Apparently It’s Not La Freida’s, It’s What You Do With It

City Burger

At the end of March, there was a little bit of craziness when the owners of Abitino’s Pizza opened City Burger on 39th & Broadway, serving patties made with meat from Pat La Freida’s, the much praised butcher who supplies the Shake Shack with their beef. It also helped that the place popped up in a particularly burger starved part of the Midtown Lunch’ing landscape. Crowds were large, wait times were long, and the result, was a not so happy Midtown Lunch’ing public (although Lauren over at AHT called it a “decent burger for the neighborhood“). As with any new place, judging them on day 2 is a huge disservice (especially when they’re slammed), but after 5 weeks it doesn’t look like much has improved. This was posted yesterday in the comments:

I tried the newly openend City Burger on 1410 Broadway at 39th street. I ordered a cheesburger with the works – cooked medium and an order of Onion rings. Total cost was $10.95. Cheeseburger was overcooked and dry. Onion rings were cold and burnt. This place is awful for food. I will never go there again. Also – the wait for ordering is about 15 -20 minutes for an overcooked, burnt and cold food. I would not recommend this food establishment to anyone.

You may notice some other comments referring to City Burger as “the best burger”, but suspiciously they all came from the same computer, despite different names. (We don’t take kindly to shilling here…) How long do you give a place to get their act together before writing it off? I *really* wanted to have a place where I could get some buffalo wings with a hamburger!  If you had a good experience at City Burger, and your IP address doesn’t match “Mario’s” or “Ashley’s”, post about it in the comments below.

6 Comments

  • When I went, they could not even figure out how to cook a medium-rare burger for the ONLY customer in the restaurant. I dunno about you, but that’s just uncool.

  • I’ve been there twice. the first time was about a week after they opened. there was a crowd and i had a reasonable bit of a wait but the burger was quite good. the second time i arrived while two people were bitching about where the hell are their orders. my order was ready inside of 5 mins but it was only mediocre. it was cooked properly (medium) but rather bland.

    i’m going to give them another try or two. my next burger will determine whether they continue to get my business.

  • The consensus in my office a block away is “long wait, marginal food”. Many people went but immediately started flocking back to Cafe Duke. If the emetic fake shrimp at Cafe Duke are better (!) then City Burger is a place I will never even try.

  • I’ve eaten there 4 times now. Twice it was great, once okay, once overcooked and pretty unacceptable. Guess it depends on who they’ve got manning the grill?

  • burger was overcooked and dry. there was no wait when i got there so i’m thinking they gave me a patty that had been sitting for a while. went for the big potato fries. they were soggy and i couldn’t get myself to eat more than 3. also ordered a vanilla shake. the shake was awesome and was the best part of the meal by far. i’m never going back for food but i’ll definitely pick up a milk shake if i’m in the neighborhood.

  • Note to City Burger: if you’re not going to honor my doneness request, don’t ask for my preference.

    Dry hockey puck Medium rare.

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