Sometimes, you just want a burger.
We get that itch every few months, and while my own food whisperer, my husband, makes a mean burger, we often head out for one. A year or so ago, we discovered The Fix Burger Bar in Leominster and loved it. It’s brilliantly basic—burgers and beer done very well, with plenty of choice and a relaxed atmosphere. Since that first visit, we’ve been to The Fix in Leominster another time and once to their Marlborough location. Both locations have a large bar and outdoor seating, as well as plenty of booths. We enjoyed our meals each time.
Recently, when the mood hit for a burger, The Fix was an obvious choice, and while we love the vibe of the Leominster location, we were intrigued by the idea of Marlborough’s “Live Music Mondays with Jeff Mac.”
On the Monday we visited the Marlborough location, Jeff Mac (guitar, keyboard, vocals) had another musician with him on keyboard and vocals. They belted out bluesy renditions of a wide range of tunes from Elton John to Amy Winehouse to Bob Marley. They played and sang with gusto; Mac was very good on guitar. We were singing along in our booth and playing “name that tune” as each new song started. It made the visit fun, and, as my daughter said, it helped pass the time waiting for our food.
The Fix offers a lot of burger options: The menu has 13 sandwich options, some with the protein defined (such as “The Enzo” with grilled chicken, garlic pesto, and smoked mozzarella on herb ciabatta). Other choices define only the toppings, letting you select the protein. For protein, 10 choices are offered, covering fish, meatless, poultry, three beef options (American Wagyu grind, house grind, local grass-fed grind), and lamb.
If the options on offer aren’t your thing, you can go for “The Classic,” for which you pick the protein of your choice and then select from 36 (yes, that many!) add-ons. For those not wanting a roll, or more greens in their meal, there are six burger bowl options, as well as salads, to which protein can be added. Also on the menu are appetizers, choices from the children’s menu, a few desserts, and milkshakes.
On my first two visits, I went with “The Classic,” house grind, lettuce, tomato, cheese, Great Hill Blue cheese once and cheddar the next. Both times the burgers were excellent. On our first Marlborough visit, I tried “The Spartan,” with a lamb patty, goat cheese, zaatar aioli, citrus slaw, tomato, and brioche roll. It was super-tasty, with the goat cheese and aioli combining to create creamy goodness. My husband declared the lamb patty “a touch dry,” which I had to admit he was right about, though I still enjoyed it immensely.
For our recent visit, my husband ordered one of the specials, “Bell Ringer,” with a house patty, scoop of mac and cheese, Frank’s Red Hot sauce, bacon, garlic aioli, diced cherry peppers, and brioche bun, which he declared very tasty, even if hard to keep the mac and cheese from sliding out. Our daughter was with us, ordering “The Crunchy,” (lettuce, fried prosciutto, parmesan crisp, potato chips, garlic mayo, mustard pickle, and seeded roll) with the house grind burger. She enjoyed it, though she said it could have been crunchier.
Wanting to try something different, I ordered a bowl, “The American,” which consisted of a house burger, cheddar cheese, bacon, mixed greens, “everything avocado,” cukes, roasted cauliflower, red onion, grape tomato, spicy pickle spear, and house peppercorn ranch dressing. It was heavy on peppercorns between the “everything avocado” (avocado with “everything” bagel topping–obvious, but I didn’t get it when I read the menu) and the dressing. While I enjoyed it, the bowl isn’t really a burger (no roll) and isn’t really a salad. If you want greens, get a salad and add protein.
All burgers are served with a generous portion of fries or house-fried chips. Sweet potato fries, poutine, onion rings, or greens can be substituted for the fries for an additional cost. On our first visit, my husband went for poutine, which he really enjoyed. In Marlborough, our daughter went for the sweet potato fries, which she said were very good. We also had onion rings, which were crispy, not greasy.
For drinks, each restaurant offers around 20 beers in cans or bottles and a rotating draft beer menu. Cider, cocktails, mocktails, and old-fashioned artisan sodas are also on offer.
The Fix is part of the Niche Hospitality Group, which also operates Bocado Tapas Bar in Worcester and Wellesley and Mezcal Tequila Cantina in Worcester.
Alice Bartram leaves much of the cooking to her husband, though she has many Instagram-saved recipes that she’ll get to one day as, really, she finds eating out more fun than cooking.
