Tantalizing. Palatable. Sharp.

Hi-Pointe Drive-In has been known to encompass of all these.

Hi-Pointe is one of the many new restaurants in Trace Parkway, located next to Kimchi Guys and Nothing Bundt Cakes.

Known for famous smash burgers, creative sandwiches and an impressive shake menu, Hi-Pointe has developed six successful locations in the St. Louis area, with Edwardsville aiming to be the seventh.

The original location opened just off of Highway 40 in 1980, as a small, family-owned drive-in, according to the Hi-Pointe website.

The set-up of the restaurant is fast-casual and the line to order will likely extend out of the front door, multiple days a week. Even in all the chaos, the grill continues sizzling and your food is placed in front of you in no time.

As a non-beef eater, I looked forward to the highly praised Impossible patty, which I paired with the Cowboy Burger.

An Impossible burger would never be my first choice at another restaurant. Normally I’d opt for the chicken sandwiches, or even a salad. But I’ll never make that mistake at Hi-Pointe. To not order a burger would be a disgrace to their line of delectable, hearty food.

Aside from that, the Mac N’ Cheese was nothing special. It was rich, but not worth four dollars for how little I got.

Now, if you want to stay traditional in the realm of “burger sides,” you must order the fries. Hi-Pointe serves hand-cut Belgian-style fries, which have a salted, crisp exterior and a perfectly soft, hot interior.

The fries were, by far, my favorite part of the meal.

In addition to having a mouth-watering effect on consumers, the prices are seemingly just as attractive.

…until you get your receipt.

The most expensive dish on the menu is the Griddled Salmon salad at 15 dollars and the burgers are fairly priced, at an average of 10 dollars. But if you are planning on ordering a traditional meal, your bill will definitely exceed 25 dollars.

The price of the shakes made my eyes go wide, though. All of the shakes range from six to seven dollars apiece, and even though that may be typical of ice cream everywhere, it still made my wallet hurt just a tiny bit.

And it wasn’t exactly worth it.

Although the presentation was slightly above average, the taste of the shake wasn’t. The S’mores shake was completely overrated and tasted oddly similar to store bought vanilla ice cream blended with Hershey’s syrup.

Outside of the food, I didn’t feel like the atmosphere was anything special.

The restaurant is in a good location, it just felt a little bare on the inside. More decor, more color and more seating could benefit this restaurant in an exceptional way. The ambiance was completely different during the day than at night, so if you were to go, I suggest doing so for dinner.

Overall, I could see myself going back here. But would I ever be the one to suggest it? Probably not.

I’m happy to see food joints like these making their way into Edwardsville, but this one was completely overrated.