Mugshots Bar & Grill

To my palette, eating well done burgers is about as gross as eating dirt.  Cook meat till it's grey, smush it till there are no juices left and you have robbed beef of it's flavor.  Sadly, Mug shots only serves burgers cooked to death... grey, lifeless and, well, like dirt.  Now hear me, I know that geophagy is actively practiced around the world and is hailed as healthy, natural and even palliative but that doesn't mean it should be franchised.  To compensate for overly cooked meat, they pile on lots of toppings that sound good but don't help the fact that the key component of the sandwich is ruined.  Properly seasoned, properly cooked meat is the star of a burger not the bun, nor silly names on the menu, the beer selection or anything else.  I swear, McDonald's and Burger King doesn't cook their meat this much.  

I've given mugshots several tries once here and a few times in Birmingham hoping to find the quality that people assure me exists.  Sadly, I just don't get it.  On this trip, I tried their version of a buffalo chicken sandwich.  It was nicely cooked and dressed but their "hot" sauce was mild enough for infants.  It tasted like straight up Texas Pete which is hot sauce for beginners and hardly the "inferno" their menu promised.  Other diners in the group opted for the familiar grey and dry burgers.  My wife asked for med well which is the coolest temp mug shots offers but it was still far past well, gray, dry and not at all what she had ordered.  

A walk to the restroom gave glimpse into a fairly dirty and unprofessional looking kitchen.  It was 3:30 pm on a Friday so there was no excuse for the look of their kitchen.

Back to burgers, if you like well done with nice toppings, sure head to mug shots and you'll probably like it.  If you're into a good, juicy med rare or medium burger that's seasoned properly - stay at home and cook it yourself and avoid the frustration of this place.

Good food, but overpriced. If you don't order within 30 seconds of seeing the menu, expect to wait 15 minutes to see your server again.

It was interesting to see the story about how the founders of Mugshots got started. But somewhere along the way, this particular location has fallen flat on their face.

We go in only to find out that their liquor license had been suspended for serving an underage person. When I inquired about this, the waitress said that this was a fairly regular occurrence. How the hell does this happen even once, let alone regularly? Management needs to be replaced for this reason alone.

Often, you only need to check out the bathrooms of a restaurant in order to determine how that place really is. Needless to say, the bathrooms looked like nobody has cleaned them in a couple of days. It smelled terrible, paper towels were everywhere and it was 'dirty' if you get my drift.

The door to the kitchen also happened to be open and I regret looking in as I walked by. I'm not sure I've seen a dirtier kitchen before (and I've worked in a number of kitchens years ago). It was a Tuesday and not very busy - needless to say, I'd hate to know what it looks like on a busy Friday or Saturday.

While the food itself tasted well, this place is poorly managed. Maybe there is no management in place? I'm sure there are much better places to eat in Starkville and you would be well advised to steer well clear of this place.