Armando’s Chester Frost is a popular spot in Hixson for burgers, fries, and just about every sort of sandwich you can imagine.
Can you guys believe I’ve been writing this blog for 5 1/2 years now? When you write a blog for that long, sometimes you need to write about things more than once. This is the case particularly when you realize that you wrote some restaurant posts and didn’t even include pictures, like I neglected to do when I wrote my original Armando’s Chester Frost post. So…once a month, I’ll be writing a “revisit” post to update you all on a restaurant that I wrote about many moons ago.
With the “gas shortage” last week, Philip and I were trying to conserve gas and stay in Hixson. I drive a lot for work, and if I ran out of gas and wasn’t able to get more (as most of the gas stations in our area did run out at some point), then I was going to have to stay parked in one spot, which makes being itinerant a bit of a challenge. We decided to head just a few miles down the road and eat at Armando’s Chester Frost – the final decision to go there instead of Biba’s or El Metate being made because of the lack of pictures.
Armando’s Chester Frost has been around for as long as I can remember (my family never went there when I was a kid, but I remember going there with a friend when I was probably 9 or 10). It hasn’t changed much, though – still teeny inside, dark with wood paneling. The menu board is pretty retro with those push-pin black and red letters. I am sure they’ve made additions to their menu over the years, but all the classics are still there.
I’m usually a burger girl when I go to Armando’s Chester Frost, but since I knew that Philip would order a burger I decided to get my second favorite, the deluxe grilled cheese. This is a monster grilled cheese – a triple decker. Between the first two slices of bread are bits of ham, bacon, and roast beef and melty Swiss, American, and Cheddar cheese. Between the middle slice and the top slice lies lettuce, tomato, onion, and mayo. I, of course, opted to forego the onion. The deluxe grilled cheese is not for the faint of heart or the dainty eaters…it’s challenging to take a bite, to say the least. I don’t care about getting a little messy, though, as long as the food is delicious, and this grilled cheese did not disappoint. The bread was crunchy and buttery and all the fillings make a perfect savory, melty, gooey treat. We opted to split an order of onion rings. I’m not convinced that the onion rings at Armando’s Chester Frost are homemade, but they’re good – battered instead of breaded, and a little bit sweet. I do highly recommend the fripps (homemade chips).
As I predicted, Philip went for the cheeseburger all the way. It’s a pretty classic cheeseburger – hand-formed patty with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, ketchup, mayo, and mustard on a soft bun. I have never been disappointed by a burger from Armando’s Chester Frost. This one was no exception – Philip remarked that it was exceptionally juicy. He decided to order a chocolate malt as well. The malts and shakes are handmade by the girls who wait the tables and run the register. The malt was creamy and chocolatey, and personally I thought it was pretty malty, but Philip would have liked to have had more malt.
Armando’s Chester Frost is a neighborhood favorite around here.
I don’t think they’re going anywhere soon – why would they when they’re always overflowing at lunch and dinner with customers dining in or picking up t0-go orders? With their menu of classic homemade fast food favorites and their friendly staff, it’s easy to see why they’re so popular.
Armando’s Chester Frost is located at 7330 Hixson Pike, Hixson, TN 37343, for dine-in and drive-thru. Call in your orders at 423-842-0479. While the Facebook page for Armando’s Chester Frost lists a website, the website is not currently functional.
Original Post:
So, this was the night that I realized that, aside from a Lean Cuisine that I ate alone on my couch one night before logging in for my online class, every meal that I had eaten for a solid week (aside from my yogurt or smoothie breakfasts) had been from a restaurant. Even lunches had been leftovers. I had offered to cook at my parents’ house, but my mom didn’t have anything specific planned to cook, so she suggested Armando’s. I love Armando’s but I actually called her back and asked if she wanted to come to my house….I had all the ingredients to make spaghetti carbonara and thought for sure that I might implode if I ate one more restaurant meal. Alas, she had already asked my brother to meet us….so on I went.
Armando’s at Chester Frost Park has been around for years and years. I can remember the first time I went there with a friend in elementary school. My family lives in deep Soddy, so this wasn’t somewhere we came (we were more JJ’s type people….but JJ’s doesn’t exist anymore!). Interestingly, Philip and I have lived in the Dallas Bay area for nine years now, and I think we have only gone to Armando’s once. Why? Because it’s hit or miss with the crowd. You can go there and get your food immediately, or you can go there when they are packed out with a long line at their drive-thru and wait, wait, wait. This is certainly not a bad reflection on them. They must be doing something right! We just aren’t much on crowds or waiting (Philip especially).
This night, however, I don’t know if we just got there at a good time or if we just got lucky, but there were maybe four or five tables taken in the restaurant (of course, it’s tiny, so there are probably only about 10 tables altogether) and a car or two in the drive-thru. We walked right up and ordered, and our food was out within 10 minutes. My mom and I ordered a cheeseburger and fries to split, and my brother ordered a grilled chicken sandwich and tater tots.
Armando’s food is your basic hamburger stand kind of food….burgers, fries, onion rings, tots, chicken sandwiches, grilled cheese, now salads, and so on. I’m pretty sure they have milkshakes, too. I loved that there was a note on their menu board that said something along the lines of: “Don’t see what you want? Ask us. Maybe we can make it.” Now that’s keeping the people happy! It’s family-owned, and there are several Armando’s locations around the Chattanooga area but they are all owned by different people and have variations on their menus.
The cheeseburger that my mom and I split was huge and half was plenty for me. It was just basic with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, pickle. I, of course, took the onion off because raw onions are the worst in my opinion. The fries….they are probably frozen, I don’t know, but Armando’s doesn’t really claim to be 100% superfresh and I’m not judging. They were hot and pretty tasty, although fries at places like that never seem salty enough to me so I always salt them a little. I also ate a couple of tots out of my brother’s basket, and they were pretty good too, although I’m really not so much of a tots kind of girl. He felt like there was a little too much mayo on his grilled chicken sandwich, but I probably would have been fine with the amount of mayo. That’s just a personal preference kind of thing.
I really like the food at Armando’s. It’s not likely that I’m ever going to become a regular due to the reasons stated above, but it’s definitely a place to go to get a tasty burger or sandwich. They don’t have a website but you can find them at 7330 Hixson Pike, Hixson, TN 37343, for dine-in and drive-thru. Call in your orders at 423-842-0479.
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