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City Burger
After reading about City Burger a few weeks ago, I got kind of excited at the prospect of a new potential lunch spot. This past weekend, I found myself around midtown and just wanted something quick and tasty for dinner. The review from A Hamburger Today made it seem like it would be good once they work out some kinks associated with being a new restaurant. And everyone who skims through the entries here at Food in Mouth know that I like just about everything. Well, apparently not everything because the hamburger at City Burger was beyond disappointing.
I was disappointed because there was a lot of talk about how City Burger sourced their beef from Pat LaFrieda. And unlike Shake Shake, they ask you how you want your burger cooked. Good meat. Made to order. What could go wrong? Guess what? When you overcook the meat, it does not matter where you source your meat, because it just becomes dry and lifeless.
At 7pm on a Saturday night, as the ONLY customer in City Burger, I figured it would not be tough to cook a burger to order, if you know how to cook it to order. Right before I placed my order a phone order went through. So all of a sudden on the grill there were three burgers patties that looked like they were pre-cooked and just needed to be heated up, and one patty that was pink and raw, just put on the grill. This was kind of strange because why would you need pre-cooked patties if your main business was for the weekday lunch crowd?
Apparently they gave me one of the pre-cooked burgers that was just heated up because it was nothing close to medium rare. They gave you options for toppings and I went for the works and no real complaints about the lettuce, tomato, or pickles. They were fine. The burger REQUIRED ketchup. Two things City Burger needs to work on: salt and cooking time.
Perhaps the dry and overcooked burger ruined my perception and taste but too bad. Seriously, how hard is it to cook ONE burger? Or, why do you give the one person in the restaurant a pre-cooked burger? Argh!
The fries were ok. Freshly fried, crispy on the outside, but not salted when taken out of the fryer. I feel like that is required. If you do not want salt on your fies, do not eat fries. Do not assume the customer will not want salt because you do not need customers who prefer tasteless food.
I will go back if good word comes from other people but otherwise I will wait a few more months to see if they can get their act straight. As for the price. Sheesh. One regular (no cheese) hamburger and fries and tax was just under $10. If you are eating this for lunch, then it counts as one of the priciest burger + fries combo out there.
Posted by Danny on April 21 2008 at 1:09 pm
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ugh...that sucks. Pre-cooked then re-cooked patties are the worst. How can a burger joint ruin a burger by not knowing how to cook the one ingredient their entire business is based on?!?!
dennis on April 21 2008 at 10:38 pm
Hey - same thing happened to me but with Pop Burger on 58th street, oppsite FAO. All the hype, all the buzz made the sting of the dissappointment when I had a dry hockey puck of a hamburger on my plate 2 weeks ago. Sucks to pay for buzzed about food and have it be a stinker.
Marina on April 23 2008 at 9:13 am
Dennis,
Yea man, it did suck. Maybe they will get better though since the meat is supposed to be top notch.
Marina,
Oh man that sucks! I walked by Pop burger before, but could not figure out how to open the door and did not go into the store. Sad, right? Good thing my stupidity saved me some money!
Danny on April 23 2008 at 9:29 am
I'm going to Shake Shack after work today, first of the season. I'm SO excited!! (YUM)
Marina on April 23 2008 at 2:42 pm
That is awesome! I walked by the other day on the weekend and the line was totally in full force.
Danny on April 23 2008 at 4:16 pm