Orange Smoke Burgers, a review and a GIVEAWAY!!

1314 Centennial Avenue

Piscataway, NJ 08854

http://orangesmokeburgers.com/

 

If you're jonesing for a burger in the Stelton Rd. area of Piscataway, you have a ton of choices:  fast food abounds, as does lots of chain casual restaurants and a steak chain restaurant, plus Five Guys Burgers and Fries.  With all this competition, a small locally owned burger place has to be something special.  

This is certainly the case with Orange Smoke, which is located in the Shop Rite shopping plaza.  At first, you'd think that they're much like Five Guys--simple menu of burgers and fries, and you can build your burger the way you'd like it (though you have no choice in how the meat is cooked; their wall states they only prepare the burger well done, but it's not at all overcooked for this "medium" orderer).  But when you take a second glance, you'll see it's a lot different from Five Guys.  First, and most important for my family (my husband will not eat beef), is that you don't HAVE to get a burger.  You can get chicken, grilled or fried, or even a portabella burger.  Second thing I noticed is that, unlike Five Guys, they have shakes.  Oh yeah, shakes!!  The next difference is the service.  Yeah, it's counter service, but at Five Guys, I noticed people standing around the counter, waiting for their food (both restaurants prepare the food to order, so there's a small wait).  It sort of looked like a McDonald's at dinner rush.  That wasn't the case at Orange Smoke because they bring your prepared food to your table... this was a really nice touch for me.  Along these same lines, I felt the decor and the whole atmosphere of Orange Smoke was classier.  Like I said, it's counter service and it's a burger joint, but it just feels nicer than the competition.

Now, let's talk food.  My burger was really delicious.  Like I said, I thought the meat was cooked really nicely, and I love being able to build my own burger with the toppings I like.  The food was just slightly more than the perfect amount for me.  My husband chose the grilled chicken, and he thought it was really good too; he also loves building his own sandwich with the toppings he likes.  My 3 year old loves his cheeseburger, and he's been on a kick of refusing to eat his meat, so this is pretty huge.  He was really excited about building his own burger too, and surprised me by ordering then devouring the pickles on his.  (A note:  they have a smaller burger, called the Lightweight burger.  We didn't order this, and still the 3 year old at 3/4 of an XL.)

Finally, the price is right here.  They have a weekday "happy hour" sort of special, which is an XL burger (or chicken sandwich), small fries, and large soda for $5.99.  It works out to about the same price as the XL burger, so that was a no brainer for us.

So, our family gives two thumbs up to Orange Smoke Burgers.  If you check them out, definitely tell them you heard about them at Pizza & Bagels!!

On to the giveaway!  This giveaway has ended!

Want to try what we tried tonight?  This giveaway is for just that:  an XL burger or equivalent chicken sandwich or veggie sandwich, small fries/onion rings and large soda.

Mandatory entry:  In order for any of your other entries to count, you must do this step first!

Go to Orange Smoke's website, and take a look at the menu.  In the comments on this post, tell me what kind of burger you would make, and what toppings you would get too.

For a few more entries, do any or all of the following, and leave a comment about each one.  **Note** comments are your entries, so doing the steps without telling me you did won't count

• Like Orange Smoke on Facebook
• Follow Pizza & Bagels publicly, using Google Friend Connect
• Post about this giveaway, with a link to this post, on your facebook wall
• My competitive nature has gotten the best of me.  For a long time, this blog has been number 1 on urbanspoon, but I was recently passed by another blogger.  For another entry, please click here,  then click on "full post by Pizza and Bagels" for any review and leave a comment telling me which restaurant review you clicked on.  Thanks!

 The contest will end on March 9, 2011 at 11:59pm (according to blogger's timestamp).  Winner will be chosen using a randomizer on Thursday.  Make sure you leave contact information, if it's not linked to your Google profile, so I can get in touch with you when you win!

Full disclosure:  Orange Smoke is sponsoring the giveaway.  My family paid for our meal, and these thoughts are my own.