Burger King made the phrase "Have it your way" a trademark slogan for many years. Burger Nuts in Willoughby takes it very literally with a menu filled with thousands of potential combinations.
The restaurant is your typical, neighborhood burger place with sports jerseys, pennants, and other artifacts on the walls reflecting the cities of Willoughby, Eastlake, and Cleveland as well as a few of the youth teams in the area. But the biggest attraction was the plethora of choices given to assemble the custom hamburger of your choice. From meat selection ranging from Angus to Chorizo as well as options for vegetarians and carb watchers, this place caters to many types of eaters. Portions of meat range from the tame 1/4 lb. to the absurdly sized 3/4 lb. option. I'll let you stare at this menu for a while.
And while you're trying to figure out your order, have some free peanuts. After all, the place is called Burger Nuts.
For my custom burger, I went with a 1/2 lb. double bison on a multi-grain bun with pepperjack cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, sauteed onions and mushrooms, and pesto mayo with a side of sweet potato fries. The food was made to order and ready quite quickly.
For anyone who has never grilled a bison burger, they are easy to screw up because they contain less fat than regular beef and have to be prepared as carefully as fresh fish. These guys did it right and I enjoyed a very juicy patty that complemented the rest of the toppings. The sweet potato fries were good, but I wish there was an option to top it with some brown sugar to really bring out the flavor.
Considering their prices are quite reasonable for the choices you get in burgers and sides, I wasn't going to complain too much about the slightly downsized selection of soda, but at least there was Diet Coke. (Let's just say the root beer was pretty generic.) Alternatively, you could try one of their assorted flavors of milkshakes. I hope to try those out in a future visit, but that burger and fries was quite satisfying.
Burger Nuts is located at 36099 Euclid Ave in Willoughby, OH 44094 across from the Lake West Medical Center. Enjoy the local fare and get a tasty burger, your way.
