Nature’s Grill | The Real Reviews

Late last fall, a handful reviews for Nature's Grill were submitted to TasteFresno--each by a new member to the site. I was excited for the opening, and assumed a similar excitement was behind the frequency of reviews. But I turned skeptical after reading, noticing a pattern: no photo, four and five stars across the board, and only a short paragraph raving about an item like the sliders. Most also included a line insisting that the reviewer would be back.

Yelp seemed to be plagued by the same lack of authenticity--short, raving reviews with no photo, created by new accounts; those reviews have since been filtered. To get a real sense of the place, we asked two meat enthusiasts to chime in--Chuck from Fresno Bites and Robert from Tops BBQ.

First Impressions

Robert (TOPS): The young smiling woman behind the counter and the hamburgers are very pleasant. Unfortunately, that’s where it all stops.

Chuck (BITES): The ordering process is a little weird. A counter is in the back with a menu above it, but there are also full size menus beneath the glass on the tables. So when you walk in it’s a little confusing where you actually order.

TOPS: My first visit started off a little confused. You walk into the restaurant with opened menus matted underneath glass tabletops. Automatically, my family and I sit down to review the menus, but no one came to take our order. We found out soon enough, we need to place our order at the counter. There lies a menu overhead that does not include all the items found on the table menu.

The Brisket

BITES: Our friend ordered the brisket sliders (that mangled pic you see above) and kindly shared them with the table. I wish he hadn’t. The brisket sliders are horrible and should be taken off the menu immediately, period. It’s possible that if I ever ate a McRib, I might enjoy it more. This brisket is tougher than Jack Palance in City Slickers. I could barely tear it with my teeth. Not only that, a lot of fat is left on the meat and even it’s not tender. I’m not exactly sure how this is being prepared but it looks like its being sliced then grilled. You just can’t cook brisket that way. Brisket requires a slow and low cooking time to make it tender. The funny thing is, some of the yelp and TasteFresno reviews rave about the brisket sliders. What a joke.

TOPS: On our first visit, we ordered the Brisket dinner plate and Meatless Melt. Our orders arrived approximately 15-20 minutes from the time our order was placed. That’s okay; I expect to wait when good food is being prepared. Too bad that is not what we received. The plate was plentiful with food, but from years of experience in BBQ’n Brisket for competitions and catering, I shook my head in disbelief when my Brisket plate arrived. The Brisket was sliced very thinly and grilled. Against my good judgment, I attempted to eat it. As I expected, the meat was tough as nails. I poked my way through the pile, in hopes for something appetizing, but came up empty handed. My wife’s Meatless Melt was to include Sautéed Portabella Strips, Grilled Onions, Bell Peppers and Jalapeno Peppers on a sourdough bun. What she received was a grilled cheese sandwich with only partially grilled Onions and Bell Peppers.

I took both plates back and explained quietly and politely what was wrong and the young woman apologized and said she would replace the orders. Another 15-20 minutes later, I received the Brisket prepared exactly the same way I had to return it for. It was not edible. My wife’s sandwich came back incomplete again. It did include the portabella mushrooms but the Jalapeno Peppers were missing. The young woman asked if everything was okay and started to walk away. I stopped her and tried eating the Brisket in front of her. She saw that it was tough. This time, I just asked that they replace it with a Cheeseburger.

For our second visit, I ordered the Brisket Sliders, because in an earlier review they were supposed to be the best. My order arrived and my Brisket Sliders (2) looked very appetizing. Slices of Brisket, Fried Onion Rings and Bacon (can’t go wrong with bacon). I cut the sliders in half so that I could share with my friend and his wife. My first bite went through without too much tug, which is a good sign when eating Brisket. Unfortunately, the little work was due to biting into fat. I had to spit it out into my napkin. I proceeded to unfold the slider and couldn’t believe that they put to whole slices of cooked fat in the slider! They tug came from the bacon that was not crispy. Hidden were a couple of thin slices of actual Brisket meat, but they were grilled. WHY? My friend said, “They need to just remove that from the menu.”

The Burgers

TOPS: Thankfully, the cheeseburger was good! I posted this experience along with pictures for proof on my Facebook wall and on Nature’s Grill Facebook wall. I received a response from Nature’s Grill, explaining they were overwhelmed by more customers than expected due to the Fresno Bee column and they offered a free dinner for my wife and I. I declined their offer, because I understood what they were saying and I wanted to support my local mom and pop owned establishment.

BITES: The New York Lucy Burger was recommended by the cashier. It comes with a half pound patty stuffed with pastrami and topped with Swiss cheese. I have to admit that it was a good burger. I could tell that the beef was a good quality and pretty lean. It was cooked nicely and had juice flowing out of it. A lot of restaurants locally don’t achieve that. Overall I have to say the burger was above average. The crispers (fries) were ironically, a little limp and cold.

My wife ordered the Portabella Burger. She also said the patty was juicy and cooked nicely. The mushroom, however, wasn’t sautéed as the menu stated. It was just placed raw underneath the lettuce. She was disappointed by that to say the least. That’s about were the fun ended with the food.

Additional Comments

Both Robert and Chuck share in my skepticism of the aforementioned reviews. Chuck offered the following, which should be considered by restaurants before employing a similar tactic:

Instead of earning respect and a good reputation through consistently good dishes, it appears as though the owners or the owners' friends have begun leaving extremely high ratings on TasteFresno and Yelp. For those who rely on Yelp for finding places to eat (for this reason I personally don’t), this can be a real pain in the butt and is pretty misleading.

Robert also had pretty terrible experiences (he did go back again, to be fair!) with the Meatless Melt and the Grilled Porky Melt. And he wasn't the only one. Here's what his wife had to say:

Dangers of being a foodie in Fresno: Waited anxiously for the organic, all natural restaurant to open here, only to figure out we can make it better at home! Another restaurant that ruins brisket and grilled cheese! Ugh :-/

Nature’s Grill is located at 1137 E. Champlain Drive, Fresno, CA 93720 (Champlain & Perrin).