Rachel V.
Yelp
UPDATE: 5/18/2024 The following morning after our dinner here at Burger Village on Friday evening 5/17/2024, my husband and I are both experiencing symptoms of food poisoning. I'm currently pregnant and I request all my meats to be cooked well done to avoid ingesting undercooked meat and catching a bacterial infection. We both ordered the same type of burger, mine well done, and his medium well, and shared the same "frings" and loaded nachos appetizer. We didn't eat anything after this restaurant besides some water and went to bed feeling okay. However, the whole morning till this evening as I update this review, we've both made an abnormal number of trips to the bathroom with unpleasant bowel movements each time, and continue to experience stomachaches and pains and we strongly believe there could be unhygienic practices at this establishment and have notified and filed a complaint with NYC311. So PLEASE be warned if you decide to eat here, you may get more than just a stomachache the following day. I've considered myself very lucky to have never gotten food poisoning yet in all my years eating out in NYC but this is very frustrating to deal with especially because I'm pregnant right now. I would avoid this place right now at all costs.
I was craving burgers but didn't want to trek all the way to 5th Avenue to my favorite Brooklyn Burgers and Beer restaurant, so my husband suggested we try out Burger Village.
Initial first impressions were not bad, the space is open and bright, but we noticed that the indoor tables are crowded pretty close together. Their middle aisle of tables just shouldn't exist because servers can barely squeeze past, and if you back up your chair, you're going to hit the person behind you.
Onto the food, the loaded nachos cost $11 for a light drizzle of cheese and diced tomatoes. After that first layer of topping is gone, you've got a lot of bare nachos that aren't even seasoned enough with salt so you can eat them by itself. 75% of the nachos are bland and naked and definitely not worth the price they're charging for at all. Maybe $7, and to advertise it as "loaded" is laughable. Loaded with next to nothing is more accurate.
They also advertise to have Coke but it's not really coke. It's a cola on tap, same with the other non-alc beverages they list on the back of the menu. Quite misleading if you ask me. Just put Cola, don't say Coke, and make me think it's actually the soda brand Coca-Cola when it's not
Their burgers are on the smaller side and also lacking in depth of flavor. We both ordered the superior choice toppings with the beef burger, and they tasted just okay. Nothing great or too bad about it, just quite plain. The meat could've used more salt and pepper, because without the grilled onions or cheese, it would've tasted so bland. We ordered a side of "frings," which is half a basket of onion rings and fries. Fries were very crispy, but again, they lacked salt. Onion rings were thin and round and tasted better than the fries. There's salt and pepper grinders at your table though, yet no napkins or ketchup.
For a burger joint, I don't understand why there aren't any napkins available at the table. I know some customers ruin it for others by abusing condiments and such that are on tables, but surely one folded napkin per table seating is not too much to ask for. Considering the type of food this place serves where you have to eat with your hands, it's a little annoying and inefficient to have to flag down an already busy server just to get a singular napkin.
Anyway, my husband asked for the check before I finished eating, I was halfway through my burger, and it took 30 minutes to bring over the bill. He did this on purpose due to reading other reviews about the slow service. He asked 3 separate employees, and it still took forever, so listen to the reviews! They are very slow to close out their tables.
We asked one female employee who initially took our order, and she cleared our table on the spot but then disappeared to deal with the outdoor tables for 15 plus minutes. So we were just sitting at a cleared table waiting to pay for the longest time.
My overall experience here is 2, maybe 2.5 stars. I don't recommend you waste your hard earned money here because you can make a tastier burger at home.
I think there is plenty of room for improvement if they really want to address these basic issues. It really should not take as long as it did to pay for our food, especially when they cleared our table right when we asked for the bill.
Believe me, I understand our economy's current inflation crisis and the exorbitant rent prices on these restaurants, especially in this neighborhood, but give a little more with these dishes, and I'll gladly pay $15-20+ per menu item. But $11 for a thin, sad, top layer of cheese? Even Taco Bell gives you more toppings than they did.
I left here feeling annoyed and unsatisfied with my meal, I wish we went somewhere else for dinner.