Crocker's The Well Dressed Frank
★★★★☆ 4.3 (363) • $$
"A jaw-dropping experience. Yelpers have rated this one so correctly. Crocker's is a simple, hole-in-the-wall kind of place with such a fun, friendly vibe. The fact that it is smack dab in the middle of the adorably touristy island of Balboa makes it even more special in spite of the insane parking situation.I am not sure what caught my eye first. The decor: walls, plastered with millions of defiled one dollar bills, that a person can barely resist taking a sample (but don't!) or the bakery cases full of freshly baked sweet and savory goodies that will most likely turn your brain into mush while you are trying to calm down long enough to choose only one, or submiting to the urge to buy one of everything. But, we truthfully came for lunch, not sweet things.Their menu may sound very common, but once the food started flying out of the kitchen, and quite fast, I might add, we knew we had made an excellent choice coming here. There is nothing ordinary here.The burger was cooked to perfection. Juicy, big, full of quality ingredients, and crowned with a tender brioche bun. The one side my son chose was their homemade, red potato salad that ended up bringing tears of joy to his eyes. His strawberry milkshake was the final straw. Real strawberries, rich ice cream, not overly sweet, and topped with whipped cream and a cherry. Usually a silent eater, he could not contain himself with their praises.And then he tasted his wife's clam chowder. Complete melt down. And fun to watch as he scraped the container bare in between moans of ecstacy.This clam chowder ranks at the top of my list, too. I sure hope you love creamy! This is unadulterated, ultra creamy, and loaded with tender clams, potatoes, with a lightly herbed taste. This is my idea of the perfect clam chowder I have searched for over many years.My lunch choice, the grilled cheese sandwich, caught me by surprise. I love grilled cheese, but this one, in all its simplicity, soared to the top of my happy, grilled cheese dreams. Two kinds of cheeses, slices of tomato, sandwiched between two large pieces of sourdough, buttered and coated in parmesan, then grilled to a toasty finish. I could only eat half, but I sure had to resist the urge to become a glutton. I picked a green salad with their balsamic dressing for my side. Should I mention that the potato salad's siren call was unmercifully directed at me as well? I nibbled surreptitiously in between sanctimonious bites of baby greens.Last but not least was the foot long hot dog ordered by my hot dog loving husband. Although spectacular looking, he had regrets. If he had to do it over again, the hamburger would have won his heart. As it was, he was pleased with his award-winning potato salad. And, after sampling the clam chowder, he placed two large orders for chowder to go, knowing that our daughter and granddaughter back home would be the happy recipients of some of it, but not all.Now, the curse of eating inside their tiny eatery, besides having only a few tables, is the fact that those bakery cases are right in front of your nose. It's brutal torture. And our family is not known for self-control in that department. These bakery cases did not display ordinary stuff either. Every item they offered was unique and screamed of homemade goodness. Needless to say, we staggered out of there with a shamefully big bag filled with 4 irresistable baked delicacies, two full containers of chowder, and leftovers, to be split three ways.Bottom line? When in Newport, this is THE SPOT our family will instantly gravitate towards. No argument there!"
"Food - wursters? Haha, think of anything sausage or links based and definitely an experience to have. Besides the namesakes like the brats, sausages, dogs, they also have Bison and one other rather exotic meat in their menu. They also have beers and maybe other libations. We enjoyed the sampler we had here and would definitely come back.Service - friendly and insightful.Ambiance - when you walk in here, it looks like a small frontage and joint. Lo and behold, the back room where you would eat. It's kinda cool!!! Dimly lit like a German pub haus or something.Verdict - a must try!"
"This place is quite good and the prices are not bad either. Show me the MOOYAH!Speaking of which, we tried the Mooyah, which is their cheeseburger with fresh baked potato bun and their Best Quesonario, a spicy jalapeño burger, and added pepper jack cheese for an extra fee since this burger did not come with cheese. I don't eat spicy, but I actually preferred the Best Quesonario over the MOOYAH burger. The MOOYAH burger had way too much sauce. I did like that the 1/4 lb patties came straight off the grill and were very juicy and high quality. Their personal size fries were really big! Surprisingly, I liked the French fries even though they didn't look that appealing lol. The fries still have their skins, and are thicker cut. I preferred the SWEET POTATO FRIES. In N Out is still my favorite, but this place is a slightly more loaded version. I look forward to trying their ice cream shakes, which come in 8 flavors! Yum. Happy eating!"
