Here’s a new burger restaurant with low prices and reminders of a Fort Worth favorite
It took 20 years, but Grumps Burgers has come back home.
When the first Grumps opened in Granbury, owner Collier Albright said he wanted to open a casual and comfortable restaurant that felt like the old Billy Miner’s Saloon that closed 12 years ago in downtown Fort Worth.
Two decades later, he owns six Grumps locations stretching as far west as Abilene.
Finally, Albright has opened a location here. The newest Grumps is in a former chicken stand at 5300 River Oaks Blvd., on the corner at Roberts Cut Off Road.
In a time when diners want to save money, Grumps is part of a west side burger boom, along with the new location of Fred’s Texas Cafe and established favorites J’s Casa Burger and Tommy’s Burgers + Brews.
The new Grumps is decorated with photos and signs that Albright bought in 2010, when the McMullin family closed their Billy Miner’s Sundance Square anchor location. That restaurant had operated 27 years with an old-time pub decor and photos of 20th-century Canadian outlaw Bill Miner.
Grumps isn’t Billy Miner’s, but it does serve similar half- or quarter-pound burgers, fries, queso, Blue Bell ice cream and baskets of complimentary peanuts, along with pure-cane sugar sodas from 130-year-old Dublin Bottling.
Of course, there’s plenty of fried food — onion rings, sweet potato fries and house-made chips.
Starting at $4.49 for a basic half-pound burger — or only $5.99 for a child/senior quarter-pound burger combo with fries and a drink — Grumps is cheaper than most burger stands.
The decor?
Just say it makes Fred’s look fancy.
The former chicken stand has been expanded into a cavernous dining room with an L-shaped porch including old bar tables from Billy Miner’s, plus an outdoor patio.
Albright describes Grumps with the words “simple,” “friendly” and “a community place.”
The small-town tradition fits perfectly in River Oaks, a 1950s suburb in the middle of a boom thanks to the River District development nearby in Fort Worth.
“We just lucked into this place,” Albright said. “River Oaks still has that small-town charm, but it has big-city amenities. People here are great.”
Grumps serves lunch and dinner daily except Sunday; grumpsburgers.com
This story was originally published May 11, 2022 at 5:45 AM.
