I wanted to try Mel's Drive-In because I saw it in pictures from another trip to USJ. Finally, I arrived here, and the whole front area had old cars parked outside. The place is like the restaurant from the movie American Graffiti, and I found that pretty cool.
The sky was super blue that day, and a lot of people were hanging around outside. I walked up and already knew this was where lunch was happening.
Inside, the place was full of people. Lots of people eating and workers walking around with hats on their heads. It is one of those American-style restaurants, where you order at the counter and then find a seat; honestly, I needed a second to figure out the line, where it even started.
My Lunch at Mel’s Drive-In in USJ
The screens showed the BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger Meal and some other stuff. Mel's Drive-In is simply a kind of burger with fries, nothing special. Even so, that's all fine, because sometimes you especially want that in a theme park.
Here they even have a phone ordering system, where you scan a QR code and order using your phone before you get to the counter. It confused me a bit at first, because I did not know that you must order before getting to the counter, not here. The line was long, but it moved quite fast, after I understood how everything works.
I found a spot to sit and waited for the food.
The menu on the phone listed burgers, sides, drinks, desserts and shakes. I chose the Classic Cheeseburger Meal, because honestly, if you are in a place like this, you simply must choose the classic. They offered some other items, but nothing really pulled me from the burger.
That gives me a different feel than my meal at Gyukatsu Motomura in Kyoto, where everything revolved around the food and nothing more.
The food arrived, and right away the fries smelled really salty and hot. Two Classic Burgers, two sets of fries and Coca-Cola. The fries were crunchy and had a golden color, those that crunch when you bite them, but not too thin.
Not bad for a meal in a theme park, honestly. Food in such places usually is boring like this, but at least fries are hard to mess up.
The burger had a sesame bun and thick meat patty. I took it, and it weighed more than I expected. The bun stayed soft, and the patty had a lumpy shape, not one of those flat sad ones that you sometimes get.
I could smell the oil from it, which usually means good.
Inside, it had lettuce, tomato and cheese. The cheese melted and hung off the edge, while the lettuce still had a bit of crunch. The patty was a bit dry even so, no big deal, but it could use more juice.
I ate better burgers for sure, but for something that you get between the rides at USJ, it was fine. The tomato did not add a lot of taste, honestly it never really does on burgers. That said, it was a totally different thing than when I ate at Sushi Naritaya in Arashiyama, where every sushi had its own fresh taste.
I finished the last few fries and threw everything in the trash on the way out.
