Hank's is one of the first dirty burger joints in Tulsa that I have tried, and it did not disappoint.Hank's advertises itself as "A tradition since 1949", which definitely qualifies it as having the type of historical significance that any good burger joint should have. It is located on the Northeast side of Tulsa. Just head for the airport and you'll run into Hank's. This is definitely a "busy" part of town as evidenced by the obscenely high number of garages, pawn shops, and junk stores that litter the area.
The exterior of Hank's is a thing of beauty, and what any good burger joint should look like. Bright yellow paint with red trim, and an old school lighted sign. When you walk inside, you can either continue on inside of the restaurant to order or you can take a quick turn to your left to order at the to go window. If you do order from the to go window, it doesn't HAVE to be to go. Hank's is a small place and at busier times can be packed. The to go area offers a bigger space so you can always order from there and then venture inside. Once you place your order, you go in and find a seat (which could be a challenge at peak times), and once your food is ready they bring it out to you. The service is very friendly, but be prepared to wait a bit for your food, likely 10 to 15 minutes. These are not fast food burgers. Trust me, the wait is worth it.Hank's standard dress is mustard, pickles, "fried" onions, raw onion, lettuce and tomatoes. The "fried" onions are onions that are grilled on/under the burgers as they cook. The burgers are placed on the grill with the onions and then a press is placed on top of them, which basically causes the onions to melt right into the burgers. Good stuff.
There are a variety of different patty options to choose from at Hank's. The regular patties are thin quarter pounders. You can get a single, double, triple, or the "Big Okie", which features four quarter pound patties and four slices of cheese. If you'd like more meat but don't want the multiple patties, you can opt for a half pounder that is formed into one patty. I opted for a double with cheese, add bacon, with mayo instead of mustard and no tomatoes. It's late November and I don't trust tomatoes in late November.
Side orders at Hank's include fries, tots and onion rings. You can add chili and/or cheese to the fries and tots. It's hard to imagine anyone needing chili/cheese on their fries in addition to a large burger, but low and behold someone near us ordered just that. I opted for the onion rings, the wife opted for the fries.
The total cost of our meal was $16.68 and that incluced a double cheese burger with bacon, a single burger (no cheese), an order of fries, an order of rings, a regular soda and a large soda. Given today's rising prices, I'd still call that a decent value.
We then took our seats and checked out some of the interior as we were waiting. There are two different rooms to choose from, the main room near the grill and a back room that appears to have been added on at some point. There was no room in the main area, so we retreated to the back room. This room was adorned with a lot of Elvis memoriabilia, in addition to a large display of customer comments which had been scrawled onto napkins over the years. A lot of "I killed a Big Okie 9/28/98" type stuff. There was also a letter signed by Al Roker, who featured Hank's in his "Roker on the Road" series.
After about 10 minutes, our food arrived. The food comes out in standard black plastic burger baskets lined with thin paper. First, the onion rings. They are delicious. They are everything a good onion ring should be - light, crispy, well seasoned (no salt necessary), and, most importantly, the onions themselves maintain their integrity with each bite. You know you've gotten a good onion ring when you can take a bite and the onion stays where it should be - inside the fried batter. The wife had opted for fries, and she quickly became very envious of my rings. She even sampled a couple for herself. I tried a couple of her fries, and I could tell why she was envious. The fries are nothing to write home about it. They have a decent flavor, but they are just a bit too potatoey. But there is no point in ordering anything other than the rings here.Now on to the burger. The meat is delicious. They have almost a char grilled flavor, and the onions meld with the meat perfectly. The dress complements, not overpowers, the meat exceptionally. The burger itself maintained its integrity quite well throughout the entire process. No messy drippings or lack of bun consistency. This could in part be due to my foresight in avoiding tomatoes. The only complaint I could possibly level actually has to do with the bun, not the burger. The bun was a bit dry. It tasted like they just took a bun right out of the bag and slapped it on the burger. They need to do something with the buns like grill them or get a little oil on them or something to try to improve this. Other than the bun, the burger was exceptional.
When you finish up your food, and you are on your way out, you will notice a glass container filled with chocolate candies. These are Hank's infamous "chocolate peanut butter balls", and according to many they are legendary. Unfortunately I couldn't resist the temptation of a double burger, so I had no room left to sample them. Next time I'm going to force myself to go single, so I can check them out.
I will definitely visit Hank's again (and again). The onion rings are right there with the best onion rings I have ever tasted (Top Notch in Austin), and the meat is delicious. If they could just get that bun issue solved, they'd earn an absolutely perfect review from me. Still, in the end the meat is what counts and Hank's definitely passes the test in that regard.
Quality of food = A-
Value = B-
Service = A
Aesthetic quality (of the structure itself) = B+
Overall = A-
Hank's Hamburgers
8933 E Admiral Pl
Hours: 10:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday
Closed Sunday and Monday
Website: http://www.hankshamburgers.com/
A fun note on their website - they advertise "if you are interested in franchise information, please contact...". Unless I'm mistaken there is only one Hank's Hamburgers, but I guess they are looking to expand. So if you're interested in owning your very own Hank's Hamburgers franchise, give 'em a shout!
