Recently, the Beaumont Enterprise asked for readers to vote for the Best of Best in Jefferson and Orange counties, and boy oh boy—we Willy came out on top!
We are beyond grateful, delighted, and excited to say THANK YOU for voting Willy Burger the Best of Best in multiple categories. We put pride and joy in everything we do, so we are ecstatic to know that our customers, guests, fans, and friends recognize this and cast their ballots for our beloved burger spot.
Along with our Executive Chef, Alden Pond, earning the honor of Best Chef, Willy Burger was named BEST Bang for Your Buck in Southeast Texas!
This honor comes just months after winning Best Burger of Katy, Texas in the Katy Times.
Lance LaRue, Chief Marketing Officer and Branding Lead of Willy Burger’s parent, the Neches Restaurant Group, says that this win means a lot because it’s a reflection of what Willy Burger holds dear and it’s a sign of success for both the restaurant and the consumer.
“Willy has won the honor of ‘Best Burger’ before, and that’s obviously exciting and wonderful, but winning ‘Best Bang for Your Buck’ is really special for us. It’s tremendously rewarding because it confirms the overall value we aim to bring our guests, particularly in such a sensitive time in our economy,” he says.
“Our team has made concentrated efforts in the past ten to twelve months to bring extra special, out-of-this-world burgers and exciting flavors to our guests at fair, doable prices all while keeping up with rising food costs and the well-documented industry issues of supply chain challenges. And it cannot be emphasized enough, that this is all of this without sacrificing quality or cutting corners for the customer experience. It’s something we’re proud of, and we’re committed to, and all kudos to our Alden Pond for navigating through it all.”
Such strategic moves have included elevating the freshly ground beef to include brisket without continually increasing menu prices, adding sides like fried green tomatoes, and introducing a variety of new salads.
“These adjustments add more value and more options to our guests, and shows versatility in the extra special flavors and ingredients we already use,” explains Pond. “It’s a really good win because in solving for the guest’s experience first, we also benefit from a smarter food cost side of things.”
See commentary from Pond in Beaumont Enterprise here
Our fun, flavor-packed, retro diner was also named BEST French Fries, BEST Salad, and BEST Carryout.
Willy Burger has always heard wonderful feedback for the tasty onion rings and fries, so this win for Best French Fries is a joyful one indeed. Willy offers not just hot, crispy, salted fries, but a variety that includes garlic parmesan fries freshly hand-tossed, sweet potato fries, house-made Queso fries, and chili-and-cheese topped fries.
As we’ve learned from the quarantine and COVID way of life, carryout is an essential part of any restaurant these days. So seeing that our friends have voted us Best Carryout is super sweet. We credit our crew with making this an extra-special service with super attitudes, friendly faces, and overall efficiency.
Winning Best Salad in Southeast Texas is no small feat as are some spectacular salads at restaurants throughout the greater Beaumont area. Winning Best Salad is a fun victory for Willy, especially given the fact that this is our first year to introduce salads on our menu!
About this time last year, Alden Pond worked through some recipes to make a few salads that could be as spectacular as our burgers. His vinaigrettes, toppings, and herbs centered around the two big all-stars: fried goat cheese and seared tuna steaks. The Fried Goat Cheese Salad quickly became a hit with three sizable “discs” of creamy, rich goat cheese fried up with a crunchy breading over sliced strawberries, candied pecans, red onions, and more. The Seared Tuna Salad features our grilled tuna steak slices with sesame seeds over edamame, cucumber slices, onion, cilantro, fried wonton strips, and more. And of course, we made our signature Willy Burger cheeseburger into a beloved salad along with a Grilled Chicken Caesar and a house salad.
“How about that, right?!” says Pond, who was also named Best Chef. “We add salads to the menu for the first time and less than ten months later we get this honor!”
Pond says that he knew it was a stretch to add salads to the menu of a proud burger spot, but he braved the journey and made it something special. Now we have an award-winning array of salads AND burger and extras to offer the fine folks who come in for something over and above the norm yet right here at home. That’s what Willy Burger specializes in, and we are grateful to be recognized for the hard work from all of our dedicated team members.
Willy Burger also won the honor of Best Children’s Menu which features fried chicken strips, delicious sliders, hot dogs, and mini corn dogs. Willy was also a top finalist for several other categories including BEST BURGER, BEST Locally Owned, and BEST Lunch Spot.
Our sister restaurants Crown Pizza and Taco Rey also won Best of Best in multiple categories including Best Pizza in Southeast Texas and Best Mexican Restaurant! See more here https://eatcrownpizza.com/best-pizza-best-chef/
