There are a lot of counter service restaurants at Walt Disney World, and over the years it seems they have slowly, yet surely been getting better at the fast-food game. Well, D-Luxe Burger, the latest offering to open with Town Center in Disney Springs this weekend easily offer one of, if not the best counter service hamburger at any theme park eatery on earth.
Nestled on the shoreline of Town Center, D-Luxe Burger is located in a rather unassuming building that just looks like an old ranch house.
The interior is themed to an abandoned ranch house, with a lot of the furniture and such representing recycled items from the old establishment. In story-line, the Glowing Oak Ranch was made into a burger restaurant after introducing a very popular hamburger at the fictional World’s Fair that was held on the West Side in 1950.
Every table is equipped with a roll of paper towels, which you will need to conquer the juicy burgers that await you.
Indoor seating is great on a hot day, but the patio is perfect for a cool evening.
Upon ordering, guests are handed a pager and they can go have a seat until their burgers are ready. Burgers are handed to guests in these big brown bags.
The burgers themselves come in these small “branded” boxes so you know which one is which.
OK, enough about the back story and interior, let’s run through these bad boys, shall we? First up is the chicken sandwich, or “Cluck Burger”. This is a healthy-sized grilled chicken burger, a wonderful option for those looking for an alternative, but not looking to get the vegetarian option. The garlic-herb sauce and avocado blend well with the giant chicken patty for a perfect combination. The burger buns here are magnificent. Made in-house, the buns are safe for peanut and tree-nut allergies. The restaurant also has a gluten-free bun available, as well as a lettuce wrap option on all sandwiches.
The Veggie Burger was by far the best one we’ve ever had a counter service establishment, one of the best vegetarian options overall at any quick serve. It was nice to have handmade veggie burger for a change as opposed to the frozen patties elsewhere. I personally love tzatziki sauce, but if you don’t you can always get it on the side or removed.
The “El Diablo” was my favorite, but as I’ve stated in many a review, I enjoy anything spicy. This had heat, but not enough to scare away anyone adverse to spice. The flavors blended well and the peppers were a nice touch. Every burger patty was sizable and cooked “medium”, which is a rarity for counter service options. They are by far the best counter service burger patties at any of the U.S. parks, that’s for sure.
The Barbecue Classic Burger has gouda, bacon, an onion ring, and barbecue sauce on it. This was probably my second favorite of all of the burgers at D-Luxe. It’s hard to go wrong with these ingredients and this one doesn’t.
The classic cheeseburger doesn’t have all of the frills of the others on the menu, but it’s perfect if you don’t like too many toppings getting in the way. This burger really allowed us to taste just how good the bun and burger are as there isn’t a whole lot more going on like on the other burgers. Even though it is plain compared to the others, it won’t disappoint.
The last one was the Southern Classic Burger, which is topped with two fried green tomatoes, pimento cheese, and bacon.
I’m not the biggest fan of fried green tomatoes, but this was superb. They added a great flavor to the already phenomenal base of the house-made burger and bun. In total, I’m not sure there is one burger on this menu that I would not recommend. In fact, it was pretty hard to rank any over the others for this review, but that is why I make the big bucks…
The house-made fries were great too, but the 6 unique dipping sauces offered were what made them really special. I really enjoyed the curry ketchup, chipotle mayo, buffalo blue cheese, and horseradish sauces. The 3-mustard & honey and Garlic ranch did not sit as well with me, but I applaud the effort to do something special here.
The milkshakes… my goodness, the milkshakes. They were all unbelievably good. First off, we tried two of the alcoholic options, the first being the smoked bourbon. Chocolate and bourbon live side by side in harmony in this chocolate alcoholic shake.
The vanilla porter was just as good and the serving sizes on these are more than enough to fill you up. These might honestly be worth the trip to D-Luxe Burger alone.
The non-alcoholic shakes are just as good, if not even better. The cake shake tasted like cake flavored ice cream (just as you would expect it to). I don’t know how else to describe this, but it was wonderful.
The salted caramel shake was my favorite. Sweet and salty and magnificent and my top recommendation as far as the shakes here are concerned.
Fountain beverages are also available and I was even surprised by the selection here, offering a few options you can’t find at many Disney establishments, like Sprite Zero or Cherry Coke.
For dessert (because the shakes weren’t enough somehow), we had the red velvet burger macaroon. This thing was insane. It’s a great vacation photo to send to your friends at home, and it’s pretty tasty too, but I’m not sure I would need to order it again with so many good shakes on the menu.
D-Luxe Burger has everything going for it. That being said, service was a bit slow on the first day, but I’ll let that slide since it was the first time they were open and because the food was just so unbelievably good. All of the ingredients are fresh and perfectly prepared, the fries and dipping sauces are delectable, and the milkshakes are just about perfect. The pricing is on par with all other Disney counter service locations, but the quality here just far exceeds any burger anywhere else at the Vacation Kingdom of the World. This is exactly what Disney Springs needed: an affordable counter service option with amazing offerings. Too many guests just settle for Earl of Sandwich because there just isn’t anything else, but now there is somewhere else worth going (which I personally think blows Earl away). If you don’t visit D-Luxe Burger on your next trip to the Springs, you’re making a big mistake… perhaps even a D-Luxe one… I apologize for that joke, but you should eat here still.
