Squeeze Inn

My family descended upon the poor unsuspecting Squeeze Inn in Galt, California (right outside Sacramento) to try their famous grilled-crisp cheese cheeseburgers.  Once a modest establishment, Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, and other accolades have caused rather rapid and aggressive expansion.  We ordered just about every type of burger and fry they served, milk shakes, and other artery cloggers.  In the end, we enjoyed ourselves, but a mix of average service and often underseasoned food caused the overall assessment to be rather lower than where they could, and probably should, be.

The milkshakes were large and delicious.

The fries were fresh and cooked perfectly, but needed more salt.

The chili fries were a meal unto themselves and featured good, Texas-style red (no bean with meat) chili.

The sweet potato fries (a new addition) were rather disappointing.  They had an odd taste, were crisp but not 100% delicious, and the wasabi ranch sauce was probably powder ranch mixed with powder wasabi (resulting in an extremely tart, oddly tangy - in the wrong way - pretty impossible to eat mix).

The burgers were beastly (hand for scale) with a delicious side of crispy cheese (which I folded back onto the burger).

And filled to the gills!  (Fork for scale of crispy cheese).  The patties were the thin variety, not fat "Red Robin" style, but more expanded "Wendy's" style.  This said, they were juicy and well cooked.  We couldn't be sure they weren't frozen, but such is life.  The main issue with the burger was the meat was underseasoned.  Salt - Pepper.  Feel free to also add a little Garlic Powder, etc.

Overall, good but not great.  We were glad to have gone.  Crispy cheese, what a fantastic idea to create a unique burger experience around it!  Bravo!  Our party could have been a little nicer, and so could the host/first server.  For example, as we arrived (with a large group) the servers were unwilling to allow us to move together a few tables (with 3/4 of the space open).  They wanted us to sit near each other, but not connected or wait for at least 10-15 minutes.  Some quick subterfuge later and the tables were connected.  

This did not seem to be a problem for local high school kids around.  The staff seemed perfectly content to allow them to nurse their fries for 45 minutes or more and drop by to see what they needed.  It appeared we caught them between shifts though, as one less helpful waitress left, a new, more helpful waitress arrived.  Seemed they may have wanted us to wait because one waitress did not want to help a big party and end up with no tip.  I cannot say I completely agreed with how our group handled the situation, but the service from hosting to serving never was super impressive.  

The Squeeze Inn

545 Industrial Drive  

Galt, CA 95632
(209) 745-4313

3.5 of 5

On Norms

Some might say that I am norm seeking. Others a norm deviant. I'm not sure it's germain to the conversation at hand, but in everything that is scalable there must be a scale. In anything where there is a spectrum, bads and goods, there must be an average. There must be a benchmark. There must be a norm.

For restaurants, and my 1-5 scale, these are your 2s, maybe on their best day a 3. They are where you go, spend a few dollars, and get a decent meal that *should be dependable. If you are in Tulsa or Moscow, you should be eating basically the same thing. Also, if you live in a smaller town, these might be your only options. That's ok, because they *shouldn't disappoint you.

Here are some of the more common standards I use. Also of note, something starts being "expensive" when it costs more than Outback.  Anything around the price of a meal at Applebee's is average, and fast food is cheap.  This is by no means exhaustive, but meant to be a fun little exercise...

American: Applebee's, TGI Friday's, Chili's.

Burgers: Red Robin.

Fast Food: Taco Bell, Wendy's

Fried Chicken: Zaxby's or Chik-Filet

Steak: Outback.

Italian: Olive Garden.

Breakfast/Bakeries: Panera Bread.

Sandwiches: Subway, Quiznos, Jersey Mike's, Blimpes.

Chinese: PF Chang's, and anywhere with the words Dragon, Panda, Express, Lucky, and Garden in the name.

Japanese: Anywhere with "Sushi" or "Tokyo" in the name, and mall sushi.

Thai: Anywhere with the word "Thai" in it.

Vietnamese: Anywhere with the word "Pho" or "Vietnamese" in it.

And finally, Mexican/Tex-Mex: Chipotle (often 4 stars of deliciousness!). 


You may also may enjoy a somewhat interesting quirk, I deal in the currency of Chipotle burritos when I eat out. For example, a $12 meal is two Chipotle burritos, a $30 one is five, etc. Because Chipotle is so delicious, you get a good sense of the relative value of your meal when you consider how many Chipotle burritos you are paying for it. (This is not product placement, I have not been offered any $ or burritos to talk up Chipotle. I will accept bribes in Chipotle burritos though.)