After seeing so many photos of burgers and custards at Shake Shack from my East Coast friends and bloggers, Shake Shack was on the “must try” list during my visit to NYC. There were several locations nearby, we ended up going to the one near Times Square, in the Theatre District. We later also passed by the one in Madison Park, which had quite a pretty setting. I sort of wish we had gone to that one instead. Oh well.
Madison Square Park location at night
When we arrived, there was a line more than 30 people deep, but it moved fairly fast. Of course once you order, you are then tasked with attempting to find an empty seat inside the crowded restaurant.
Single ShackBurger (cheese burger topped with lettuce, tomato and shack sauce)
This is their regular burger. What really surprised us was the price. $4.60 for a burger that was about the size of the burgers on the McDonald’s dollar menu. Now obviously the quality is much higher than the value menu burgers at McDonald’s, but I still thought $4.60 was really hefty. I had been expecting prices more like In-N-Out. The price didn’t even include fries.
Mr. K and I both enjoyed the burger but thought it was priced too high given the portion size.
‘Shroom Burger (crisp-fried portobello mushroom filled with muenster and cheddar cheeses)
I actually enjoyed this burger better than the Shack Burger, mainly because of how unique it was. This wasn’t your average vegetarian burger. The mushroom was was breaded, deep fried, and filled with ooey gooey cheese. This was quite delicious. But again, it was $6.75. At those prices, I expect a restaurant-size burger and this was quite small.
Oatmeal Custard
I had been really excited to check out the custards. They have a huge variety of rotatingflavors. Unfortunately, only one flavor is available per day and the day we went was oatmeal. It was too cinnamony for me, but I loved the texture and I can imagine enjoying this much more if it had been a flavor I really liked.
Fries
Of course we had to try their famous crinkle cut fries. Normally crinkle cut fries are my least favorite style of fry. But these were pretty good for crinkle cut fries. They had a very crunchy exterior. I did wish they had more seasoning other than salt, but these were probably the best crinkle cut fries I’ve had in a long time.
Mr. K also ordered a vanilla milkshake which I guess I forgot to photo.
Overall, we liked what we ate but found it way overpriced. We also weren’t a fan of how crowded it was. It took a while to get our food and there wasn’t much seating, so we ended up having to share the stool seats and half stand/half sit while eating. You can view their full menu online.
Shake Shack
several locations
691 8th Avenue
https://www.shakeshack.com/
Hi Kirbie
Nice to see the new location of Shack Burger. The burger prices ’07: hamburger was $3.50, a cheeseburger $4, Shackburger $4.75. At the time, there was only one location at Madison Square Park. The wait time was ridiculous too – 45 minutes and hardly any place to sit.
Here’s my old post for reference (I had the receipt in there too, haha):
https://pinkcandlesatridgemonthigh.blogspot.com/2007/07/queens-astoria-shake-shack.html
The new location in Times Square is huge! I’m sure it’s mega busy there all the time.
The MSP one looks so pretty! But yeah, the Times Square one has bigger interior.
A lot of what you pay for is the cost of doing business in NYC. They also know that people will pay whatever they want/need to charge to eat there, since they’ve become so popular. The man and I went there a few years ago, and I can’t say it was worth the wait. However, if you make it over to Hell’s Kitchen, 5 Napkin Burger is pretty great. They do an annual street food fair that’s definitely worth the trip (yes, even from here). It’s usually in May.
thanks for the rec!
I would say NY scale at NY prices? I guess we are a bit spoiled here in CA.
Even for NY prices it felt high.