Phan H.
Yelp
I've heard about this place from so many people who are from NY or lived here. They're adamant that this is such a great place. It's the same way people are about In N Out in California. Let me tell you, it is nowhere near as good as In N Out, not that In N Out is great or something but it does fast food chains well. I came to this specific location because it's the most popular, so logically it should be the best right? Do people come here because it's near a touristy area or is it because there's something special about the food, service, or both?
Spoiler alert: It's neither. Got the Shroom burger, smoke stack, and the Shack Stack (it's essentially a smoke stack with a shroom burger). And a side of bacon cheese fries. Yes, I was going for the diabetic heart attack meal.
There was a huge line coming here, but no organization at all. 2 lines and people confused which line they should be in. It extended to outdoors so it added to more confusion. Apparently when I got to the front, one line was taking cash only and the other debits/credit only. I can tell you the staff here is vibing out. They're yelling, commenting, roasting, and beep bopping along with everyone. There are a couple of workers just standing around not doing anything. I assume they were trying to direct traffic, but doesn't seem like it. Could have tried to help reduce the lines or confusion or something, but no.
Took it to go since I didn't really want to eat in, and there wasn't a lot of seating available.
The cheese fries came with the bacon and cheese in containers. There's got to be a better way to prepare this. It looked all plasticy and fake, and it didn't move when I tried to pour it. Fries were dry and the bacon overcooked.
Not a big fan of the shroom burger texture. It's a fried whole Portobello mushroom cap with cheese inside of it. My friend loves this burger, but it was a giant miss for me.
Which also means Shack Stack is problematic for this same reason.
The smoke stack was the best one. At least the bacon wasn't overcooked, the texture feels like a burger, and the sauce complemented the entire thing.
Overall a bad experience and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.