Midtown Lunch

I was kind of amazed to discover that the Wall St. Burger Shoppe has never been reviewed on this site. Sure, if you want a full lunch there you’re either going to approach the ML price wall or go over it. I for one would much rather do this than eat a crappy fast food burger (Five Guys excepted from this category, of course), and sometimes you just don’t want to eat in a bar for your burger fix. They also have some crazy burgers for $7 or more on their own. But if you get their “junior deal” or one of their daily specials you can get out of there for $10 or less and not feel ripped off.

The bottom level of the restaurant (and I would imagine the bar room upstairs) is a really nice place to eat lunch. I snagged a seat by the window, but I liked that they have the diner-style counter.

The Wednesday special is a porterhouse burger with a free side of fries or onion rings, and that’s what I ordered since my only other option was the junior deal of a Shoppe burger, fries or rings and a drink for $9. They have a different special every day that you can find on their Twitter, and it’s always a sandwich with one of these sides and allows you to try some of their crazier burgers while not paying $11 or $12 like you normally would if adding a side.

The porterhouse automatically comes sans cheese (to show off the fancy-sounding porterhouse tail & chuck blend?), so if that’s a problem you might want to order something else. It’s topped with lettuce, tomato and their own steak sauce. I was a little worried when they didn’t ask how I wanted it cooked, but it came out still a little pink with a nice crust on it. It really was a good burger, but I don’t know that I’d shell out the $8 for it if it didn’t come with the free side of fries that I chose.

The fries reminded me of a better version of those at Burger King that have a coating on them. These were hot, salty and plentiful and I ended up eating every last one of them despite also finishing the 6 ounce burger.

I’m sure a lot of you who work down by Bowling Green are big fans of this place, and it was really good for what I paid. If you order right eating here isn’t really any more expensive than some of the new-breed trucks like Frites N Meats or La Cense and you can grab a seat without even having to tip (if you’re a cheap lunch’er). Go for one of the specials and you can have a fancy burger meal within ML price range.

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

• They have some good specials for Midtown Lunch’ing purposes.
• You want crazy burgers? They got ’em.

THE — (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

• I can get the same thing at other places for less.
• I’d rather get a fast food burger.

Wall St. Burger Shoppe, 30 Water St. (btw. Broad & Coenties Slip), (212) 425-1119