Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I tried this place some months back and was terribly disappointed. The burger was terrible in every way imaginable. I don't understand why people like this place, unless it's simply nostalgia. I greatly prefer even chains like Jackson Hole or Burger Heaven to the burgers here.

I love SE, but when someone gives Prime Burger a positive review, I have to question the legitimacy of the site. I stopped in there about a month ago and got one of the worst burgers I've ever had. The burger was tasteless, tiny, not seared and presented on a stale roll. Even though Burger Heaven pre-cooks most of their burgers, I'd take theirs any day over a Prime Burger. I was very disappointed in Prime Buger.

I was last at DiFara's about two years ago. In the end, the pizza was delicious, although still highly flawed.

The place WAS full of smoke and there's no reason for that. Either the exhaust on the oven wasn't working correctly or there's constant spillage in the oven that doesn't get burned or cleaned away.

Furthermore, the place was absolutely filthy with overflowing trash cans, etc. If they're going to charge those prices for pizza, they can at least paint the place once every few years and keep it clean. At $5 a slice, they can certainly afford to hire some minimum wage kid to take care of the trash and clear the tables.

In spite of "the book", I did have to stand at the counter and fight for my pizza. The place definitely needs some organization - something as simple as giving out numbered tickets would be a big help. People were definitely getting their pizzas out of order. And forget about ordering anything else on the menu - my brother wanted a sandwich and they refused to make it.

My pizza came out burned on one side because Dom did not turn it in the oven properly. And his insistence on making every pie himself also slows things down. Why doesn't he "make" the pies and have someone else control the oven? - he does a lousy job at that anyway.

Because of the mix of cheeses (and I happen to like more sauce and less cheese on my pizzas) and the inconsistency in which Dom applied the toppings, the pizza came out of the oven looking horrible. But I have to admit - it tasted INCREDIBLE, especially as compared to your typical thin, coal-fired oven slice for which I always wind up being a bit disappointed.

I will admit to being an impatient person so I don't like lines. But I would go back to DiFara often if they were at least a bit organized. As it stand now, I only go about once a year (or less) when I want to take out-of-towners there.

And if they did get more efficient, they would make tons more money because so many people either walk away or don't bother in the first place.

Nothing wrong with trying to make burgers and the like a bit healthier, which frequently also results in a better tasting burger: organic toppings fresh off the farm, grass-fed fresh beef, etc.

The fact is that there's nothing all that wrong with the burger itself if it's relatively lean (and especially if it's grass-fed, if you believe the hype). Most of the calories in fast food burgers come from the cheese, the roll and the fact that most kids have it with fries. Slim down the roll or make it whole-grain and use lower-fat cheese or no cheese (I never have cheese on my burgers), serve it with a tasty salad and while it's better to limit red-meat consumption, it's not really an unhealthy meal per se.

When I was a kid in elementary school in the days when we were still permitted to leave the building for lunch, I used to go to the local luncheonette. If I was ordering a tuna fish sandwich, I'd only order one because I'd be embarrased to order more. But if I were ordering burgers, I'd almost always order two (with a chocolate egg cream, of course.)

Yes..way too much, but like all restaurants, the big profits are in the drinks and in the desserts. This price is more typical in Europe (paying with weak American dollars.) Frankly, I think $2.50 for a can of soda, which is what many delis charge, is still too much.

Like others who posted, it's one of the reasons I usually just order tap water with my meals.

Especially considering that you can get a 2-liter bottle of Coke for $1.60 or less in many supermarkets and a 2-liter bottle of Dr. Brown's is always $1.19, which IMO, is far better than Coke anyway.

I've tried Hooters twice over a period of maybe 10-15 years. Both times the food was incredibly mediocre, which surprised me because I thought they had a reputation for decent fast food. On the first visit, the burger was dry and tasteless, maybe just a few points better than a McDonald's/Burger King burger. On the second, the chicken wings weren't terrible, but they were completely unmemorable. And they only serve Pepsi (ugh!). And while the waitresses seemed happy enough with their jobs, I felt like a pervert looking at them (although I'd love to know what's in their heads when guys "out of their age range" are staring at them all the time.) I will give them some credit - they did try to engage "this old man" (at least compared to them) in conversation.

Aside from the food, if they marketed this chain as a place of "healthily fit people" (although not all the servers were), I might be able to buy the concept. But pushing T&A is kind of repulsive. And the funny thing is that in site of the tight little shorts, all the female servers are wearing hose - there's actually no bare skin.

I can't help it, for inferior pizza or any inferior food, I have to say (or at least think), "how can you eat that crap?" It's not that I don't believe people have the right to eat whatever they want no matter how bad it is, it's that unfortunately in most places, the bad pushes out the good. Bad chains, who can pay higher rents, push out the better independent places who care about the quality of their ingredients.

Dinosaur

The fact that any big burger chain has positive sentiment demonstrates to me how far people's standards have fallen, especially when so many good alternatives exist in most decently sized communities. It's one thing to eat it because you think it's inexpensive and quite another to eat it because you think it's good.

The only problem with New Park is that the pies are inconsistent, depending in part on who is making the pie. Sometimes they get it just the way I happen to like it, with those large spots of sauce and properly charred and sometimes there's way too much cheese and it's undercooked.

But overall, I find their pies to be incredibly flavorful in spite of the fact that they don't use fresh mozzarella. In fact, based on a disappointing visit to Totonno's about a month ago, I'd have to rate New Park far superior.

And they do sell slices. Also, even if they have a full pie on the counter, if you order a whole pie, they always make it fresh. Aside from pie orders, they don't pre-prepare any pies with toppings. If you want toppings on a slice, they add the toppings and then put it back in the oven. Note also that when they reheat slices, they generally reheat them in the regular oven, not the brick oven.

>>Something like 30% of American adults didn't end up being obese from eating pizza in moderation

That's not even in the biggest issue. It's glycemic levels. Diabetes is becoming an epidemic and it's largely because our diets comprise of simple carbs (sugars and starches).

Yes, there's nothing wrong with an occassional slice of pizza. But when you had some fast food cheesy egg thing with eggs and sausage for breakfast on a white bread roll and a burger for lunch with french fries and a 32 oz soda and then pizza for dinner, there's a problem and that's how many people eat.

If you're underweight and you have totally normal glycemic levels, then pizza is a fine food for you. But for everyone else, it's not no matter how much we love it and I do love great pizza.

I don't think Shack is an "In and Out" ripoff. I went to the "In and Out" in Westwood and found to be a very slight improvement over McDonald's. I think Shack is way better from every perspective.

I also sampled the midtown-west side Shack and thought it not as good as MSP, but I wasn't sure why.

One thing I've noticed is that Shack used to serve the burgers with an amazingly good red onion and the last time I went, the onions were ordinary. The tomatoes might be out of season, but they are tasty.

And I also don't think that 5 Guys is better. For one thing, 5 Guys will only cook burgers well done. That's a deal breaker for me. I do like their fries, though.

But since those outings, I'm now on a virtually carb-free diet and none of those burgers taste good enough to eat without a roll, so it will be a while before I partake again -- unless I cave, of course.