Jake's WayBack Burgers
 (Second Visit)
 Wadsworth, Ohio    Date of Visit  10/16/15     http://waybackburgers.com/

We were out and about and decided to return to Wayback, sort of breaking the franchise rule but this one is still the only location in Ohio. I wasn’t overly impressed on our first trip and was far less so this time. Whoever pays for this location needs to stop in every now and again, that or hire a more responsible manager.

The burgers and fries are still mediocre and expensive. We tried a couple of the specials, a sriracha chicken sandwich and the Octoberfest burger. There was so little of the special condiments on the burger they didn’t make a difference and I can squeeze sriracha on frozen chicken fingers at home. There wasn’t much to anything and certainly nothing for me to recommend the place.
 

Chocolate Shake Was Pretty Good
 

Meh
 

Sum Total Of Sauerkraut On The "Special" Burger
 

Double Meh.
 

Jake's WayBack Burgers
 Wadsworth, Ohio    Date of Visit  07/11/11     http://waybackburgers.com/ 

No, we don’t do large chain restaurants. I’m still not certain how big this franchise is but I am now sure it is a franchise. All we knew walking in was that the lights were on after months of “Coming Soon” signs had not transitioned to “Open”, until today. Pulling out of Lowes with some DIY projects and grumbly-bellies we saw the place was open and decided to give it a try. A simple interior was occupied with a big word of mouth push for a very early day in the life of the restaurant. There were not only more employees than customers, there were several more than the place could ever hope to contain. I assumed it was a training day with quadruple redundancy on every station. You order at the counter and one of the golf shirted horde delivers it to the table.
 

Not  Bad. Certainly Not Worth the Trip or the $$$
 

The whole place is a uniquely weak attempt to recall the 50’s diner. Think Ed Debevik’s in Chicago minus about half the effort and thought. The menu is limited to four sammitches; burger, dog, chicken, and veggie with one additional “burger of the month”.

Ordering was quick, we stayed very basic, and everything turned out to be alright. Steph stuck to her burger with cheese, ketchup and a little mustard, which probably makes for a pretty good baseline against other places. Completely average as were the accompanying fries, actually the fries were a step beyond pedestrian.

The burger of the month was a chicken parm combo amd appeared worth a try. Crispy chicken, okay sauce, okay overall with up-sold and not really worth the difference onion rings.

We didn’t try a shake or douse the sides in chili or cheese, I don’t know if it would have made much of a difference. It might work better with a difference price point but they are going to struggle against the simple value of a thousand drive thrus, and the extra touches of direct rivals like 5 Guys with the peanuts, enough fries to reconstruct Lincoln’s log cabin, and an measurable edge on flavor on nearly every dish. I might go back for an interesting sounding monthly special (this month’s: The Carolina Jake…double patty, American cheese, Jake’s chili, coleslaw, mustard and onions…I might give that a go. But on a daily basis, I feel as though I have many other much more interesting and rewarding options.