Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger

This 1950s-style malt shop is a great place for a business lunch if you don’t mind the Beach Boys blasting through the speakers, cardboard cutouts of the Three Stooges looming over your shoulder and dry hamburgers.

Don’t get us wrong. As far as hamburgers go, these are … well, average. In addition to being average, they’re also big. Sometimes bigger is better. In the case of Cheeburger Cheeburger we’re not so sure that’s true.

Cheeburger Cheeburger is a chain of restaurants based in Sanibel Island, Fla. The Fayetteville eatery opened last spring in part of The Bakery Building in Fayetteville. Another one is planned for Bentonville.

The restaurant is immensely popular with kids — everybody from children up through high schoolers. It’s usually packed with teenagers on weekend nights. Adults also eat there, but we didn’t see any grown-ups trying to conduct business at their tables the day we were there.

All four diners at our table ordered hamburgers or cheeseburgers. Cheeburger Cheeburger has four different sizes of burgers ranging from the quarter-pound sampler ($4) to the “famous pounder,” which is actually 20 ounces ($10).

The restaurant also serves chicken sandwiches (from $3 to $6.50), a grilled chicken salad ($6) and other items.

The verdict was pretty much the same: the burgers were OK, but not great. The fries? Also average and a bit greasy.

The milkshakes, on the other hand, were killer. Two diners at our table had shakes: one chocolate, one hot fudge. Both slurped with delight. Shakes, which come in 11 flavors plus a flavor of the day, are $2 for the small size and $3 for a large.

The service was pretty good. Our burgers hit the table 15 minutes after we ordered them. When one diner asked for a knife to cut hers in half, though, the waitress informed her that she would have to wait until one came out of the dishwasher. The wash cycle must have been about over because the waitress produced knives for everyone at the table a couple of minutes later.

Cheeburger Cheeburger is a good place to go if you have kids, are a kid or just crave ’50s malt shop decor and basic food. Don’t even think about it for a business lunch, though, unless your client is an Elvis impersonator.