The exterior does look a little too much like a suburban shopping center, but the interior is quite nice. Salina's Cozy Inn sells hamburgers by the sack. The tiny burgers are prepared on the same 85 year old grill used since the restaurant opened in 1922. The tiny restaurant has only 6 seats along an old counter covered with news clippings about the Cozy Inn from over many years. The interior of the restaurant always smells like hamburger and onions, so if you don't care to smell the same, you should use the walkup window. The Cozy Inn serves all of their burgers with onions and they do not offer cheese. Tradition is that an employee was once fired for adding cheese. The burgers are 79 cents each, with doubles a $1.30. The only items sold in the Cozy Inn are 90% lean hamburgers, potato ships, soda, coffee hot chocolate and Cozy Inn souvenirs. Purchased by the sack, the burgers are unwrapped, just stacked in the Cozy Inn brown paper sack. The original owners once tried replacing the tiny, 18 by 36 inch cast iron grill with a new grill. But the regulars complained that the hamburgers just didn't taste the same, and they had to bring the old one back. The Cozy Inn changed hands a few years ago. The new owner kept things much the same, except the hamburgers are now a little bigger: 16 to the pound, down from 25. Open 11-8 Monday-Friday, 10-9 on Saturday and Sunday. The Cozy Inn also ships frozen burgers.
copyright 2002-2007 by Keith Stokes |
