Billy Bob's Hamburgers - (Castroville - US-90)

Reviews

• ★★★★½ Fried Catfish Onion Rings Sante Fe Burger Coleslaw Hushpuppies Visited May 6, 2023

  I Think The Fried Fish Here is Better Than The Burgers!

  I've eaten here a few times now, and after trying the fish on my first visit, I ordered it again, and again on my next visits. I tried the crinkle cut fries, and the onion rings, which were both good. It was only my most recent visit I tried a hamburger.
  
  Lets start with the fish basket. Honestly I think this is the item to get here. Despite the places name having the word hamburger in it, I think the fried fish is the best item Ive had so far.
  
  The fish was breaded lightly, fried crispy, had great flavor, was super tender, hot and pretty much everything I look for in fried fish. The tarter sauce was decent, the coleslaw was great as well, and the meal as a whole with the fries or onion rings was super filling. Id recommend the 3 or 5 piece, as a the 2 piece is just going to make you wish you had ordered more..
  
  Now the hamburgers. So this last visit I tried the Santa Fe burger. Im a fan of New Mexico chile's so I wanted to check this one out. When they asked "everything on its OK?" I assumed everything on it was everything thats normally on a green chile burger, not everything everything. The burger came out stacked high, I immediately wandered around for some utensils so slice it in half.
  
  The first deal breaker was the cheese, it was a Velveeta-like cheese, which I honestly cant stand, I've only had a few places where this type of cheese didnt bother me. Next up was the toppings. Wet pickles, wet tomato, wet green chile, plus mustard, I had liquid pouring out of my burger and down my hand when I picked up the half. But thats not all the toppings, also there was red onion, and lettuce, and now looking at the pics I see there was also a white cheese on it as well. All these toppings are not common on green chile burgers. I've a had a few, several in New Mexico, many places just put green chile, sometimes cheese.. but thats it.. There was so much going on with the toppings I could barely taste the green chile.
  
  Along with my burger I ordered the onion rings. Now I'll say the onion rings here are excellent. They are thick cut, battered and fried crispy, and I believe its a beer batter. They have great flavor, and are one of the items I'd highly recommend.
  
  Service is pretty quick, prices aren't super crazy, and portions are pretty large. If your passing thru the area I would definitely stop for the fish basket, or at least some onion rings to munch on. The burgers I'm not so sure of, as I wasnt impressed by the first one, but I might give it another go. The flavor wasnt bad, and it seemed like there might be a good burger hidden in there, it was just overkill on the toppings. I will definitely specify what I want on it next time.

  — Paul

• ★★★★½ 2 Fish Basket Crinkle Cut Fries Coleslaw Fried Catfish Tartar Sauce Visited Feb 1, 2022

  First Time Trying Billy Bobs. The Fried Fish Is Delish

  This was my first time eating here, and after asking around, multiple employees recommended the catfish plate, so that's what I went with.
  
  I went outside because it was a nice day and my food came out after just a few minutes. The catfish was crispy and had good flavor, it wasn't fishy at all. Many people complain catfish has a fishy flavor, but the fish here had a really clean flavor. It had a nice thin cornmeal batter crust that seemed like the cornmeal was sifted before use. There was almost no grittiness that you have on most cornmeal breaded food, which made the texture a lot more appealing. The flavor and texture of this catfish was some of the best I've had.
  
  The hushpuppies were crispy on the outside and moist on the inside, with a nice jalapeño flavor. While the fries were your standard crinkle cut style, they were also fresh, hot, and crispy. The coleslaw I felt was a bit lacking in portion size and a little bit on the flavor. It was a good mix, but I felt there was a little something lacking. Last but not least the tarter sauce, which was pretty good, it had a nice flavor, wasn't too plain, and went really well with the catfish.
  
  The two-piece plate was a little less fish than I was expecting, and I'd definitely recommend going with the three-piece if you have even a moderate appetite. Everything was going great until I got to the coleslaw. I found a fairly large piece of plastic, about an inch long mixed in. It almost looked like it could have been part of a peel-off cap or seal from a dressing bottle.
  
  Despite that issue, I still gave the restaurant a high score because the food was much better than I expected, and nearly everything on my plate was excellent.
  
  I may come back and try the burgers next time. I pass through the Castroville and Hondo area every once in a while, so it's convenient enough to make another stop when I'm in the area.

  — Paul