JG Melon
“Kids had grilled cheese w tomato and friend pickles and cheese burger and cottage fries.”
“We ordered bacon cheeseburgers across the board along with cottage fries as well as rounds of drinks and desserts.”
“Being a huge burger lover, my bestie and me had to check out the new location of JG Melon in the West Village for a fashionplate.”
JG Melon
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Good for Kids: 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 ordered the Smokey and the Bandit pulled pork, Nacho Libre burger & KF-CBGB slider happy hour special sliders and a watermelon Cosmo. Kids had grilled cheese w tomato and friend pickles and cheese burger and cottage fries. We all had dessert. Chocolate cake (YUM), banana pudding and vanilla bean cheesecake.
All was very well tolerated !!
Our waiter J- John was very friendly and personable. Great suggestions.
Hope we come back and meet Gigi ! Lol
A must !
I wished I liked it but the menu is pretty lame, the place is pretty lame, the only redeeming thing was our great waiter! I wanted a salad, couldn't know what was in them according to the menu (there is barely anything written -what about allergies?), the menu written on the board is not what is served, so if you want to know what the item you are ordering is, you have to ask your super kind waiter, because the menu says NOTHING! It's a little ridiculous. Like stupid. It doesn't make you want to order a thing!
I had the spinach salad with bacon and mushrooms. It was decent. The dressing wasn't homemade. It is seriously not hard to make homemade dressing, it makes all the difference on a salad. I usually don't care, but after struggling to decipher the composition of the salads, I was annoyed.
Hubs got a burger, he liked it, said it was overpriced for a burger. Doesn't come with fries, you have to order separately…
I don't want to be that girl, and I know I am totally being that girl, but looking at how fast places are closing and opening on the block, having a proper menu isn't a tough investment to sustain a client base of local villagers…
JG Melon has been on my burger hit list for a long. Listed as one the best burgers in the Daily Meal's NYC-heavy top burgers in the US list gives you some street cred; perhaps enough street cred to expand from the UES to a second outpost in Greenwich Village. I had met up with a friend for years around here, so I made that my excuse. We sat down in one of the booths in the back by the bar (outdoor seats were taken), and from the looks of the place I wouldn't have been able to tell you it hadn't always been here. It's a bit dark inside but it just adds to the old school ambiance. Since it was happy hour, I took advantage and got a barrel aged Manhattan special ($9). What came out was carefully made and very well worth the money; to be fair I probably wouldn't have ordered it if the beer list had been better. My friend enjoyed his wine. One other item worth noting is that the service was excellent. The busboys were attentive, our waiter were very friendly in a manly old school way, and he even reminded us when happy hour was ending. We didn't need another drink, but it's little touches like that that make a place worth returning to. That and the food.
This was perhaps the most unexpectedly great burger of my entire life. The meat was cooked to a perfect medium rare; it was charred well on the outside but full of moist, rich, fatty goodness inside. This is serious meat, guys. The cheese, tomato, and lettuce were all there but only in proportion so as not to get in the way of the star of the show. The bacon, which actually unnecessary in this case was perfectly crisp. The fries, which are slided into circular chunks were similarly great. Frying them in this shape allowed them to fry up into little egg-like shapes; they were light and airy. All said this was the best burger I've had in quite awhile. And at only ~$35 for 2 people, it's a steal. This dethroning Corner Bistro for me as the best bar burger in NYC. I will be back, I won't be alone and I will be visiting the UES side location as well.
Burgers here were definitely very good. Got them medium, should've ordered them medium rare (I think I'd trust the meat that comes out of their kitchen.) If you're looking for a good, juicy, no-frills burger, this is your place.
Service was super fast and food was out within 7 minutes. However, like a place that just serves burgers and fries, you don't expect to necessarily pay a premium–which I felt like I was paying, $18 for a burger, fries, and a beer–for what you get.
I wouldn't hold the price against them though! I docked them a star because of how I felt about the fries; the fries were something different and I'm sure othe people like them. They were cut very thin, almost sliced pickle size, which left no room for that fantastic fluffy potato inside which you expect to get from french fries.
So, I cheated on Minetta Tavern. Well, not really, I still got a burger at Minetta Tavern, too. But I had to try JG Melon's burger. It's right down the block from Minetta Tavern. And it's half the price. And here's the deal: it's definitely better than half as good. I will still always go back to Minetta Tavern, but if JG Melon was in any other city–or even another part of New York–I'd probably make special trips to have its burger, too. The Melon burger is simplicity at its finest. it is an almost perfect burger. It's in my top five favorite burgers of all time. It just has the unfortunate geographic distinction of being just a block away from the absolute best burger of all-time at Minetta Tavern. So if you can't bring yourself to pay over $25 for a burger (a reasonable line to draw in the sand, to be sure), try the burger at JB Melon for under $15. You won't be disappointed. It's an excellent burger. But if you're willing to spring for a few more dollars, walk the extra block and have the Black Label burger at Minetta Tavern. Either way you won't be disappointed.
I love burgers and fries and JG Melon does both of these things extremely well. The burger is perfectly grilled, soft, high quality beef, and served on a soft, delicious bun. The cottage fries are unique but also the perfect blend of crispy and soft. Service is on point. The decorations make you feel like a business man having a fancy lunch in the 1960s. The drinks are reasonably priced and they have a small selection but decent local/craft brews. It's small and crowded but not quite close enough where you feel uncomfortable and this place gets a respectable crowd. This is a solid New York City quality burger joint that is a classic, though I must admit that I think PJ Clarke's might be a tad better.
Great to try the downtown location of this NYC burger legend. Burgers are the same and perhaps a little bit better than the UES original. Service is definitely better and the seating more comfortable. Love the fact that this location accepts credit cards. A great Sunday hangover lunch.
3.5 stars
I've gone to the Upper East Side and downtown locations twice each. I love the idea of JG Melon's – a classic NY burger joint with its simple menu, wooden floors, and checkered tablecloths. Unfortunately, I'm not a huge fan of their burgers. I was told the burgers downtown would be better than the uptown location, but they seem the same. They're definitely tasty but a bit too greasy/fatty for me (I've had the cheeseburger and bacon cheeseburger cooked to their preference). Can't skip out on those cottage fries though – they're awesome! Chili also looks really good – would maybe come back for it on a crisp Fall day.