The Mill Town Tavern

So close and yet...

As you know, we have had a number of places recommended for a burger. The establishment that we visited today was The Mill Town Tavern located in Dalton. Their menu boasts "Burgers Are Our Specialty." We were excited about the fact that this seemed to be the first place where the burger was their "tour de force" so to speak.

Straight from the menu, the Milltown Burger at $ 8.99 is "Our signature Burger!!!! Half pound Angus burger with Havarti cheese (horseradish & chive) topped with bacon and caramelized onions. Outstanding!!!" Please note that all exclamation points were copied exactly as it reads on the menu. Just by the punctuation we were cranked for the experience! ... or would that be !!!? All their burgers are served with a pickle and their "delicious" french fries.

The burger arrived as you see it above. The cornmeal dusted kaiser roll was grilled and came with a small to medium slice of tomato on one green leaf lettuce. The burger appeared to have a great sear with nice grill marks. The french fries were skin on and appeared to be crispy.

Now to the eating of the hamburger. *SIGH* The first bite was absolutely delicious. The burger was a lovely medium pink and Beef Boy and I were delighted. However, once again, tragedy struck for the Wench here... My second bite into the burger encountered some lovely caramelized onions, but *SOB* also some sadly undercooked bacon. Ack! Undercooked bacon!

As we decided in a previous post about our guidelines, if the eatery has a signature burger with a number of components, all the components must equal the quality of the burger. Alas, that was not to be! Of course, once again the Burger Gods were kind to Beef Boy and his bacon was cooked fine.

He thought the burger rated easily 4 1/2 burgers, where I was only willing to give it a 4. If you are wondering why I thought the undercooked bacon should cause a docking of 1/2 a burger, then you don't know me. Bacon is my #1 stranded on the island food. I absolutely adore bacon. If Arthur Guinness would be my first husband, Oscar Mayer would be my second. So this is quite an effrontery to me.

Well, maybe next time the bacon will be done better. We will go back.

The french fries were excellent. They tasted spicy and we asked the waitress to ask the Chef what spices were used, but the waitress came back and stated she was told that there were no spices used. She did, however say, much to our amusement, that the Chef could easily be lying. What a hoot! If they weren't spiced then that cook has some great seasoning mojo.

After much discussion, negotiation, and Beef Boy's adamant stance, we agreed on 4 1/4 burgers as the final rating.

Unfortunately, it is not a Coca-Cola establishment.

The Mill Town Tavern
16 Depot Street
Dalton, MA 01226
(413) 684-0900