ribs were cooked for a LONNNNNGGGG time because they were very tender. I finally found a good BBQ spot that I can depend on for ribs.

Delicious fresh burgers at a reasonable price and they also have other great menu items such as a big potato with chili and cheese which was delicious. If you dine in the burger bar has all of the condiments and toppings out for you and you can take as much of what ever you want which I think is a great idea you can never put too many pickles on my burger LOL. Service was fast and extremely friendly and the place was clean and comfortable and overall an oasis of deliciousness.

This place is hella good.
Skipped breakfast and was starving after school. Ordered a cheeseburger with some fries and knew I was in love with my first bite. This joint has been here since I was In middle school at Saint Leander’s. Few years later I finally tried it. Will be coming back!

My daughter and I checked this place out after reading Unilocal reviews. I personally thought my cheeseburger was excellent! A meal will run you approximately $ 10 bucks. I recommend this restaurant and would definitely give it another try

Came here Friday night with my family and OMG! Everything was delicious! We had the steak sandwich, cheeseburger, hot dogs and onion rings. So freakin good! And the service was excellent!

I love you Rocky’s!
Stumbled upon you while looking for lunch on Unilocal.
You embody the true American spirit that is void today in business.
America used to be filled with businesses like yours.
Now, only mega chains like Starbucks and McDonald’s exist feeding the masses with mediocre minimal satisfaction and quality.
Your food is delicious and comforting. Your environment feels like home. Prices are unbeatable.
Why anyone would go to the «Habit Grill» across the street is beyond me.
No pretense here. Family owned and operated.
Great job!
Most definitely will be frequenting you ;).

The place looks pretty old and small (which is misleading when it comes to quality of their food), but they do have outdoor seating (4 tables if I counted right), which is always a plus (for me), and luckily it is not next to the busiest street in San Leandro (so you get to have some quiet time as well). It’s right next to San Leandro History Museum and Art Gallery, on the corner of Hays and W Estudillo Avenue.
Their food is yummy, I was actually surprised that I didn’t come here sooner. Their burgers are properly made (on a charcoal grill, just like the name says) and you have a bar where you can add condiments yourself (pickles, onions, mayo, ketchup, mustard, salad, tomatoes,…). Their fries and meat are not over-​salted (kudos to that!), but if you prefer a saltier version you will find tiny salt and pepper packets on the tables. The onion rings are not bad either (but I still prefer fries).
Did I mention they have turkey burgers as well? That’s not something you encounter often at burger joints (you either get a grilled chicken breast or a beef patty). They also have hot dogs, sandwiches and milkshakes, if you prefer that. Price/​value is good. I can actually recommend them more than the burger pub a few blocks lower down the street.

I can see where this can be hit or miss with a lot of people. For me, it was a hit and I’ll tell ya why.
First, «charcoal grill» is in their name. And they hold to it, which is incredibly rare these days. Many bullshit places will loosely use the term «char-​grill» which to them is simply grilled over gas. Not Rocky’s, they actually use charcoal in their grill, which to me was actually quite surprising. You can smell it upon entering the divey space.
Now what this brings is entirely different from one person to the next. Some may not even detect a difference between «gas» grilled vs «charcoal» grilled. Others may frown upon the whole flavor altogether, judging it as «too strong» or «charred/​bitter».
I on the other hand see this as unique and quite honestly… very «primal». It reminds me of camping or back yard barbeques where fire consumes wood for energy. And to cook over such primal methods take a lot of skill and know how. Which explains the dearth of this method.
The meats here, before grilling, is not really seasoned. I think they should, but it is easily fixed with salt and pepper on the tables and a well stocked condiment bar. This is why people are labeling their burgers as «bland» But after casual observation, it really isn’t. It is well charred, to the point of well doneness. The level of char they put is a layer of flavor on its own. It’s how you mess with it afterwards, is the key in my book.
The double burger is a must with a good appetite. Cheese is kinda whatever here, so maybe next time, sans the cheese. They have nice add-​ons like green chile or mushroom. The steak sandwich (10 oz NY) is a good alternative and will now approach the $ 10 mark. Onion Rings are nice and crisp. Fries seem like the frozen type but suffice.
Limited seating, tiny «tube» tv, minimal décor add to the divey charm of the place. You know I’m gonna be down for this shite!

Rocky’s sells a little bit of everything! Hotdogs, hamburgers, bbq… Everything! It’s tucked away on the corner, but it’s a place everyone should try.
Ordered the bbq ribs and they literally fell off the bone. They were delicious! On their main menu they have dinner sizes of their bbq items, but posted outside and around the restaurant you can find posters with smaller BBQ plate options.
Want to come back and try their hamburgers. They have every variation of burgers. And a condiment bar on the side so you can load your burger how you like it.

On Saturday, 1÷24÷15, my girlfriend and I ate at Rocky’s Charcoal Grill for lunch.
Atmosphere/​Décor:
Rocky’s is located on the corner of Estudillo Ave. It’s pretty small inside with a few tables to sit at. There’s also outdoor seating available. We choose to sit outside but probably should have sat inside because we saw a ton of random, sketchy weirdos walking around us. I know there’s a lot of weirdos in San Leandro because we’re so close to Oakland but I didn’t really like having them all up in my face while I’m trying to eat. Rocky’s is not the cleanest place I’ve ever been to.
Food:
I ordered the Rocky’s Charcoal Bacon Cheese Burger. It was absolutely horrendous and flavorless! Perhaps the worst burger I’ve ever had! First of all, the patties were obviously pre-​made and store bought. Second of all, there was not an ounce of seasoning or salt in them. They literally tasted like nothing. You couldn’t even tell what kind of meat it was. They obviously purchased these patties from a very poor quality place. These are the poorest quality so called «beef» patties I’ve ever eaten.
My girlfriend ordered the build your own burger with sauteed onions and Swiss cheese. She only ate half of her burger because she couldn’t stomach the rest of it and she also felt like it wasn’t even worth eating. My girlfriend even took a little piece of the patty by itself to taste it and she said it literally tasted like nothing. She said it was like just chewing on rubber. She said there was absolutely no flavor.
We also ordered a side of Chili Cheese Fries. They tasted good. They were just your average Chili Cheese Fries. Might I add it’s hard to mess up Chili Cheese Fries.
Service:
The girl that took our order was very nice and polite.
Overall:
Rocky’s Charcoal Grill does not have good burgers. I’m not trying to be rude but anyone that thinks this is a good burger is an IDIOT! There’s no way in hell that anyone could think this burger tastes good. They literally have to be lying! How can you like a burger that you can’t even taste? If you read this review and still go here just remember I told you so!

Found Ricky’s charcoal grill on Unilocal.
I came expecting way more than what was delivered .
I ordered a cheeseburger and put
–lettuce
–Mayo
–ketchup
–pickle
Ordered a combo Fries/​onion rings
Asked for ranch.
The burger was bland tasted like char no pepper or seasoning or salt at least.
The mayo tasted old.
I really expected a lot from this place to be honest habit was a way better experience than Rockys.
They should work on seasoning there burgers I just ate half of mine I felt like my stomach was turning .
Fries were okay nothing special onion rings were not good they were bland no flavor and found a hair in one of them gross.
The ranch looked like bleu cheese dressing gross. I really thought this was going to be my new To go place. Maybe I ordered the wrong thing I’ll give it a try again maybe. Not sure but I hope they fix it up.

Hot afternoons do not put me in the mood to cook, so you will find me and my husband eating out yet again when the thermostat hits above 80! A burger sounded good and i wanted to try something new that’s close to the house. Saw Rocky’s on Unilocal and as the reviews were good, we decided to try it.
Rocky’s is located behind the SAFEWAY on Washington, in the quiet little corner of W. Estudillo and Hays. There are a few tables outside and several tables inside. You order and pick up at the counter. The condiment bar is by the door. Not a fancy place but the food is good and the price is right.
I was going to get the burger but I ended up picking something lighter. I ordered the tuna melt with cheese and the hubby ordered a bacon cheeseburger. We shared a half basket of their spicy fries. I was hoping they’d have curly fries like the ones at Barney’s, but no luck. The fries were coated with chili powder and came with ranch. Nothing special about it and not really spicy either. My tuna melt was good. The white bread has been buttered and browned on the grill and the tuna salad was simple. It was a good melt. I didn’t feel like extra condiments on it. Just really wanted to taste the tuna. My husband ordered the burger and he let me have a bite. It was good. Burgers grilled on charcoal is so much better! It was really tasty. He didn’t add any additional condiments either. You really only need bacon, cheese and char-​grilled beef. So glad we have found an alternative to Boulevard Burger. We’re always happy to try new (to us) local eateries!