Restaurant in New York City, United States
Cash-only counter, consistently worth it.
Burger Joint has earned its place on Opinionated About Dining's Cheap Eats list three years running and holds a Pearl Recommended designation for 2025. Walk-in only, no reservations, open daily until 10 pm inside the Parker Meridien on West 56th Street. Go at lunch on a weekday for the shortest queue and the best version of the experience.
Yes — and it has been for years. Burger Joint at the Parker Meridien has ranked on Opinionated About Dining's Cheap Eats list for three consecutive years, including a jump from #332 in 2024 to #365 in 2025, and holds a Pearl Recommended designation for 2025. With a 4.3 Google rating across more than 8,600 reviews, this is not a place running on novelty. If you have been once and are wondering whether to go back, the answer is yes — and if you are deciding between this and a more polished burger option in Midtown, Burger Joint is almost certainly the better call on value and speed.
The first thing you notice is the curtain. Hidden inside the lobby of the Parker Meridien hotel on West 56th Street, the entrance to Burger Joint is deliberately low-key: a neon sign visible just past a heavy curtain, walls covered in years of graffiti and marker scrawl, and a tight counter setup that makes the room feel more like a late-night dive than a hotel restaurant. That visual contrast , marble lobby outside, scratched-up wood inside , is part of the draw, but it is not a gimmick that wears thin. The room is small and loud and moves fast, which shapes the entire experience.
If you have been before, you already know the format: pick your burger, pick your add-ons, eat quickly, leave. There is no real reason to linger. The space rewards people who come in knowing what they want, order at the counter, and grab a spot wherever they can find one. It is not a place for long conversations or a slow lunch. It is, however, a place worth returning to precisely because the execution has stayed consistent across years of high volume , which is harder than it sounds for a walk-in counter operation in central Midtown.
Lunch is the better time to come. The room opens at 9 am and the midday window, particularly between 11:30 am and 1 pm on weekdays, offers the most manageable queue without sacrificing the energy that makes the place work. Dinner, especially after 7 pm, gets significantly more crowded and the wait can stretch in ways that do not suit the format , you are eating a burger, not a tasting menu, so a 45-minute queue at dinner changes the value calculation.
For a return visitor, lunch on a weekday hits the right balance: enough buzz to feel like the real thing, fast enough to fit into a broader afternoon. If your schedule only allows for an evening visit, aim for 5:30 to 6 pm before the post-theatre and hotel crowd arrives. Saturday evenings are the most chaotic and least efficient time to come. Sunday lunch, by contrast, tends to run at a more relaxed pace.
Compared to other strong burger options in New York City, Burger Joint sits in a different lane than 5 Napkin Burger (sit-down, table service, broader menu) or DuMont Burger (Brooklyn-focused, more neighbourhood feel). It is closer in format to Hamburger America or the counter style of 7th Street Burger, but with a Midtown location that makes it uniquely accessible for visitors staying near Central Park or heading through the area. Shake Shack is the easier, more predictable option if you want no queue risk , but Burger Joint delivers more character and a better patty.
For burger lovers who have explored outside New York, the counter-and-grill format here is comparable in spirit to Amboy Quality Meats & Delicious Burgers in Los Angeles or Aldebaran in Tokyo , all three prioritise focused execution over atmosphere or range.
No reservation is needed or possible. This is a walk-in counter operation, open seven days a week from 9 am to 10 pm. Booking difficulty is rated Easy , show up, join the queue, order at the counter. The only real planning required is choosing your timing, which is covered above. There is no dress code and no minimum spend. It is one of the most accessible high-quality burger options in Midtown, which is a large part of why it continues to perform consistently on the OAD Cheap Eats list year after year.
If Burger Joint is part of a broader New York trip, see our full New York City restaurants guide, our full New York City hotels guide, our full New York City bars guide, our full New York City wineries guide, and our full New York City experiences guide. For fine dining on the same trip, the contrast with Alinea in Chicago, The French Laundry in Napa, or Lazy Bear in San Francisco illustrates just how wide the American dining spectrum runs.
Quick reference: Walk-in only, open daily 9 am–10 pm, 119 W 56th St, New York, NY 10019. No reservations, no dress code.
You do not need to book at all. Burger Joint is walk-in only and does not take reservations. The only timing consideration is when you show up: weekday lunch between 11:30 am and 1 pm is the most efficient window. Avoid Saturday evenings if you want a short wait. For context, getting a table at nearby Midtown fine dining venues like Per Se or Le Bernardin requires weeks of advance planning , Burger Joint is the rare Midtown option where you can decide to go and be eating within the hour.
Lunch is better, and it is not particularly close. The queues are shorter, the room moves faster, and the experience aligns with what the format is actually built for. Dinner after 7 pm brings longer waits that do not suit a counter burger operation. If you can only go at dinner, target 5:30–6 pm. Sunday lunch is the most relaxed visit across the whole week. The burger itself does not change between meals , the difference is purely logistical, which matters a lot when there are no seats and no reservations.
The menu is short by design. Burger Joint's three consecutive appearances on the Opinionated About Dining Cheap Eats list signal that the core burger is the reason to come , this is not a kitchen with a wide repertoire. Order the burger, know your preference on doneness, and keep the order simple. As a returning visitor, the consistent execution across years of high volume is the clearest signal that the standard build is the right call. This is not a place to experiment with off-menu variations or complex customisation.
There is no bar in the traditional sense. Burger Joint is a counter-service operation with limited seating , you order at the counter and eat wherever space is available, which may mean standing or sharing a surface. This is part of the format and worth knowing before you arrive, particularly if you are coming with a group or expecting a seated dining experience. For a more comfortable Midtown burger experience with table service, 5 Napkin Burger is the better option. Burger Joint rewards flexibility.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| burger joint | Hamburgers | Opinionated About Dining Cheap Eats in North America Ranked #365 (2025); Pearl Recommended Restaurant (2025); Opinionated About Dining Cheap Eats in North America Ranked #332 (2024); Opinionated About Dining Cheap Eats in North America in Recommended (2023) | Easy | — | |
| Le Bernardin | French, Seafood | $$$$ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Atomix | Modern Korean, Korean | $$$$ | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Eleven Madison Park | French, Vegan | $$$$ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Masa | Sushi, Japanese | $$$$ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Per Se | French, Contemporary | $$$$ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
How burger joint stacks up against the competition.
No booking is possible or needed — Burger Joint is strictly walk-in. Arrive before the midday rush (before 11:30am on weekdays) or after 2pm to avoid the longest waits. The counter is open daily from 9am to 10pm, so timing your visit is the only planning required.
Lunch wins, specifically the late-morning window from opening at 9am through around 11am. You get shorter lines and a less compressed room. Dinner draws a post-work and tourist crowd that stretches the wait considerably, without any change to the food or value.
The menu is short by design — a hamburger or cheeseburger, fries, and a shake are the core options. Burger Joint has ranked on Opinionated About Dining's Cheap Eats in North America list in 2023, 2024, and 2025, which speaks to the consistency of what it does. Order the cheeseburger; that is what the reputation is built on.
There is no bar at Burger Joint. It is a counter-service operation with limited seating — tables and some standing room inside the small space off the Parker Meridien lobby. If a seat is not available when you order, you wait or eat standing. The format is fast-casual, not sit-down dining.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
