Hanging out at Hank's

The Towers at University Town Center is quickly becoming a great place for your typical dinner and a movie date.

A slew of restaurants have opened around the Regal Royale 14, both in the form of familiar chains (Five Guys) and down-home cooking (The Carolina Kitchen Bar & Grill). A new restaurant, Hank's Tavern and Eats, opened a few months ago, offering a different kind of burger experience than its chain counterpart.

The restaurant is small, offering about 15 tables in addition to the bar area. It's a very modern-looking establishment with a slew of flat screen televisions on the walls in the bar area and individual televisions in the bar booths.

Hank's bar has a dizzying water and neon light tank behind the bottles, which changes colors every minute or so. It's an eye-catching accoutrement, if a little disorienting when caught out of the corner of your eye.

Thankfully, the bar décor isn't the only thing worth discussing when it comes to Hank's. Despite the small menu, the restaurant is putting a spin on typical bar food, offering slightly upscale versions of what you might typically find at a drinking establishment.

The onion rings ($3.99) at Hank's have the clear markings of hand-battered deliciousness. The coating isn't perfectly even, and there are small offshoots of crispy dough around the edges. The coating has an almost funnel cake-like quality to it, with just a hint of sweetness. It complements the slightly sweet onion perfectly.

The main attraction is the Hank Burger ($8.99), which comes with bacon and one of the aforementioned onion rings. If one 8-ounce patty isn't enough beef, Hank's also offers the Impossible Double Hank Burger, which comes with double bacon and onion rings.

The restaurant takes some extra steps with the burger to ensure a better food experience for customers. Both the top and bottom buns have grill marks, making for a nicely crisped sandwich without any soggy mess.

Another great addition is the steak sauce that comes with the burger. Like all the sauces and dressings, it is house made, according to the waiter. The sauce has a delicious combination of flavors - slightly smoky, a little sweet and a definite chili-enhanced kick at the end. It's fabulous either as a dip for the French fries ($2.99) or to put on top of your burger.

The one drawback to the experience at Hank's is the prices, which are a little higher than what you might find at a typical chain restaurant. While the $9 price for a burger is acceptable, it doesn't come with any sides.

These not-included sides range from handmade barbecue potato chips or French fries (both $2.99), to garlic spinach or red beans and rice (both $4.99). While they cover a nice range of cuisines, including a side with a meal drives the total price much higher. If you're looking to keep the price down, you could get away with sharing an order of fries, as it is a good-sized portion.

Another pricey addition to the menu is the dinner salads. Hank's offers a nice variety of salads, such as greens topped with yellowfin tuna, carrot and wasabi peas ($14.99). While this isn't an exorbitant price for yellowfin tuna, the mixed greens with grilled chicken costs $12.99, a much harder pill to swallow.

For those looking to try the restaurant in a budget-conscious way, Hank's offers happy hour prices on the burger ($5) and chicken wing appetizer ($6, normally $9.99). This special runs from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. every day and all night Tuesday. Of course, it wouldn't be happy hour without drink specials, as well. Budweiser and Natural Bohemian cans are $2, and margaritas are $3.

Despite slightly higher prices than what you might get at a national chain, the food is definitely of higher quality than at those places. Hank's gets most of its dishes right, and everything is tasty, making Hank's a good place to stop before or after a movie.

tripp.laino@yahoo.com

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars