Shake Shack – NYC’s Best Burger?

Posted by Nick on July 21, 2010

As of right now on Yelp, the Madison Square Park burger joint Shake Shack has 1549 reviews and a solid 4/5 rating.

One of the highlighted reviews mentions that a burger there is “hands down the best burger I’ve ever had.” But is it really?

The Shake Shack menu is available on their website (shakeshacknyc.com). It states that their burgers are all natural 100% black angus beef. It goes further to state that the beef has no growth hormones or antibiotics. The french fries are listed as being 100% free of artificial trans-fat and made from Yukon Gold potatoes. Current prices are $2.25 for the fries and $4.75 for a single Shack Burger.

This is what the food at Shake Shack looks like.

Don’t let the image fool you – the size of the burger and the amount of fries is not that large.

While I did not try their hot dogs or shakes, I did try the burger and fries. And let me tell you – this is one of those places where being trendy is more important that tasting good.

The burgers are ridiculously greasy. How greasy? Take a bite and hot grease squirts into your mouth. The bun immediately gets super soggy. If the burger had a good taste, which it should if it is 100% black angus, then it would make up for the greasy factor. I’ve had 100% black angus burgers many times before and this is most definitely not a 100% black angus burger – or at least it tastes like no other I’ve ever had. And that is not a good thing.

I also love Yukon gold potatoes in any form. These fries at Shake Shack do not taste like Yukon gold potatoes. What they taste like are those cheap store-brand bags of frozen french fries that you get at Wal-Mart or the Dollar Store. Yup, that bad.

To make matters worse, this fast food – because really, that is how it tastes – is chock full of MSG, in my opinion. I say this because I ate at Shake Shack with someone that gets ill each time anything with MSG is consumed. She only ate the burger. And immediately started exhibiting symptoms.

For reasons that are beyond me, Shake Shack is trendy and people claim to love it. I don’t know how. I really only see two ways people could love Shake Shack -

1. Broken taste buds
2. Being trendy is more important that taste

This place is so trendy that there is often a long line and wait for this food. Luckily, I only had to wait about 15 to 20 minutes for my crappy food.

If you want a real 100% black angus burger, head down to the World Financial Center and have a grass-fed beef burger right on the water from Quality Burger. It’s only a few cents difference in the price, but a lot of difference in the taste.

Shake Shack
Madison Square Park
E 23rd St & Madison Ave
New York, NY 10010
www.shakeshacknyc.com

Quality Burger
Battery Park
225 Liberty St
Manhattan, NY 10006
www.quality-burger.com

Comments

2 Responses to “Shake Shack – NYC’s Best Burger?”

1. love burger says:

   September 19, 2011 at 10:52 am

   I felt weird after eating shake shack burger yesterday. It made me sick and I couldn’t get out the bed about 5 hours.