Southern Pines finally got a Target (after 20 years of trying!) and with our Target shopping center came retail space for restaurants (yay!). I love a good burger, so I was excited to see that we were getting a Chargrilled Burger Bar (Habit). We signed up for the email list and began to count down the days until opening.
One of my favorite Facebook Groups is MooreFoodies and this is where I saw that Habit was having a soft opening prior to their hard launch. Habit was giving away a free burger, fries, and drink to the first 200 people to show up for lunch or dinner two days prior to their grand opening.
I had that Tuesday off and I headed to Habit to taste the new bite in town. The soft opening was the best soft opening I have experienced. There was a neat orderly line and an employee handing out fliers about which meals you could order. They were doing this for practice so in addition to the burgers some lucky people got a “fan favorite” flier and they could pick from a variety of options. The person in front of me in line got this flier and she tried the Cobb salad and Tempura Green Beans. She had also eaten the burger from going to the soft opening the night before.
The location is very nice and they have behind the counter ordering or they also have kiosks. I tried the burger and added cheese. I was asked if I wanted dipping sauce for my fries and I chose to add ranch, the other sauces were teriyaki, sweet mustard, spicy red pepper sauce, and bbq sauce. Once I ordered I went to get my tea, they had strawberry limeade and hibiscus. I went with limeade because I don’t like sweets. It was delicious! They also have a condiment bar where you can add peperoncinis , pickled vegetables, or jalapeños.
I got my burger and fries very quickly and excitedly drove home to dig in.
My fries came in a boat and they were perfectly seasoned with salt, I really didn’t need any dipping sauce as they were perfect. My burger was wrapped in paper and that helped it be less messy as it was juicy and perfectly executed. I will definitely be going back.
Again, this was one of the best soft openings I have ever seen. The restaurant owner allowed the staff to experience 200 people ordering food at different timings with different items to cook in a steady stream. Kudos to the team and welcome to Southern Pines!
