Burger Mania – a Full-Service Fast-Food Restaurant

Burger Mania crew (l to r) Dimitrios Douvikas, Maria Delgado and co-owners Dina and Vasily Katsafados

Customers arrive as early as 6 a.m. at Burger Mania to order any of a variety of egg breakfasts, from hash browns to bacon, sausage, ham, steak and polish sausage. There’s even a burger patty and eggs dish. A combination of American and Mexican cuisine rounds out the menu for lunch and dinner.

Construction activities for the Omnitrans E Street Corridor sbX Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project have been in full swing since February at the intersection of North Mall Way in San Bernardino, but that doesn’t stop the regulars, 80 percent of whom co-owner Dina Katsafados said she knows by name.

With only 25 parking spaces, soon the ‘Mania faithful will have another way to get there, with a transit station to be built just 200 feet from the entrance.

Dina Katsafados manages the store with her husband Vasily. They bought the former Del Taco building at 930 S. E St. in 2009, with the intent of it becoming a fixture in the community. The couple has made the city their home and even hosts a classic car show on the fourth Saturday of each month in their parking lot.

“I’ve been in the restaurant business since I was 8,” she said. “I bused tables, cleaned floors, I did it all, for just about every type of fast-food and sit-down restaurant. Fast food lacks personality, that hospitable feel. I wanted to do something different and make it my own, so I found a niche in the market – a full-service experience at a fast-food price.”

–David Rutherford

Editor’s Note: Each month, the sbXpress newsletter will include a profile of a business in the construction zones along the corridor. If you would like to be considered for a profile, please contact us via email at sbXnews@omnitrans.org or call the project helpline (855) sbX-NEWS.

Burger Mania co-owners Vasily and Dina Katsafados