Doug's Downtown Grille - Garden Grove

I have had mixed experiences at Doug 's Downtown Grill. I 've been there four times, and may return. We 'll see. You enter into a bar, that is partitioned from the cashier and entrance to the restaurant by a half wall. It looks like the same guys each time we are there, sitting at a table, drinking and watching sports. The restaurant is the next room over. There is outdoor seating for the smokers I suppose in the side yard/storage area that would benefit from landscaping. The staff are all Midwest kind of friendly, if you know what I mean. Or at least they try, when they have time. We have had hit or miss service. One time every person working stopped by to chat, some more than once. Another time we were sat with menus, then ignored for a good ten minutes. I was getting myself worked up to leave when a dude came over to take our order and brought water. I think he is the bartender. They have artisan beers and a good selection at that. They use the correct glass to serve your libations. That 's class there, baby. The sandwiches are good. I really like the San Francisco burger on sourdough with perfectly grilled onions. The chef made the burger as requested: medium rare. Tri tip sandwich has plentiful, moist warm meat cooked perfectly. Served with a mild horseradish sauce. Good stuff that sandwich. The McDoug burger is too mcsweet, but I don 't like McRib sandwiches either. What was I thinking? The fries are sadly and limply unremarkable. The dill pickles are meh because they are limp, mass produced stuff. The peanut coleslaw is curious but disappointing. I suspect it is good the day it is made. Each time I have ordered it (or tried my husbands) the peanuts were soft and the cabbage wilted. I like the high level of vinegar in the coleslaw dressing , but my husband thinks it is too strong. The fried cod was incredible once. You are served an entire filet, batter dipped and fried. Incredibly good, but just that one time!! Someone else must have cooked it the 2nd time around. The batter was not crisp. It was as if it had steamed a little after cooking, prior to being served. In fact I bet they had covered the fish to keep it warm while the rest of our food was being prepared. Now it makes sense. Unless you really like stewed tomatoes, do NOT get the taco salad. Dude. There was more tomato 's than lettuce. I would venture to say if I had teased out the tomato 's to weigh against all the other ingredients, the tomato side would be heaviest. Yuck. The chicken meat was larger chunks than normally encountered and moist. The 10 fried tortilla chips were spot on. I was dissatisfied by this dish. I 'm not sure about this place. It is a bit of a throw back to an earlier generation comforted by meat, canned foods and booze. The prices are reasonable and the drinks are strong. Yeah, I 'll be back.

I had NO idea this little Main Street, small-town-USA lookin' street was even here, and I have lived close by all my life! Our plan was to go to a place just down the street, but after walking in and seeing that there was on place to sit, we ventured into Doug's. At first, we felt a little awkward walking in since everyone around the bar area looked over at us, and there was no host there to immediately sit us, but it was fine after that. The bartender told us that there'd be a host to sit us very shortly. We were seated quickly, and our server came by within a minute or two. Our server was an interesting fella whose personality was a little weird and intense, yet nonetheless very nice. He took care of us perfectly, and we had no issues at all. We ordered two beers and two appetizers (hot Buffalo wings spinach dip) which all came out very quickly. I do with that the spinach dips had better tasting chips. Wasn't much of a fan of them... and think they could improve them. The dip itself was good, but I don't think I've ever had bad spinach dip. Also, the bread basket was given to us right when we received our food, which was a little disappointing, but not a big deal. We were a big fan of the bread though. It was a perfect combination of soft and crunchy. My friend I both talked about how perfect it was multiple times, LOL. Overall, a decent place to dine in, and would definitely come back to try their other foods.

All hail the local home of the Oklahoma onion burger. Doug's Downtown Grill has a large and varied menu consisting of a little bit of everything from burgers, soups, salads, sandwiches, tri-tip, pork chops, rack of lamb, pulled pork and much much more. Our first visit here the place was empty which had me a bit worried but that was quickly put at ease with the quality of the service and the deliciousness of the food. During our initial visit I really didn't know what to expect but my eyes quickly were pointed in the direction of the Oklahoma Onion Burger. Do make sure to ask what comes on all of the burgers as this particular item simply states an onion stuffed patty but also consists of mustard and pickles as well which are items I do not like on my burgers. They also have a fantastic looking juicy lucy as well which my wife seemed to enjoy during our 2nd visit. We not too long ago met up with a couple of friends from ours here for dinner on the dog friendly patio. Business was slow and the patio was closed but they were happy to open it up and accommodate us which was nice. The server we had on this night was quite good (we have since had him serve us again and he is always friendly and good at explaining the options and making recommendations on the various menu items) and the food was as consistent as it was during our first visit. The prices here are average with a burger and side costing around 12-14 bucks depending upon the option and beverages such as tea or soda is around $3 a piece. Parking can be tough to find at times due to this being near main street in Garden Grove and our most recent trip here a car show was going on and parking was almost non-existent. Please look at signs as the parking on one side is for the neighboring university and requires a parking permit. Doug's is the only restaurant in town that I know of that has the Onion burger and it is always so good with grilled onions cooked inside the patty (think Juicy Lucy with onions inside instead of cheese) as well as on top, it is truly an onion lover like me's dream. I definitely am a fan of this place and hope to visit again soon and many more times to come. If you haven't been here I definitely think they are worth a trip to try them out.

This cool place, has a nice vibe, decent service and great 60s and 70s music. A tad pricey but I'd still eat here. We ordered the potato skins which consisted of your run of the mill toppings but oh so crispy. Nothing special but I could eat this every day. I ordered the turkey Ortega dip! The roasted turkey was moist with a great flavor. Add the mild Ortega chili and Jack cheese, dip that whole delicious sandwich in the tasty au jus and call it a winner!! I chose the peanut slaw as my side. It was unique. I ate it but probably would go with the crunchy fries next time. I tried my mom's fried chicken salad. Now that was excellent! The fried chicken was also tender and juicy. Good mix of greens and tomatoes with a solid dressing. I could eat that salad as a meal. Highly recommend! My sandwich and cole slaw came out to be around $15. Bit much for lunch but delicious and had a lot of meat.

We found out about Doug's due to one of our many Entertainment coupons. We decided to check them out. It was for a free entrée up to $15 off. When we arrived there was not a soul there but the staff. The place was a pretty good size too. We were seated immediately by Doug and were served not long after. They have white paper around each table with a set of crayons to doodle on. This works great for kids and for bored adults. I never claimed to be good at drawing, but I doodled for the heck of it. The menu is pretty broad with sandwiches, tacos, pastas, steaks, etc. The issue is they seem to be quite pricey. I was tempted to try out the rib sandwich (McDoug), but I went with one of my favorites, pulled pork. I ordered fruit as my side. My husband went with the OKC Onion Burger. Both were around the same price. I know that mine was $14.95. The food did not take long and we dove in. My sandwich was good. Not the best and not the worst. My husband absolutely loved his burger. He saw it on one of the food television shows and knew he had to give it a try one day. This is the first place that we have personally been to that we saw it as an option. Onions inside the burger, and onions on top and under the burger. (A big yuck for me, a big yum for him). He didn't ask what was on the burger so it came with pickles under, and mustard both on the bottom and top which he doesn't like. He likes pickles alone so he ate those, and asked for mayo to mask the mustard. Besides that, he was a happy camper. There were still no other souls by the time we left. Hopefully that is not the norm. It was a decent meal and I would come back, but I don't know how frequent due to the price vs. the food items. I hear the snickers pie is delicious, so check it out. We were too full.