Gino's Burgers and Chicken

Gino's Burgers and Chicken restaurants have been popping up everywhere lately. Being an out of towner I hadn't heard of them, but my girlfriend let me know that they used to be quite popular once upon a time. Naturally, my interest was peeked. When we found a Groupon offer to the Towson location we had the perfect opportunity to see what Gino's was all about.
We ended up at the Towson location on Friday night and it was PACKED. The line was nearly to the door but it moved surprisingly quick. The first thing I noticed was the giant sign of milkshake offerings. As you know from the By the Scoop review I'm a huge fan of peanut butter and I ended up with a Reese's Pieces Milkshake. My girlfriend, on the other hand, decided on a Cherry Cheescake shake.

The shakes were really big and thick. The huge straw you see in the picture came in very handy. However, on the whole they were kind of "ehh" on the scale of tastiness. They weren't bad but they weren't anything special either. My Reese's Pieces Shake tasted like a pure vanilla shake with a bunch of broken candy that eventually sunk to the bottom.  Deana's Cherry Cheesecake didn't have any cherry flavor and even worse there was no cheesecake presence to be found either. That was kind of a letdown.

For dinner I ordered a Bacon Blue Burger and Deana had the Chicken Caesar Wrap. Out of the two, the wrap was easily the winner. The chicken tasted really good and we both really liked the ceasar dressing. My burger, while okay, was a huge bummer. The bun was nearly twice as big as the burger but that was the least of my concerns. The fact that the "Bacon Blue" burger didn't have any blue cheese crumbles on it really annoyed me. Putting cheap mass produced blue cheese dressing on a burger and calling it "blue" doesn't cut the mustard with this guy. With that said, the bacon on the burger was really tasty.

The best part of the dinner were the Wild Fries we decided to split. Wild fries are french fries with cheese, ranch dressing, and bacon crumbles over the top. The fries alone were really good and crunchy. I was a little worried they were going to be soggy and covered in ranch dressing (not typically a huge fan) but it was really well balanced. Both of us agreed the fries were worth coming back for.

Because we went with a Groupon deal we had some extra money left over and were able to order chicken fingers and a cookie to go. Even though I didn't get to the chicken for a full day it was really good. The breading they use was a big hit with my tastebuds.

It seems to me that the chicken is the way to go if you end up at Gino's. Between the chicken fingers and the wrap Deana had, I think it's safe to say they know what they're doing the chicken. On the other hand, the burgers and the shakes were a big let down.

Price: Cheap
Recommendation: It was okay, but it has its strong points. Give it a shot.
What to order: Chicken Caesar Wrap and Wild Fries.