Pilchuck Drive In

This is an update on 12÷26÷15:
The food is normally fantastic but the service here is terrible. I encounter either a snooty or grumpy young lady EVERY TIME! This will be my last visit. It’s a shame, the shakes and food is great.

All the food here is mouth watering! I crave the onion rings and burgers all the time. The history of this place makes it feel like one of the last few genuine burger joints in existence. I would give them 5 stars but they need to keep the lobby a little cleaner. It needs a detail.

I like the food here, but now I think I might get sick. My burger was cooked medium rare. I was told not to worry. That it happens all the time, their grills have a habit of shutting off automatically. That people eat steak medium rare all the time. WTF, ground beef is not steak! Do they have a health cards here? I don’t appreciate them putting my health at risk.

Burgers are pretty good! Service isn’t too great but what do you expect… Not my favorite place but I’ve been there a couple times.

I’ve read the reviews and am not swayed away from my own very positive impression of this place. I love small town restaurants that offer good value. Some don’t and they make me mad. This place does and made me happy. Sure, the décor isn’t so great but the food is good. I like my food a bit spicier and more complex but most people don’t. This place offers the iconic American fast food and it’s really tasty. Not fancy, mind you. But really tasty. I can understand why it’s been around so long.

Great old time style burgers. Great chocolate shakes love it. There are times you just want the pickled onion mayo old style burger. One of our favorites

This place is in the running for my favorite burger in Washington. It’s just a simple, greasy, yummy, old fashioned burger. I took one star away for the condition of the restaurant itself. Other reviewers who mentioned the state of the restaurant had valid points. Just clean up a bit and fix your tables and you’ll get that last start from me.

I dont understand how this place has gotten any good reviews. They are expensive and the food is just gross. I ordered onion rings that dont come with sauce after i paid with my card so i had to run to the car to find 50 cents. When i bought the tarter sauce they look it out of a bucket not even on ice, which is against health code. Tarter sitting in 90 degree weather thats just asking for food poisoning. So after all that trouble i ate burnt sauceless rings. Employees were rude and when you order look where they make your food, dirtiest restraunt I’ve ever seen. Idk how they pass a health inspection. I wont be back.

They’re milkshakes are amazing. The food was really good too, nothing that sets it apart from any other drive in though. We had the bacon burger I would recommend that.

WILL YOU GUYS PLEASE MIX YOUR MILKSHAKES WELL! I ordered a peanut butter milkshake and the top was vanilla ice cream and the bottom was warm peanut butter… Gross. I understand that peanut butter is hard to mix in… But it’s like they didn’t even try.

Burger OK. Last few times I got to go the burgers only had lettuce and mustard. Not sure who dressed but a bit lacking. Fries are always soggy. Shakes good. Bit high priced I think compared to other good burger joints.

Great food, down home local feel nothing like a fast food joint. This place has amazing shakes and food and we love to go when we’re in snohomish. The only compliant is I wish the parking was bigger! Well worth it though!

I really liked the burger and fries but the building and interior are awful. Every table was wobbly, not just a little, I mean the whole table/​tables wobbled up and down side to side an inch or two. Very uncomfortable to sit and eat while your trying to avoid knocking your food and drinks over every time you touch the table.
If your getting it to go, no problem, 4 stars, the rest though knocked it down to a two.

Burgers are thin, over cooked and dry, milkshakes are too thick and they have no milk but have milkshakes? My daughter asked for milk but they said they didn’t have any… not sure about that one! I expected a lot more but it’s disappointing. Also, I love ANY fries. These were pretty pathetic (and were extra). If you want a better burger for a cheaper price, go to Wendy’s or Burger King. We paid Five Guys prices and it didn’t even come close. I won’t be back.

Pretty good food, best fried mushrooms around. The onion rings were not so great. I got a blackberry milkshake and it was amazing. We also ordered 2 bacon cheeseburgers, the sauce was pretty good, they weren’t the best I have ever eaten but they were very good.
I would recommend a sign in the drive thru for where you order at. We had never been there and it was raining so our window was us up, the poor. guy had to yell at us so we could hear he was trying to take our order. I’m sure we are not the first, but we will forever laugh at ourselves because he was probably trying to take our order for a couple minutes.
I loved that it was still a little retro looking. We stopped in on our way back from a trip to leavenworth.

A local shopkeeper recommended this place to me. We had fast friendly service and really where happy with our burgers. Good selections of milk shake flavors, burgers and sides. Really enjoyed the fried mushrooms and fries. Good prices for the quality.

Wow, this place is great. I discovered this place on my way to the Snohomish Aquatic Center and it makes me wish I had been to this pool sooner.
The burgers are great with good juicy flavor and plenty of good toppings. The shakes are good and thick just how I like them. What really put them over the top for me is their onion rings. They make some really good crispy onion rings. I go a lot of places I go I end up with soggy and floppy onion rings, but not here. Here you get fresh and crispy onion rings every time!

This little dive bar of a drive-​thru/​independent food restaurant is the kind of place every small town should have. I’ve lived away from my hometown for years now, but a stop at Pilchuck is always on my list to-​do when I’m back.
The food is pretty typical fast food, satisfying and greasy with sweaty buns in foil. The star of the show are the shakes. They’ve got close to 20 flavors with the chocolate peanut butter being my undisputed decadent favorite. It’s so thick you’ll happily struggle with it throughout the meal to get it all down.
If you have a little time, forget eating inside and head down to the nearby riverside park for a meal. There are picnic benches and soccer fields and all-​around glorious Americana.

I have lived in the area since 1985… and have been going to pilchuck for many many years… a recent visit has me very concerned and it WILL BE MY LAST!
I went to the pilchuck a few days ago with my dad… I had bacon cheese burger, onioRings and Tatar…
I gave the teenager at the cash register a100.00 bill. the meal was just under 10.00 …she handed me my change and receipt with my order number…
Not thinking anything about it… just shoved it in my pocket… I grew up around here… maybe to trusting… or maybe thought someone running a till can count!
Anywaythey call my order… I give them my ticket and eat my meal… burger was good. onion rings burnt… meal was ok
Now this is the problem… after leaving I realize that the girl at the cash register made a mistake making change… shorted me 20.00
So the next morning when they opened I call and spoke to a man on the phone and explained the situation… he took my name and number and said he’d call me back… he also asked if I had my receipt… well no I Gabe it to the girl when I got my meal… but I told him my order and my order number… I also told him I wasn’t trying to’scam’ 20.00 …I just figured I would call and explain the situation…
I figured being a local owned business that’s been around for a real long time would take care of a long time customer… and it was only 20.00
Well I guess I am wrong… no call back… no solution…
So either… IN MY OPINION
either the people working their can’t count, make change, do simple math and aren’t qualified OR someone is «skimming»
Either way a recipe for bad business and sh#t customer service
I would not recommend or patron this business… if they don’t care enough to follow up and correct mistakes… then in my opinion they don’t care… I have ran companies for years… and this service would never happen with my staff our team
And after reading other reviews it seems like I am not the first to have bad experience with regards to service…

The Pilchuck has been in Snohomish forever, I’ve always meant to try it but just haven’t gotten around to it, until recently that is.
When I think if a drive in I think of juicy super sloppy burgers, the Pilchuck didn’t deny me that pleasure, as the burger was quite yummy. The fried mushrooms weren’t great, kinda mooshy, the fries weren’t krinkle and were just ok. The onion rings were the right choice for a side, I thoroughly enjoyed them. I’ve heard they have amazing milkshakes too, so I’ll go back again and try one and have another burger.
I didn’t go inside so I can’t say much for the environment, we just drove through the drive thru which was pretty speedy.