Lancers

Staying true to my Alissa-given title of "Worst Blogger Ever," I said I would do this last night yet opted to put it off 'til this morning instead. No matter though. Lancer's has been around for quite a while & I don't think it's going to disappear any time soon, so I feel alright about my laziness.
Lancers is one of those weird places that you drive by repeatedly & always wonder about, but fail to ever visit. You think, "Huh, that's kind of a strange location for a restaurant. I wonder why it's so HUGE? Could it possibly be any good??" Then, you notice that the light has turned green & you go on your merry way toward the freeway.
Well one Wednesday long long ago (last week), Alissa & I happened to drop by Ye Olde Kragen Auto Parts to buy some more duct tape to hold her car together. Lancers, as it just so happens, occupies a very large corner of this very same shopping center. Noticing the GIANT sign that says, "COCKTAILS," she suggested we venture inside. So we did.
Inside, it's pretty much what you might imagine it to be during all those drive-by ponderings. A typical family diner atmosphere - clean & appropriately decorated - staffed by typical family diner cooks & wait staff, offering a menu of typical family diner fare. There's a counter, a bunch of vinyl booths, and a very large & separate "fancy" dining area.


Now, here's where Lancers breaks from the "typical family diner" vibe. They have a bar. A fully stocked bar. A very weird little fully stocked bar that drew an interesting crowd all its own.


The basics: Like I said, it's pretty standard fare here. A large menu with all the choices you would expect from a place like this. Soups, salads, sandwiches, etc. And pies.





Alissa: I'm with Cory on his assessment of the atmosphere. It was what I would call 'fine'. I feel like I either want to feel really cool or extremely ashamed anywhere I am eating. I felt nothing. My whole life is a dark room. One big dark room. What am I talking about? Oh yeah. But really- very middley WHICH is exactly why there was a ton of sweet granparenty people eating there. Sometimes those grandparenty people are onto something. Sometimes they are just gathered because it's easy and familiar. I think that is the case here. Anyhow CORY took so long to write this I can't remember what I got- OH WAIT. It was called the Cobb Sandwich. And you know what? It was fine. I think if you asked them to ease off the blue cheese a bit, you'd be in biznezz. It's just a little too much & you wonder what creamy hell you bit into for a moment before remembering it's blue cheese and calming down and chewing and swallowing. I tasted the fish n chips too & I can't say I enjoyed the texture of the fish being like fake crab meat- where it flakes into big chunks, but no smaller. I will say, however, that we did not try the things that were highlighted as specialties... so that may have been our mistake. WHAT WAS GOOD: They have steak fries which were totally decent causing me to eat way too many- and they have Mr. Pibb and are very attentive when it comes to free refills. I feel like that bar Cory described might get pretty weird- and may be worth a visit. My inkling is that those ol' weathered gentlemen probably worked on movie sets for 40 years and are fulla stories- and despite being serious fellows gave me a warm and polite hello when I intruded. So they wouldn't mug you out of the place.


Cory: You know, as much as I wanted to really really like this place, something just didn't feel right. I typically love diners, but this place is just too...I don't know...BIG, maybe. And sterile feeling. It didn't feel grimy enough to be good & it didn't feel cozy comfortable enough to be homey. That's not to say that the food was bad though. I went for the fish & chips and was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't as super-fried & beer batter-y as I normally like my fish & chips, but it actually worked out alright for lunch. The batter was crisp & tasty enough and the fish seemed to be of high quality. Nothing special, but better than I expected. I also tried some of Alissa's turkey bacon avocado & blue cheese bonanza. It was blue cheesy...



Good bite? Or just totally bites?
A: Bites, softly. As if with dentures that are not quite secure.
C: Totally bites. Actually, that seems a little harsh here, because it definitely doesn't TOTALLY bite. It just regular bites. Mostly because it's just not my style.

Info:
697 N. Victory Blvd
Burbank, CA 91502-1628
(818) 843-3433
Open Daily 5:30am-12am

**Our reports are based on one visit/meal- so we're far from experts on these joints! so if you have advice or experiences you'd like to share, please feel free to enlighten us & our readers! Our goal is to give enough info that someone might feel okay trying somewhere new (or know to avoid it!). Thanks for reading :)