Wednesday, October 23, 2013

New in Grand Central: The Shake Shack

Not a place for Health Food

Some people like this new location a lot, some think of course it is not as good as it should be

On the whole pretty positive...biggest complaint is about the time spent waiting

Shake Shack

3.5 star rating
14 reviews Rating Details
49 Grand Central Terminal
Lower Level Dining Concourse

New York, NY 10017
Neighborhood: Midtown East
(646) 517-5804
Nearest Transit Station:
Grand Central - 42 St. (4, 5, 6, 6X)
Grand Central - 42 St. (S)
Grand Central - 42 St. (7, 7X)
Hours:
Mon-Sun 11 am - 10 pm
Accepts Credit Cards:
Yes
Good for Groups:
No
Takes Reservations:
No
Delivery:
No
Take-out:
Yes
Waiter Service:
No
Outdoor Seating:
No
Alcohol:
Beer & Wine Only
Drive-Thru:
No
Noise Level:
Loud
Has TV:
No
Caters:
No
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14 reviews in English

  • Review from

    Willow Springs, IL
    10/21/2013 4 photos 1 check-in here
    Dude. You have to try Shake Shack when you hit NYC!

    Dude, did you try Shake Shack?

    Wasn't it awwwwweeeesssoooome?

    Did you hit Shake Shack yet?

    Seriously, this is all I heard for weeks. My friends were even texting me to ensure that I'd tried it. And all right, it was okay. I liked what I ordered just fine. I had a SmokeShack, fries and a strawberry shake (which tasted exactly like a McDonald's strawberry shake to me).

    Was it good? Sure. I'd eat there again. Price was fair for Manhattan.

    The wait was a little long. Half an hour just to stand in the line. I understand they're new and all. Plus being in Grand Central adds to the cray cray of it. But I don't see what the big deal was. It was just a burger joint.

    Give 'em a try, but don't go out of your way.

    Have you tried 'em yet?

    Dude.
  • Review from

    • 30 friends
    • 9 reviews
    Scarsdale, NY
    10/22/2013
    Got to do something about the wait!!
    It has been 3 weeks now.
    This is grand central with people running to catch their train. You can't have people waiting 10 minutes to place an order and 15 minutes longer for their food.
    I understand the all concept. I guess it will be a lunch place for people working in the building or if you have an hour to kill before your train.
    Otherwise good burgers, but huge disappointment in the fries.
    Bring back the old ones.
    Good luck.
  • Review from

    Jersey City, NJ
    10/18/2013 2 photos 1 check-in here
    Shake Shack is by far one of my favorite burgers in NYC and when they opened up across the street from my office I was entranced with thoughts of flying magical shack burgers and rivers flowing full of shack sauce. And then I went back to work...

    Yes it is Grand Central and yes it is tourist heaven but it really doesn't matter because your about to get yourself an amazing burger.  And don't fret, the line which can wrap around the corner moves quickly and the employees are efficient and helpful.  My order consisted of a shack burger which was perfect I must say, a side of fries and a side of shack sauce.

    Now onto the reasons why I had to deduct a star :(  Firstly, the fries.  Not only does this location not have the original crinkle cut, which in my opinion are the 3rd best fry of all time after the curly and waffle versions, but they came out lukewarm and droopy.  Maybe it's me but I have a serious affliction for fries and I just thought it was pretty cool for Shake Shack to serve crinkle cut, because they are just that cool.  In any case the new fries are good, but would have been much better if served hot.

    Secondly, I asked for a side of shack sauce, yes do it, which they charge for and what I received was barely enough to cover the bottom of the dipping cup.  I know your busy but if your going to make us pay extra, then do it right.

    In any case, Shake Shack is awesome!
    • Shack burger and fries
    • Burger pron
  • Review from

    • 19 friends
    • 158 reviews
    Houston, TX
    10/15/2013
    This was a disappointing Shake Shack visit. I usually frequent the Madison Square one, but since we were in the area we stopped by the Grand Central one.

    The Shroom Burger arrived room temperature. It wasn't hot and steamy as I usually receive it and the fries were the same. When I bit into the Shroom burger, the cheese didn't gush out pipin' hot like it usually does. It still retained its liquid form, but it wasn't as hot as I expected it to be.

    I was also disappointed by the fact the fries were changed from crinkled cuts to the Idaho hand cut ones.  I was hoping for the crispy, crunchy crinkly fries, which I fell in love when when they originally opened.  I guess this visit proved to me that returning to Shake Shack was not worth it in the future.
  • Review from

    • 0 friends
    • 2 reviews
    New York, NY
    10/21/2013 1 check-in here
    First time here and it won't be the last!  Came here after 8pm and there were about 10 people in line. Decided to wait anyway and I'm glad I did. Shack Stack is reeeeally good! They also have vegetarian burger if you prefer not to eat meat.
  • Review from

    New York, NY
    10/11/2013 2 check-ins here
    Dear Shake Shack,

    It has been a love and hate relationship. You make me wait ALL THE TIME. Yet, you know how to cure my grumbling tummy problems with your deliciously juicy Shack Burgers and satisfy my sweet tooth cravings with your Crunch-stellations. You test my patience and I test your consistency. It's a never ending match of tug of war. So far, you have won me over with your consistency.
    Your new underground home certainly does not help tone down your popularity. With that line wrapping all the way around to the tunnel passageway, you make your neighbors in the dining concourse look bad. If you have not noticed, the guy in the deli stand across from you has been giving you death stares. I don't blame him. I hate to admit this but I think I'm starting to like you more...even if it means waiting 1.5 hrs for you.
  • Review from

    Manhattan, NY
    10/7/2013
    Sunday, 12pm.

    Lined up and waited about 10 minutes on line to order and another 10 minutes for the food to come out.  Ordered two hamburgers with everything, half and half shake, and fries.

    Food was coming out smoothly from the kitchen until it stopped at one point. It got me worried that something was wrong and I would have to wait longer..but my buzzer rumbled and my ass was shaking (since I left it in my back pocket) and it was time to pick up my order.

    Sat down and chomped into my hamburger.  The meat patty was pretty thin and a bit overcooked, but I was so hungry I didn't really care at that point.

    When I was eating the burger, I was thinking to myself this must be the worst Shake Shack out of all of them in the city (Battery Park being my favorite location) since the burger didn't taste up to par to what I've been used to at other locations in the city.   I really wished they kept the crinkle fries, but they are now thin hand-cut fries which wasn't too bad.  Shake was thick and creamy.

    The person handling and managing the line came over to my table and asked if everything was okay, I replied saying that the patty was over cooked.  He immediately asked what I ordered and if I want another fresh one since the one I have was not perfect.  I accepted his offered and the new fresh burger was brought to my table within 10 minutes.

    New burger that was brought out tasted much better and it had some thickness to the meat patty and cooked medium well, perfect.

    SERVICE WAS AWESOME and everyone was very friendly.  I can imagine this location will be the busiest out of any location in the nation since it's right in the middle of Grand Central Terminal.  So if you have a train to catch in less than 20 minutes, I would not order from here.  I did witness a group who had to catch a train and by the time they were waiting for their order, they had to cancel and ask for a refund because of their train schedule.
  • Review from

    • 188 friends
    • 149 reviews
    Long Island City, NY
    10/17/2013 1 check-in here
    What can I say about Shake Shack that I hasn't before been said either by me or millions of other patrons? Hell of a lot better burgers than Five Bros. and infinetely supperior to In-N-Out. The latest location--I believe--in Grand Cetral was a smashng success. New to the Shack are the handcut fries. Although my order of fries at the GCT liocation were almost burt. Nevertheless the burger was phoenominal and the staff was very attentive and friendly. Yet another home-run for this ever growing chain...
  • Review from

    • 13 friends
    • 88 reviews
    Manhattan, NY
    10/8/2013
    The Shake Shack franchise gets 5 stars in general for being consistently excellent at every location (this one included), but I'm deducting a star because this location won't be serving the custard of the day. They don't offer any mix-ins/toppings for concretes or custard either, or at least they aren't listed on the menu.

    The line also crawled. I blame this not on the employees, who all seemed to have it together, but the TONS of absolutely clueless tourists on line who took forever to place their orders. I guess this will improve a little as the staff figures out how to handle them, but GCT will always be filled with tourists.

    So this location falls somewhere between Citi Field and a full one in terms of offerings. But it's still a Shake Shack near my apartment!
  • Review from

    • 22 friends
    • 18 reviews
    Crown Point, IN
    10/5/2013 First to Review
    Best burger I've ever had!
    The smoke shack double was incredible!  Strawberry shake, outstanding!
    Greeted by friendly staff during the first week since this location opened, everything was awesome!
  • Review from

    West New York, NJ
    10/10/2013 1 check-in here
    Awesome new location for them.. Really popular but they still get the job done.. Only one line though but it moves pretty quickly..Happy theres another alternative location in midtown now. Yum!  The location's signature concrete will have a vanilla custard base mixed with malt, Valrhona chocolate crunchie, and toffee, forming the "GCT Crunch-stellation," a nod to the historic space's ceiling.  VERY GOOD!
  • Review from

    • 0 friends
    • 40 reviews
    New York, NY
    10/17/2013
    I love me some shake shack but this is the absolute worst location of all the shake shacks I've ever visited.  Madison Square park reigns #1 followed by Times Square location.  I don't care too much about the location I mean it's grand central everything is packed and I usually take my food to go but when it comes to the food that's where I have a problem.  First off what happened to the crinkle fries????? I haven't been to Shake Shack in a while so I dont' know if it's just this location or all the locations but did they change their fries from the crinkle cut to these other ones??? WHYYYYY??? If aint' broke don't fix it!!!!! Their fries are one of the best things they got aside from their burgers!!!  Second the burgers did not live up to the burgers I know Shake Shack serves, on top of that the mushroom on top was not cooked properly.  If this was my first time visiting Shake Shack I would think people were crazy for rating this place 5 stars and I definitely would NOT be coming back but I know what "real" shake shack taste like and this location FAILS.
  • Review from

    • 3 friends
    • 64 reviews
    Manhattan, NY
    10/7/2013 5 photos 1 check-in here
    The line is worth the wait. Make sure to get extra shack sauce on your burger and a side of sauce for your fries.
    • Long line at 12
    • Up the hill.
    • Long wait for food once you receive the buzzer.
  • Review from

    • 0 friends
    • 1 review
    Manhattan, NY
    10/6/2013 1 photo
    As authentic and delicious as I remember it to be as the original Shake Shack at Madison Sq Park!
    • Shake Shack at Grand Central

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