Grievous Angel Review | Mike’s Polk Food Quest

For my third stop on Mike’s Polk Food Quest, I visited Grievous Angel Burger in Lakeland ahead of their grand opening.

Last week I gave a well deserved insanely good review to Lovebird Almost Famous Chicken, so it felt fitting that I'd swing by Grievous Angel next.

(Grievous Angel is the third Polk County restaurant from Lakeland native Jeremy Brumley and his wife Leah; the duo behind both Lovebird locations in Lakeland and Winter Haven.)

By the way, if you're new here, the concept of my Polk Food Quest is simple: every week I try a local spot, order the most common thing people get, try a few extras, and rank it on taste, value, vibes, and overall.

This week: Burgers.

Which means I ordered a classic cheeseburger as my main dish.

After sharing our some new Best Food In Polk articles (best pizza in Winter Haven and best coffee in Lakeland) I decided to mix it up again and have what turned out to potentially be the best burgers in Polk County.

Taste: 4.5/5

After reviewing Lovebird last week, it's almost hard to review anything else (even when it's owned by the same person, like Grievous Angel...).

I want to start by saying this:

I tried THREE different burgers: The Weekend Hero, The Grievous Angel and Somewhere In Texas.

And each burger was incredible. 

That said, the taste section itself is based purely on the standard item for each category — and for burgers that means a standard (or closest to a standard) cheeseburger.

That means the overall taste ranking is based on The Weekend Hero. 

But I'd like to give some additional thoughts on taste as well.

The Weekend Hero: 4.5/5.

All of the burgers were incredible. I don't think you can go wrong. 

The egg rolls, poor man's beignets and cowboy caviar? 

I could probably have passed on all of them and just ate the burger and fries.

I will definitely be trying other sides, but that was my first impression of what I've tried thus far, and it was a lot different than what I've been made used to from Lovebird.

Value: 4.5/5

Grievous Angel falls right in between the two places I've gone for my Polk Food Quest so far (Lovebird and Gaskins BBQ). 

Lovebird was about ~$15–$20 per person, Gaskins around ~$20–$30 per person, and now I listed Grievous Angel was around ~$15–$25 per person.

You can grab a burger and fries and be happy — but the menu items skew a few dollars more than Lovebird — for what I thought was less value (due to Lovebird just being absolutely incredible; to the point where I said I'd give it a 6/5 if I could).

That said, the value is still there because Grievous Angel was still great when you factor in how good it was, the location, and the vibes.

Quick reminder if you missed it above, here's what we ordered:

• What I ordered: Weekend Hero, The Grievous Angel, Fries, Egg Rolls & Poor Man's Beignets 
• Extra Order (Wife/Katie's Order):  Somewhere In Texas, Cowboy Caviar and Fries

Grievous Angel is getting a 4.5/5 for Value as well.

Vibes: 5/5 

The service at Grievous Angel was as good as Lovebird (which is something I raved about in my review), if not better [likely due to being ahead of the grand opening), so giving it a 5/5 on vibes is pretty easy.

While Lovebird is in Downtown Lakeland and very accessible, it's still in a spot where you're not walking to it while hanging out in Downtown due to being across the main road and a little out of where you'd safely walk.

That said, Grievous Angel is in a perfect spot, right by The Joinery and Lake Mirror and a quick walk from Downtown Lakeland.

So you throw this in with the fact that the service is incredible, the branding is just as fun as Lovebird, and the place is clean and everything you'd want from a great QSR — and it's a no brainer.

As I stated at the top of the article: Lovebirds is the gold standard. 

Like Lovebird, this is not a sit down, fine-dining, fancy restaurant. 

This is, however, another one of the better (I said one of the BEST for Lovebird) quick-service restaurants you will walk into, though. 

Here's how I'd sum up this edition of Mike's Polk Food Quest:

Grievous Angel is somewhere that we will make a regular stop when we're in the mood for a burger and fries, but I'm eager to try out a few more of the sides being that they missed the mark for me a bit on our first go. 

Hey!

I want to know what you think of Grievous Angel.

Leave a comment below.

The more you share, the better, but anything is appreciated.

Each comment helps The Best Of Polk articles and eventually, the yearly awards!

Have a place you want me to try? 

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