Scotty’s Drive-In

Never going back. The place is filthy. Sticky floors, large gross stains in the carpet. Coleslaw is on the menu & we’ve enjoyed it many times in the past but they never seem to have it on hand anymore – and when we expressed disappointment, they were clueless and unresponsive. For instance they said, «no, but we have Fleischkueckle» and «we were thinking about making potato salad» (which is also on the menu but isn’t actually available). I mentioned the floor in front of the main counter is sticky. Response: «yeah.» And lastly, one of my sloppy joes had a tiny fraction of the filling it should have had.

I stopped in here because I was in the mood for a milkshake. Their sign boasts something about 27 (I can’t remember the exact number), so I thought I’d give it a try. The people at the counter were pretty gruff, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to a busy lunchtime.
The shake was unremarkable. It was simply soft serve blended with milk and a flavored syrup. I ordered banana, which I thought might be an actual banana blended into actual ice cream. Not the case. It just tasted artificial, and left me feeling underwhelmed.
I might go back to try the burgers, but as far as shakes, steer clear.

I was taken here by my grandma when I was growing up in Bismarck. My review back then would have been something like «yay! Cheeseburger! What no play-​place!?» But with age tastes change. Even though I had been back to Bismarck to visit family after moving away I hadn’t been back to visit Scotty’s.
It wasn’t until we were visiting this Christmas and drove by that I remembered the place. It was winter so the cool drive up vibe was kinda lost but it had a cool ‘no frills’ look to the building that is prevalent in that part of town. The inside had been remodeled since my childhood and was less brown than I remembered.
The woman at the counter was friendly and when asked explained that the tartar burger got it’s name from tartar sauce and was in no way raw. We ordered two deluxe cheeseburgers, fries and the appetizer sampler. The fries were good and crisp and the app sampler was the pile of brown and fried that we had signed up for but the real hit were the burgers. They classified as the fast food type of burger, thin, lacy edged and cooked on a griddle. Unlike bad examples of this style these had a crisp brown crust from the griddle and none of the pale gray hue of a steam table. The onions were sliced paper thin to give flavor without getting in the way of the rest of the burger. All of it was on a soft eggy bun. One other high point was the thick homemade ranch that was provided for the fried food. It was the kind of ranch that is referred to as «the good stuff».
Scotty’s is a place that delivers exactly what it advertises, good burgers and fries made the well with no frills. I think there might be ice cream there as well, but if you have room left after the burgers and fries you did it wrong.

This place has a large and unique menu. It is well worth a visit.