burger joint — Restaurant in New York

I first went to the Moynihan Food Hall location at Penn Station and they told me they were closed since 8pm due to the July 4th holiday. So I traveled to the location at Thompson Central Park New York, by Hyatt Hotel at 56 St between 7th Ave and 6th Ave. When I got in there, the hotel staff told me that the burger restaurant closed at 11pm due to the holiday. To get to the joint, I had to walk toward the back then make a right and walk past a dining area for another restaurant and then go behind some red curtains. The ambience is creative, a little vibrant, stylish and unique. It looks like they took an old entertainment center and put curtains all around, they have stickers and graffiti on the walls and flags on the ceiling. There are a number of restaurants that have this type of ambience in NYC, but to have it in a hotel is different. There was basically no line. There were 2 people in front of me and plenty of seating. I ordered a double cheeseburger with the works, no tomato and add jalapenos and I ordered fries (they only have one size). The food is okay for what it is. It is not the best burger and fries in the world, it's good, but I don't get why it is so pricey. Perhaps, the rent is crazy and maybe they are paying their employees a livable wage. It was over $20 for the burger and almost $10 for the fries. Any add-ons (like jalapenos) is more. The staff was normal (not friendly, but not mean). Once I got my receipt, I noticed that they had my order wrong and they corrected it. My order took about 20 minutes to come out, but before it did, I noticed that there were more people than the 2 people that was in front of me that needed to get their food. Also, if you don't specify a doneness to your burger when you order (because in my case the cashier did not ask, either) they automatically make it a medium. I found this out later. They call your name when your food is ready and you walk up to the register to get it. If you're staying the food is wrapped up and the fries is in a really small paper bag on a paper plate and if you're leaving then the food is still wrapped up and put in a carry...

EXTREMELY OVERRATED and POOR VALUE!

We lined up for 1 hr on Saturday at 2:30pm. Services was extremely slow and understaffed. We paid $28 USD for a cheeseburger (just the basic toppings of tomatoes, lettuce, onion, sauce and cheese) and fries (plain). The burger was recommended at medium well as per the cashier and that’s what we ordered. It was ready in 10min after a 50min wait in line.

Honest and unbiased review - if we are talking about just straight taste with no bias about the wait times or price. I give it BurgerJoint a 4/10. Just as a reference, I give 5 Guys a 6.5 or 7/10 and Shake Shack a 8/10.

ISSUES:

(1) MEAT quality was poor. Unseasoned and overcooked with no juice /dry. It tasted like a regular person making a meat patty straight from packaged ground meat and into a shape of a burger and then overcooking it on bbq. This was for $15USD!!!

(2) FRIES were made and sourced from a frozen clear bag! They opened it in front of patrons and threw straight into deep fryer and then straight into bin with salt!……. Was exactly the same taste as McDonald’s fries but 3x the price. Was $8 USD!!!

(3) WAIT TIMES! - we went to all the major food stops in manhattan and this was the least staffed and slowest moving line we’ve ever been in the last 3 visits to NYC. It was 1hr wait but there were less than 15 people/orders in front of me! That is undeniably slow service for burgers!

(4) PRICE! - How on earth can the ratings be that high and by that many reviewer’s over an unseasoned and dry burger (literally just straight meat) and frozen fries identical to McDonald’s for $28 USD?

To Burger Joint - if you are going to make people PAY that much and WAIT that long…the bare minimum, you shouldn’t be serving frozen fries and you need to deliver on just cooking quality meat (add more seasoning and don’t overcook to the point all...

Update 3/23/23

In the mood for the best burger fire grilled (plant based) in NYC, so I stopped by to say “hi” to my friends at the legendary Burger Joint!

To my surprise the old hidden small location has moved to the other side of the hotel, still behind the velvet red curtains.

The new location is lovely, much bigger, more space but still cramped table style seats.

The Manager that is currently overseeing the staff (staff is amazing) just from my observation makes the place stiff, and stuffy. Of course if you want that stiff, uptight, blah experience, that not even the bar staff has in the center of the hotel, I suggest going to Carnegie Hall or the Lincoln Center.

On a Friday night, music is blasting, food and drinks are perfect, staff are excellent certain personalities belong in certain venues, this lady was definitely not a good fight, and was downing the mood of the upbeat staff, especially when a burger for 2 with fries, and drinks comes to $50…. I took away a Star because of the Upper Management. We need happy vibes!

Highly recommend this amazing Burger Joint! You will love the amazing service, and awesome food.

Thank you to the super amazing staff that has given me, family and friends the best service for over 12 years!

Special thanks to Cefar, Tashima, and Jeff, these 3 staff members are the rockstars of the restaurant!

The burgers are beef or plant based char grilled, made fresh to order, and you can have the works on your burger. The fries are potato or sweet potato.

This legendary spot has a lot of history! Every celebrity you can think of has signed their name on the wall, from: Howard Stern, Iron Mike Tyson, Piers Morgan, and the...