The food was very good, but the horrible service really soured the dining experience. Once seated, our table waited for 20 minutes, and not one person came over to even offer to take our drink order. One of our party went over to a manager and was told that it was a shift change. No excuse. The food came quickly, but nobody checked on us even once. We had to flag down someone for our check, too. If we decide to go again, it will definitely be for take-out.

I won't be giving my dollars to Mark Wahlberg, a man who has committed heinous acts of racism and violence. His actions and words are well-documented.

I’m not interested in vapid Hollywood celebrities, nor their investments designed to hook the general public.
A great chef and a great restaurant is more worthy of patronage by Palo Altans.

I guess there's no basic reason why a restaurant chain financed by and named after a former, only moderately repentant immigrant-beater turned entertainment celebrity (per earlier comments on this site: Web Link ) couldn't make great burgers.

After all, some years back, Martin Yan, who'd been a fashionable TV chef and did have a long career in food, was asked at a reception what sort of menu would appear at a new restaurant chain named for him, and he answered with great good humor that he really had no idea, he'd just accepted an offer to pay for use of his name.

Still the stigma factor may affect some customers' appetites, regardless of the product. Wahlberg's felony conviction was for attacking Vietnamese immigrants, Web Link of whom one of the world's largest communities is here in Santa Clara County.

@Lucy, who posted: "I won't be giving my dollars to Mark Wahlberg, a man who has committed heinous acts of racism and violence. His actions and words are well-documented."

There are racists and sexists everywhere, just some hide it better. You don't know all the CEOs and managers of every business. I think the Clintons are sexist and racist, they just hide it better.

Jenny -- if the Clintons open a restaurant, it's your choice not to go there.

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As has been pointed out, there are LOTS of hamburger places in Palo Alto.

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My favorite is Smashburgers at the SJC airport. Too bad it's behind the security screening. And no, they have no party affiliation that I know of, just the juiciest burgers with awesome buns.

Who cares who owns what burger joint? Don't have a cow, man. Quality and service take precedence over politics as far as I am concerned.

And what about the Creamery? Their burgers are like the rest of their food - excellent.

Donster -- it's not Mark Wahlberg's politics, it's his actions. He's a thug who went to prison because he tried to kill 5 people, on separate occasions, because he didn't like the color of their skin. On one occasion, he said he needs to apologize for his bad movies rather than his assaults.

Exactly, neighbor. I think Jenny, above, got distracted on a political soapbox -- I don't even have much argument with her politics -- but apparently she missed the public info in my 2016 comment linked above, on the blog post where this new business was first announced (a more direct link just to that comment: Web Link ).

Jenny wrote "There are plenty of bullies who regret their childhood behavior" -- but that's *precisely* what didn't happen here (my point since 2016)! Some bullies reform dramatically and turn to a life of good works. But the Wikipedia bio quotes Wahlberg expressing more interest in having gotten past his personal sense of guilt than in the well-being of his past victims. (Typical of Hollywood, by the way.)

"Donster -- it's not Mark Wahlberg's politics, it's his actions. He's a thug who went to prison because he tried to kill 5 people, on separate occasions, because he didn't like the color of their skin. On one occasion, he said he needs to apologize for his bad movies rather than his assaults."

Donnie and Paul Wahlberg are also co-owners of Wahlburgers. To the best of my knowledge, they were not involved in any of the offences. So one reason not to eat there and two reasons to eat there.

In addition to Mark's unprovoked violent attacks on black and Vietnamese people, brother Donnie Wahlberg set fire to a hotel for laughs. Note that 4 of the Wahlberg brothers and 1 sister ALL served prison sentences for violent crimes.

It seems that brother Paul, the chef, is not a thug however. But he may have may a bad business decision by trading on the family name. The restaurant chain is close to bankruptcy.....doubtful if they'll be open for a long time.

As I said, lots of other choices in Palo Alto.

@Eater: Thank you for your polite response and informative posting. Another digression: How did you get the direct link to your actual posting? That's really neat.

Jenny: I happened to save the direct link after I posted the comment. Comments to the blog pages produce new individual links like that. You can see the URL in the address line of the browser you posted from, and save it if you choose to.

"It seems that brother Paul, the chef, is not a thug however. But he may have may a bad business decision by trading on the family name. The restaurant chain is close to bankruptcy.....doubtful if they'll be open for a long time."

Some troubled and violent pasts, hopefully ways long since mended. But you are right. That corner location does seem to have a high turnover. The restaurants in Downtown are dropping like flies.

"As I said, lots of other choices in Palo Alto."

And probably best to avoid the burger joints altogether. Hamburgers are really unhealthy regardless of who owns the joint.

@Eater: Thanks!