text: We ate at Mattie's Diner on Saturday on a break from the All Ale to the Queen Beer Carnival that was going on at the Music Factory. I had planned to eat at the event but the available food turned out to be a plate of BBQ slop and beans or some fancy Panda Express. I opted for neither, but I was starving, so my husband and I popped across the street for some diner food. I'd never been to Mattie's before but had been near it several times. Pretty much every time we would go to a show at the Fillmore, we'd park next to the diner and think hey, maybe we should eat there some time. Diners are good for greasy, unhealthy but totally delicious food, right? So this was finally the right occasion and boy was I hungry. \n\nWe sat outside because it was a nice spring day. My only complaint about the outside seating area was the amount of cigarette butts littering the ground. Kind of gross when I'm there to eat. Our server was friendly and brought us drinks pretty quickly. Another couple was seated outside and had the cutest dog, so that kept me entertained while we waited. We each got a burger. I asked if they cooked their burgers to temperature and the response was that they had to be at least medium well. I was curious about this. I know diner burgers are usually kind of standard and aren't usually cooked to temp so I wasn't surprised that they didn't do this, but I was surprised that he specified that they HAD to be med well or more. Is that a testament to the quality of meat? Or was it just that the server, working in a diner, didn't really know all that much about meat temps? I decided not to dwell on it and just accept my burger as it was and hope for the best.\n\nThe burgers weren't bad. They weren't great or anywhere near Bad Daddy's level, but they certainly did the trick for two super hungry patrons. I did have a cheese malfunction when I lifted the top bun to add ketchup and the entire piece of melted cheese went with it and then settled back on the burger in a small pile of cheesy mess that probably would've tasted good if it actually covered the entire burger. As it was, I ended up with more of a hamburger after the cheese malfunction and found the experience lacking in that way. The fries were ok. They were the sort of fries that were better if you get a small crispy one than a larger kind of soggy one. No seasoning to speak of, but not bad with added salt and dipped in ketchup.\n\nI'm giving Mattie's 3 stars. It was solid in that I got just about what I expected. It's always nice when you're surprised and blown away but sometimes it's also nice just to get a decent burger when you're starving.