We're always doing our subway transfers at the Union Square stop and we decided to eat at the goodburger at 870 Broadway, between 17th & 18th. They're a chain so they have three other locations in Midtown. This Union Square location was hectic with the business lunch crowd.
The good: The burgers are cooked the way you want it. I ordered my cheeseburger ($6.75) medium well and it was cooked perfectly to my liking. They also give you the option of getting your burger with the works (lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, ketchup, mustard, and mayo) or selecting what you want in there. I opted for just lettuce and onions. It beats having to peel the things you don't want off your burger. And yes, that's lettuce on my burger that I chose to have - I don't know what's becoming of me.
The average: The onion rings ($3.25) were just OK. Nothing special. Some of them were falling apart. Granted, we had no problem finishing them all up. Pop Burger's onion rings were better.
The bad: The turkey burger ($6.95) was dry. It was also a bit unusual and unexpected, and not in the happy surprise kind of way - it came with onions and peppers stuffed inside the meat of the burger, as opposed to on top of the meat.
goodburger's company mantra is that they are all about freshness. Their burgers are made from fresh 100% pure Hereford beef, free of additives, fillers and preservatives of any kind. They also state that their butchers carefully hand-cut and grind the beef in their own facility, maintaining total control over the production of every burger. The burgers are grilled fresh to order. Their vegetables are delivered fresh to their stores every morning. There are no microwaves at their restaurant. They make their fries from 100% pure, cholesterol-free, zero trans-fat vegetable oil. Maybe all this "freshness" has something to do with some of their steep prices.
And they say they make their milkshakes with "real ice cream from Vermont." What does ice cream from Vermont taste like? What the hell does ice cream from Rhode Island or Wisconsin taste like? We hear their milkshakes are one of the best in town, but we wanted to budget for lunch so we didn't want to fork over the $5.50 to $7.00 for one milkshake.
This place was average. We're not sure if we would make a second visit for an overpriced meal that should be affordable. The Golden Arch across the street might be the better choice the next time we're hungry in Union Square.
