Deer Park Mall is home to many restaurants and stores, but three new restaurants have become a part of the shopping center area: Smashburger, The Waffle Gourmet, and Red Robin.

SMASH BURGER:

Smashburger is one of the fastest growing “better burger” food chains in the United States. The company owns about 120 restaurants nationwide, the Kildeer location on Rand Road being the ninth in the Chicagoland area, according to its website.

“The style of our restaurant is you come to the counter, order your food, and we will bring to you a delicious and freshly made meal,” Alex Es, general manager of Smashburger in Kildeer, said. “Smashburger is a fairly new restaurant chain, but we are certainly growing fast.”

The restaurant serves fresh cheeseburgers the way the customer orders them, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, salads, hand spun Haagen Dazs milkshakes, and much more, Es said.

“The restaurant is mainly a family restaurant and is open to all kinds of people,” Es said. “It’s a really comfortable environment and just a great place to spend some time and even eat outside if you choose to.”

The restaurant’s burgers are made from fresh, never frozen, 100 percent Certified Angus Beef. The company gets the name ‘Smashburger’ from the cooking method of squishing the burger down on a flat iron grill, Es said.

“The food here is very economically accessible,” Es said. “The prices are low and the quality is phenomenal.”

Smashburger in Kildeer opened October 27.

THE WAFFLE GOURMET

The Waffle Gourmet opened their first official store in Deer Park Mall.

“This location, we call the Beta restaurant, because it’s the first one where we can figure out how to solve all of the company’s problems,” Ron Roberti, managing partner, said. “This is the first location but the overall goal is to start an entire chain of restaurants across the country.”

The Waffle Gourmet receives its name from the base of almost all of the restaurants dishes, the waffle, said Roberti.

“The idea originated when Tom and Sheri Sorrell’s (founders of The Waffle Gourmet) neighbor thought of the idea to create a waffle-based restaurant,” Roberti said. “Now that small idea has just exploded into the business it is today.”

The base behind all of The Waffle Gourmet’s food is the waffle. The restaurant serves items such as classic waffles with toppings like ‘Smore’s, a waffle with melted marshmallows, chocolate chips, and chocolate sauce. ‘The Cinnamon Stack’ is a mini stack of waffles with cream cheese frosting and cinnamon drizzle. The establishment also serves sandwiches replacing the bread on a sandwich with two home-made waffles.

“Even though waffle treats are our specialty, we also serve smoothies, soups, ice cream, or coffee,” Roberti said. “Everything is made fresh from real ingredients every day.”

The Waffle Gourmet is open every day 9:00am to 9pm.

RED ROBIN

Red Robin is now open in Deer Park shopping mall, replacing Max and Erma’s.

“Red Robin is a great place to spend some time and hangout,” Ian McClellan, manager, said. “At Red Robin we try as hard as possible to make sure that all customers are happy and we can fulfill all of their needs.”           

Red Robin offers allergen information on a core number of their food items to meet any customers’ health and dietary needs. Red Robin also offers customers the chance to customize their gourmet burger due to the fact that every burger is prepared fresh for the customer.

“We also hold lighter options on the menu to decrease calories or fat in a dish,” McClellan said. “Really, the overall purpose of our establishment is to just make the customer happy and to make sure that any need is met.”