The Smashburger

Reviewers across the board are likening Bill's burger to Shake Shack's:

"[A burger] that owes, it should be noted, not a little to the Shake Shack paradigm....[Bill's is] not as juicy and cohesive as its Shake Shack rival, and its construction can err, depending on the night and the cook, on the wrong side of floppy." -New York Magazine

Motz pointed out that around 50 of the 100 restaurants profiled in his national hamburger guide use the griddle-pressing method.

So if burger joints all across America (Smashburger, out west) or even in NYC, (Five Guys) use the smash method, then why the automatic comparison to Shake Shack? Many places use the method. It isn't anything new. It's not even groundbreaking. You can see for yourself and watch Shake Shack using the smash technique here (from Hamburger America).


Yet with all the comparisons between the two, I have no idea why Bill's is so often compared to Shake Shack. Perhaps, we went to Bill's on "the wrong side of floppy" night. (Why does that sound so sexual? There. I said it.) But even on a good-side-of-floppy night, Bill's and Shake Shack would still taste vastly different. Bill's meat is saltier, served with a plain bun, and not drowning in special sauce. It's like Tom Sellek and Burt Reynolds. Sure, on first glance, they look alike, but Sellek is no Reynolds. So why go for a Tom if you can get a Burt, even if you have to wait an hour? Still, Anna rates:





Bex:

This was my second visit to Bill's and I was a little disappointed in my burger. It was still good, I ate it, but it was lacking. The first time I ate there (a week earlier) my burger patty was charred and a little crunchy on the outside and along the edges of the burger and it was awesome. This time (way back on November 1st) the burger was just cooked- no char, no crunch and since they only cook them well-done, it was a less than exciting patty to eat.


Both times I've ordered the Sunset and Vine burger, which is the Bill's Classic with American Cheese burger plus special sauce. I like special sauce. The fries were dry and and somewhat tasteless which means they were sitting around for awhile, and the first time I went the fries were hot and fresh. There are obviously some consistency issues, but that's expected for any new restaurant. I have to say the service at Bill's is impeccable. Every person on the staff that I've encountered is beyond helpful, genuinely friendly and just nice. This level of service is somewhat uncommon in New York and I find it very refreshing. I'm going to say it's the best service I've ever encountered in NYC, and that's saying a lot.

Bex rates:




Roger:

The server was very nice. I knocked over a glass of water that got a little on the guy sitting next to me. And he was nice about it too. So everyone was nice. The smashed burger was decent but fries not so much. I think I wanted to like Bill's more than I did. I do like the fact there is a decent place to get a smashed burger in the meat packing district.

Roger rates:





Bill's Bar & Burger
22 Ninth Ave at West 13th St
New York, NY, 10014