JG Melon
“Crisp lettuce, juicy tomatoes, dill pickles, cottage fries were perfect too.”
“The medium rare juicy cheeseburger with swiss is well worth the journey to this burger mecca.”
“If you go and Bobby is the one seating you tell him Kelly the Nutritionist sent you- he is one of the nicest guys you will meet.”
JG Melon
Take-out: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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I got a bacon cheeseburger with cottage fries and sadly I was very underwhelmed. I was really excited about this place because who doesn't like bacon, burger, cheese, fries and the whole shebang?
Also at 20$ for the meal cash only, I wish I saved my calories and money.
I don't have anything against the establishment, but the whole atmosphere was very stifled…it was full of geriatrics and their children….this is definitely not a place where I want to hang out..unless I wanted to listen to people who all know each other talk to their doctors, grab a beer, tout about goldman sachs or whatnot..yuck definitely not my scene. Everyone who came here belonged to the older generation of UES….a stereotype I need not elaborate on.
I think I would much prefer a diner tbh…
I forget how awesome this place is. It is the quintessential old school burger joint – from the people (no worker under age 65) to the menu (burger, cheeseburger, bacon cheeseburger, chili…I think there are a couple of other items).
The bacon cheeseburgers are on point. Cooked to perfection as ordered and it comes out seemingly within minutes of ordering. The burger to bun ratio is perfect (at least 2:1). The buns are light and toasted nicely so they hold up to the burger. The cottage fries are the perfect compliment. The bacon is your traditional bacon (no aged, apple wood smoked anything here). Can't beat the $6.25 draught beers (Sam, Stella, lagunitas ipa). Service is great and everyone is calm and pleasant despite the crowd of people always around the bar eagerly waiting for their table. One of the few places where a 40 minute wait is no big deal.
Classic, good burger. Nothing fancy, no frills, just a good burger. Chili is pretty good, too. I'd like to try other things on their menu. Tables are tight, and seating is limited, but is definitely homey. Their upper east side location is fun, the walls are lined with every kind of artistic rendition of a watermelon.
I came here once after my roommate raved to me about it. The place was packed to da roof with old white guys (probably named Mort and/or Sherman) but most ended up being mad cool. All the bartenders were the same, which leads me to think there're probably a bunch of annoyed old housewives in the immediate vicinity.
ANYWAY. The burger definitely lived up to the hype. The meat was well cooked and the bun was fluffy and delicious. I didn't love the fries but I think that was mostly due to the cut so if you like yours like puffy versions of crinkle chips you'll probably be down.
Go here.
Impression: I'm eating a burger, in a really old (classic? Historical?) bar obsessed with melons.
The legendary burger of fame is going in my mouth in little bites as I sit at the bar. I keep wondering why this burger is so damn good. Why are they so busy during dinner hours when I wanted to try this before? It's now 4 o clock during the week so there's plenty of room for me to eat this little burger here. It's not the most amazing cheeseburger I've ever had. It's not the worst. I think I could even recreate this in my kitchen.
The cottage fries are just potatoes cut to look like pickles. Ridged.
Overall if you're hungry it's a decent and heavy meal. If you're expecting amazing I didn't find that today. Maybe if I had ordered the bacon burger. But bacon makes everything good, even humble little burgers.
Not a good experience here all over the board from service to food. Pretty sure it's just overhyped because it's on some lists and some famous people came here.
FOOD
We got the classics: bacon cheeseburger, chili, and cottage fries. Chili was like a typical diner's.. so.. average….. The cottage fries were good but $6?? And no toppings are included? Lastly, the $12 bacon cheeseburger, which was supposed to be cooked medium, tasted burnt on the outside. It just really REALLY was nothing special. The meat was good but for the price, I really could've gotten something better elsewhere.
SERVICE
I was standing by the door for awhile and nobody greeted me asking how many people was in my party. I had to go inside to look for the hostess and put down my name. They also made a HUGE deal when we came in with 4 instead of 5 people, basically scolding us.. making it kind of awkward. The hostess was not very nice. It really felt like they wanted you to get seated quickly, eat quickly, and get out ASAP. For this fast food/diner experience, the prices and 20 min wait (most nights, if you're lucky) certainly don't reflect it.
SPACE
It's so small. Tables are super close together, everyone's basically sitting on top of each other.
To add onto it all, it's cash only.
I love this place. Burgar tastes really good here. Wanna try other foods here. Service good too ! Think its better than burgar joint!
Heard many great things about this place – ended up here for an early dinner but felt strangely rushed out by the staff (arrived at about 6pm) even though there were several empty tables. They kept coming over to check if my plate was empty as if they couldn't wait to bring over the check. Annoying. Service aside, the bacon cheeseburger was pretty legit and juicy and comes with melted cheddar, pickles and red onion. The fries are a weird circular shape and lacked salt and flavor though. Not sure I'll come back all the way to the UES for this as I still think Shake Shack is much, much better!