"I spent my Friday evening getting sloshed in a grocery store 's pub. No, this isn 't my half-assed audition to write for VICE Munchies, but rather my reflection on the surprise when I discovered one could plan meals in lieu of binge drinking/eating at restaurants, only to end up doing the same in-store. I need an adult. Twenty Highland, with its conspicuously local name, seeks to quickly make you forget that you are indeed what 's a makeshift chain restaurant enjoying Whole Foods cuisine. Of course, I use the word enjoying loosely. I have literally never shopped at WF before, so this won 't be a biased review. This place blows. From the moment we walked in, we were told to seat ourselves, and that someone would be right with us. That individual didn 't relay this message when he left to what I assume was the hot foods area. As a result, we spent 15 minutes awkwardly watching other groups greeted by employee #2. We were not paid attention to until after retrieving menus for ourselves. Because we first-time diners didn 't know exactly what we wanted right away, I just grabbed a beer, while our just a minute turned into another awkward 20+ minutes of waiting for a waiter again. Between the lack of spacial awareness, and embarrassingly poor time management, I get the vibe that these guys are just regular grocery store deli employees with no real service experience. It shows. Clumsy and slow, this endeavor works about as smoothly as that time McDonald 's thought they could churn out competent baristas. OK, let 's talk about the food! $10 goes rather far here, as it can get you a local beer (that 's like a $5 value! a heaping order of fries, and for right now, a burger. Not just any ordinary burger, but the Better Burger . It gets its name from being cut with mushrooms, which reduces caloric intake while being better for the environment. I like burgers, and I like mushroom burgers, so of course I had to give it a shot. It was bland, bland, bland. High quality provolone, but garlic aioli was nonexistent, and probably forgotten altogether. Burger was equally tasteless, but what 's more offensive was the very mushy texture that tasted faintly of meat with tasteless filler. If soylent green were real, I 'd imagine this is what it would taste like. Portobello fries had a nice texture, but were completely worthless without the generous serving of mushroom dipping sauce. My dining companion appreciated the quality of sushi, but notes that a 4 pieces per order, she 'd rather pay more and get more. She also said it was cut awkwardly and difficult to eat, a sentiment echoed in the 2-star review from our glorious community manager. The cocktails seem good, just know that they 're not made with spirits so you 're paying like $7 for spruced up wine and beer. The atmosphere is kind of awkward. Either you 're watching ESPN, which is totally cool, or staring out into the aisles and registers making accidental eye contact with all the ripped customers from the adjacent LA fitness who are in better shape than you in part because they 're not eating a gigantic burger...not that I 'm feeling insecure or anything! Overall, the saving grace is that food here is inexpensive...but even then there 's no incentive to order it here when there 's already a hot foods section of the store. And if you 're going to have a quick pint, is this seriously going to be your go-to spot? I think that if you 're a big WF shopper to begin with, this is a really cool addition to pregame with a pint. Otherwise, why are you here? Go to a real bar and grill."
