BurgerClub

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Going the way of luxury condos, McHale's and its' dark wooden atmosphere will be soon left to memories... just another guest in the way it was heaven of nYc past. A true respite from the brightly lit Times Sq. and Broadway marquees... an establishment that made you feel like a local in a part of town that caters to transients and over priced crap.



Well, I'm glad that I got to say my adieu to the ginormous hubcap burger McHale's has been serving for over the past 50 some odd years.


(merBurger with no cheese... and a pile of bacon on Karlo's burger)

For the price, this 10-12-oz burger is a serious deal for nYc... but I for one am getting tired of super sized burgers. It seems that I'm in the minority in the world of CitySearch reviews and other web lists... like Paul's Palace on 2nd ave. these burgers all get high scores... some give top honors to Paul's and McHale's. I for one would rather eat two smaller Burger Joint (parker Meridian) or J.G. Melon burgers and pay a little bit more than eat an über burger that isn't as flavorful and ends up leaving me with a burger bloat.



Now, I wouldn't say it was a bad burger. But I can't say much more than B- or B at best for this guy... the positives are definitely the price for the amount of food and the excellent flame broiled exterior char to pink interior... I'm a big fan of that flame kissed taste. These burgers must be cooked with a hot flame as by the look of the toasted bun and cheese melt, you can see that the few seconds they were being toasted/melted, was borderline on being burnt... not a bad thing, if done right. And Mchale's does the flame broiled thing right.


(starts off looking oh so sexy... but half way through, it became an overcooked, dry, too tighlty packed meat puck)

One true test of a good burger is the ability of your elbows to be part of the tasting... for your fries to mix with the burger drip... and for the meat to hold together only long enough to go from hand to mouth. McHale's burger really had no elements of elbow grease, juice was lacking, and the meat in my opinion wasn't loose enough (check out the close up). I also found my self looking for the salt shaker a couple times and was glad that there was a healthy amount of iceberg lettuce to contrast the dry-ish meat.

Mchale's serves a solid Bacon Cheese Burger (just look at the entire pigs worth of bacon on Karlo's burger), but it's not the size of the meat boys, that makes a BurgerSeeker happy... it's the motion in the ocean? no no, that's not right... flavor and texture are what I seek.


("Mike Hunt, is there a Mike Hunt at the bar?")


McHale's: 750 8th Ave. (46th street) nYc

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lets eat!

just a little more juice and little more charred and it would make the grade but not bad at all - considering they even served salsa...

sooooon

I think b8cha has summed it up pretty well. Attending another pub-style burger was a pretty big challenge after many contenders have ranked failry high in this category. So i went to McHales with no a-priori and doubting that this burger could stand apart. And it did not. Besides a massive patty size, well charred but fairly insipid and dry at the end, with a nice piece of pepper jack lightly roasted in the oven along with the buns, no real great taste emerged from this baby. It sure ain't a bad burger, but i would need to be in a starving-student mood to consider McHales as my first choise, specially when you know that the excellent Burger Joint rules over the midtown area. So at the end, it is extremely average, not worth the detour...or any regret, since i understand that the place will close soon. Good bye! This is a B burger.

It was okkkkkkk.... I really wantt to love this burger given the overall charm of this 9th avenue dive bar but unfortunately, the patty didn't deliver. I was fortunate enough to order a medium rare and it came out more on the rare side - which gave it it's tender flavor. Mr. B order the same and his burger looked mighty charred. I would say it tasted more like a medium cooked burger. So - really not a memorable burger although the size was enormous. Folks...you can't fool us.... we will take grade "a" quality over quantity any day.