Marqus R.
Yelp
Other than to say it's OK, I can't find much to thrill about anything with regards to Shake Shack. According to their own information noted on their rather uninformative website, Shake Shack sprouted from a hot dog cart sales operation in Madison Square Park. Though they now have rather glam restaurants, the food is still pretty much hot dog cart food. And, I would say that for the most part, it's still nothing but a burger and hot dog joint.
They say all their burgers are cooked medium, unless otherwise requested. Well we requested rare and the one I had and the one my guest had were both heavily charred well done. They say they are that way unless you ask, but don't waste your time. We did ask, but the clerk refused. You'll get it well done regardless as the clerks are trained to ignore such requests for doing burgers rare or medium. I can only conclude that Shake Shake apparently has little if any faith in the quality or purity of the meats they are serving, hence they sterilize it by overcooking it.
I ordered their Smoke Shack ($7.19) rare, but the clerk said he could only get it medium which actually means well done. Upon ordering they give you one of those buzzer things that will go off when your meal is ready to pick up. Though supposedly a fast food operation, it's slow. My order took a full 17 minutes and when you pick it up, it's just sitting there on a counter in what looks more like an open maintenance garage door than it does a food counter.
I have to say, however, that my Smoke Shake burger tasted rather good and was reasonably enough priced though I think they made up for that by charging $2.39 for a soda.
Overall Shake Shack is clean, orderly and appears to be extremely popular. But for me, not being able to order a burger done the way you want it done, then with rather little meat to it, and with a limited hot dog cart size of menu, I can no way go more than Two Yelp Stars.
As a tip, if you want a decent burger done the way you want it done and with fresh in house ground meat, go down the road to Jack's Old Fashioned.