Hearty portion sizes, blazing fast service and a full service bar are in store for Santa Clarans as the Grub Burger Bar on the corner of Homestead Road and Lawrence Expressway opened to much fanfare on Aug. 21.
As the company’s third California location and first in Northern California, Grub Burger Bar prides itself on its speedy service — six minutes from order to meal — and goes to great lengths to ensure the quality of its food by making everything that can be made in house within the restaurant’s walls.
“Everything in our restaurant is made from scratch,” said Erica Harris, Grub Burger Bar’s marketing and public relations representative. “Our bakers come in the morning and make all of our white and wheat buns in house. We make the dough here and proof and bake every hour. Any bread we don’t use for the day we sell for charity. We really care about what goes on the plate.”
Not only does Grub Burger Bar care about the food, with its housemade burger buns, house brewed teas and housemade sauces, it sees its bar as the restaurant’s focal point.
“One of the things that we really focus on is that bar,” said Harris. “We think that the bar brings a lot of energy and our bartenders act as our ambassadors. You, as a guest, have the choice to wait in the queue line, order from the counter or sit at the bar top and get full service. That’s what we really like about our service model. If you’re on a casual date night, if you’re on a business meeting and you want that extra bit of service you can sit there.”
The restaurant’s choice to showcase the bar comes into play particularly during Grub Burger Bar’s Happy Hour. While most restaurants sell discounted drinks for a brief three-hour timeslot throughout the day, Grub Burger Bar’s Happy Hour is from its 11 a.m. opening to 7 p.m., and again from 9 p.m. to close (10 p.m. on weeknights and 11 p.m. on weekends).
During Happy Hour patrons can purchase any of the bar’s signature drinks, draft beers, boozy shakes or selection of appetizers for only $5.50. And, by combining the $5.50 Happy Hour drink special with its weekly Dream Burger lunch special — paring any of the restaurant’s burgers or sandwiches with its skinny fries for $10.95 — Harris said a customer can get a “cocktail and killer meal” for $16.50.
Although the lunch special and Happy Hour serve as a customer draw, Harris said a big part of the company is its involvement within the community and dedication to giving back to organizations who partner with the restaurant.
“We like to immerse ourselves in the community,” said Harris. “If there’s a charity out there who wants to partner for a week of giveback, we really want to support programs in the community. Sometimes we keep the same organization — all of our Buns for Benefit will go to ALearn for the foreseeable future — but we do host schools and churches, or anyone who wants to host a giveback night. We do those year-round.”
Santa Clara’s Grub Burger Bar is part of the Project Passion Restaurant Group, a family owned and operated organization with the rights to the brand within the state. Visit grubburgerbar.com for more information or follow the Grub Burger Bar on Facebook facebook.com/grubsantaclara or Instagram @grubthebay.
Already my favorite restaurant. OMG The Onion Rings are to die for. Wife loved the Brussel Sprouts, Kid meals were Hearty And HEALTHY.