ELEVATION BURGER - MARYLAND HOUSE, MARYLAND

It was a road trip from hell. The traffic was insufferable, we were both car weary, famished for something good to eat and the GPS was offering us nothing exciting to detour toward. When we reached the Maryland House, one of the I-95 Travel Plazas, I was determined to find something other than chips and soda pop for us to eat.

Recently renovated, the new 42,000 square-foot facility features food from Deli & Co., Wendy's, Phillips Seafood, Dunkin' Donuts, Jerry's Subs & Pizza, Currito, Nathan's Famous, Auntie Anne's and Carvel. There's also a  new 5,700 square-foot A-Plus convenience store at the Sunoco high-speed fueling station which features food from Elevation Burger.

Elevation Burger is an American fast casual restaurant chain which features burgers made of organic meat, fresh cut French fries cooked in olive oil, a burger that can be made with as many as ten patties  - a vertigo burger, two kinds of veggie burger and hand-blended milkshakes made from hand-scooped ice cream.

So, this was not bad. We both ordered the elevation burger which was two patties, lettuce, tomato, and their special elevation sauce. There wasn't enough special sauce for Big Daddy so he added mayo to his. But the burger was really quite tasty and had great flavor. I found the fries slightly greasy and it surprised me because they're supposed to be fried in olive oil, but I think it was because they needed to drain a minute or two longer but their was a crowd and lengthy line and the two young men working were trying hard to keep up and keep the customers happy.

We both know that it will never be our go-to burger place but we would stop again if we needed to. I've heard that reviews are mixed about the food chain but it would seem that most of this has to do with the service and necessarily the quality of the food. We had a great experience, excellent service for a rest stop and no complaints.