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The Visit
Ralston's Goat has a very cool vibe. It is a combination bar and restaurant. it is open 3pm to 2am during the week (W, Th, F), Saturday 10am to 2pm, and Sunday 10am to 4pm.
Ralston's Goad turns into more of a nightclub/Lounge later in the evening.
Depending upon the night, you might get live music. On the night I visited , there was a car show right outside in downtown Modesto. Made for nice entertainment.
Menu Options
Ralston's Goat offers five different burgers to choose from. Nice solid selection for a restaurant/bar.
- Ralston’s Burger
- Bacon Mushroom Swiss
- BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger
- Bleu Cheese Burger
- Beyond Burger (if you are into that sort of thing)
At the Table
Burger arrived on a quarter sheet lined with checkered parchment. This was a cool look and provided plenty of room for condiments and your meal. A side of ranch dressing came with the onion rings. The dressing was served in a small plastic cup with a lid. Made me feel like it was for a "to go" order. Kind of chintzy to me.
The Bun
Bread was nice and fresh. Nice crumb. However they could work on the toasting of the bun. It was toasted on the inside and a little bit too much along the edge and not enough in the middle.
Condiments and Toppings
Burger arrived fully-loaded and fully-assembled.
The barbecue bacon cheeseburger at Ralston's Goat came with both mayonnaise, which they call aioli, and barbecue sauce. Very generous with both the mayonnaise and the barbecue sauce . This made for a very saucy burger. I would recommend that they pull back a little bit on the barbecue sauce.
Burger included fresh romaine lettuce, tomato, and fresh onion. The tomato and lettuce were fine. The onion was sliced a bit thick. The onion had not fully matured and still had a green color to it. the onion slice also from the outer layers of the onion which made them a bit leathery and hard to bite through and eat. I ended up pulling them out and just leaving them on the side of the tray.
Also, the menu indicated that the burgers come with red onion. I did not get red onion.
The Burger
Burger was not dry or overcooked I would call it juicy although it did have a lot of barbecue sauce and mayonnaise on it.
Meat Patty was thick and tender with a good bite to it.
Couldn't tell much about the seasoning of the patty as the barbecue sauce was the main element on this hamburger sandwich.
This is one thick Burger. The generous brioche bun the thick Patty cheese bacon and onion rings make this a tall stack.
The barbecue sauce overwhelmed the rest of the burger. There was so much sauce that it made the burger slide apart while eating.
The two onion rings on the top of the burger or a bit too thick. I had to remove one of the onion rings to be able to take a bite of the sandwich.
Also the leathery onion distracted from enjoying the sandwich as my first bite pulled the slice of onion out of the burger.
On the Side
I made the mistake of ordering onion rings with this meal. The beer batter onion rings were very greasy which weighed down the entire meal. I imagine that the onion rings on the burger were just as greasy making this a very heavy burger to eat. If getting this burger, get the side salad.
Final Words
Ralston's goat is a nice place to grab a meal. It has a nice vibe and the food is good. Waitstaff is friendly and helpful. I would just pay a little more attention to detail on the bbq bacon cheeseburger. It would make it a much more enjoyable experience to eat.
Final note, it took quite some time to get the burger out of the kitchen. I started to wonder if they lost my order. But, I wasn't in a hurry.