Family friendly Foster’s Grille serves up burgers for generations of customers

Haymarket’s causal dining eatery attracts all ages with a menu and atmosphere where families can relax, and kids can be kids

For those who live around Haymarket, Foster’s Grille in the Haymarket Square Plaza, is a community centerpiece, in addition to being a great place to have a casual meal with family or friends in a fun and family friendly environment.

Ever since Foster’s took up residence in the town in 1999, it has been a mainstay for residents around Haymarket, serving a hearty and satisfying selection of its thick charburgers and other sandwiches, wings, sides and salads. While the franchise has expanded into 12 locations in Florida, North Carolina, and Maryland, and Virginia, Haymarket has the distinction of being the flagship restaurant.

The appeal of Foster’s is both its popular menu and its inviting atmosphere. The food offerings, have expanded over the years to include turkey burgers and meatless garden burgers, by demand of health-conscious patrons, and the restaurant continues to serve its standards Philly cheesesteak subs, oven roasted turkey sandwiches and hotdogs. Despite its reputation as a burger joint, Foster’s chicken wings are also hot sellers. The food is complemented by a selection of sodas, extra thick shakes and locally brewed craft beers and Virginia wines, and cookies and brownies for dessert.

Foster’s Grille President Mike Cerny, a 35-year veteran in the restaurant business, says the delicious taste of Foster’s food is owed to the eatery’s dedication to high-quality USA beef with no preservatives, and all-natural, white breast from farm-raised and never-frozen chickens. For those who want to serve Foster’s food off-site, there is a Backyard BBQ catering menu featuring all the favorite foods and fixings of a traditional barbecue.

Fosters generally has a regular flow of customers week nights for happy hours and dinner, but on weekends the restaurant is particularly popular with a its multigenerational customer base of families, groups, couples, and sports teams of all ages. It’s a go-to place for locals to celebrate team victories, birthdays and other special occasions. Because of its location near the Haymarket IcePlex arena, it’s common to see players in hockey garb enjoying post-practice and post-game gatherings.

As the menu has evolved to satisfy the customer base, the ownership has also upped its game in the digital world, by increasing its social media activity, adding big-screen TVs around the restaurant, and launching an app and the ability to order online. For those who prefer the old-fashioned way of ordering, each patron can fill out an order form at the counter and custom build their burger. As a warning to those accustomed to the fast-food protocol of giving the cashier a number for their meal, ordering can get a bit complicated, with many options for fixings and a la carte sides.

While some things have changed at Foster’s, like the removal of the race car that was once suspended from the ceiling – purportedly due to liability reasons, the fast-casual comfort-food menu and relaxed atmosphere, along with kid-friendly attractions, including an arcade game alcove, keep customers coming back, with parents now taking their babies and young children to the place they went to themselves as kids.