Big Apple — Restaurant in Wanhua District

TLDR: Decent burger. Pet friendly. Friendly staff. Not really sure how it all ties to New York, but the restaurant does seem to be very pro- America. Confusing menu. Both Big Apple and Mushroom burgers are basically mushroom burgers.

As a transplant from the real Big Apple, I was immediately drawn to the restaurant after a cursory view of nearby burger restaurants during a recent dog walk. Once I arrived at Big Apple, I was immediately greeted by a super eager proprietress introducing the restaurant's compact menu. To my surprise, there wasn't anything that really screamed Big Apple, aka New York City.

While named after the energy of one of the best burger cities in the world, Big Apple's menu offerings were anything but New York City. The main burger, the namesake of the restaurant, was beef burger blend burger patty with a shitake mushroom and the regular burger fixings for about 200-250ntd. I'm still not sure what a Shitake Mushroom burger has to do with New York City? Is it because we often like to push mushrooms on our pizza?

Despite my, or perhaps due to my confusion, I opted for the second option, the Mushroom burger and an order of fries and iced tea. Unfortunately for me, the Iced Tea did not come with Refills.

What arrived at my table was a nice compact burger (i'm using that alot) that didn't scream great food, but it once I took a bite, I was surprised by the amount of flavor that hit my tongue. The burger featured sauted sliced button mushrooms, a thick piece of tomato, what is perhaps cheddar cheese, two beef blend patties, some pickled radish and a big helping of Tartar sauce!

The burger was tasty, but overly greesy and saucy. I used way too many napkins. The fries were perfection! Very well made.

The burger was only good not perfect. If I could, I'd give it a 3.5. This place is also dog friendly! The decor choice of using astro turf instead of carpet or just plain floor was interesting... Would I return? Yes. but not any time in the near near future. My biggest recommendation and biggest gripe, simplify the menu. Despite being small, the menu is hard...

As an actual New Yorker, I was excited to find a homage to my hometown in my new Taiwanese neighborhood. I really went for the Buffalo wings as I was craving the taste. I ordered the cheeseburger and wings, with a cold Taiwan beer of course.

The "Buffalo" wings were a bit disappointing, as they used a homemade sauce that was far from hitting the mark in my opinion. Although tasty and well fried, it wasn't the Buffalo wings I craved or the taste that I'm used to. Now the burger was okay. It was a bit greasy and came with some kind of pickled onions or so I think. They also offered some type of garlic sauce, but I was truly disappointed that they had no ketchup. I really just wanted a classic cheeseburger with some ketchup.

Overall, there was nothing nostalgic about the place or reminiscent of my hometown. Why it's called Big Apple is still a mystery to me, as nothing represents New York. . .the greatest city in the world. Maybe I would go back, but only for convenience not for amazing food. I'm sure the Taiwanese love it, but as an American it...

FANTASTIC BURGERS! Great burger joint if you are in the market for authentic American style burgers. In my opinion, Big Apple has most burger place beaten in terms of the quality of the ingredients and the knowledge of culinary science to produce a fantastic product. Buffalo wings are exquisite! The secret sauce is produced in house by the owner, the aroma and flavor of the wings are out of this world.

Great service from the friendly staffs with attention to details of your requests. The owner, Dr. Chang with a PhD in Chemistry is an interesting character with lots of stories to tell. Dr. Chang has utilized his knowledge in science on his products which resulted in the great "science burgers" that is now served...