JG Melon - 10.09.08

Location - 1291 3rd Ave, New York / Upper East Side
Style of Cuisine - Burgers

TOTAL SCORE - 34
Food: 14 (very good burger, but not great. lame sides)

• Chili Cup - decent flavor, nothing special
• Cheeseburger - solid burger, great bread, fairly small
• Cottage Fried Potatoes - egh, sad
• Pecan Pie - average

Service - 8 (fairly slow, but very friendly and helpful)

Atmosphere - 7 (looks exactly like a burger bar built in 1932)

Value - 5 (average, some decent, others over-priced)

OVERVIEW -

I guess I can see why so many rave about this haunt. It has character (without being boring or hokey) and the burgers are solid. I still think people need to broaden their horizons before declaring it "Best Burger Ever" or "Best in NYC." Having said that, I do understand that its all a matter of taste and opinion. I'm still perplexed why all of these NYC Institutions have to be so one-dimensional. Maybe the burgers are good, but does that give them a license to make everything else so poorly?

Well, the line out the door (which is quite commonplace) says they're clearly doing something right. So who am I to judge? Oh wait, screw that, this is MY blog! :)