Location: 303 Lexington, corner of 37th Street
It's a convenient after work location, if you do in fact work in the area, but the fact that we went out to Blind Tiger Ale House afterwards, versus staying and drinking at the bar, says it all.
http://www.rarebarandgrill.com/lexington.php
SBE Score: 72
Leila was waivering about Rare, but a long email chain later, on top of a long week, we arrived in Murray Hill, ish? To get to the rooftop bar, you go through the side entrance on 37th street, and up. It was kinda cool, the service was ok, the drinks were EXPENSIVE. $9 for a bud light? really? After about an hour of catching up, we went to the restaurant and were able to get a table immediately.
The menu is overwhelming and we anticipated that we make feel that 'overfull' feeling, similar to Five Napkin Burger. We tried to stay somewhat true and consistent, so we avoided the organic lean beef, the steak 'burger,' and the bison burger. The orders....
Kate: Artisanal Burger $11 - Cheeseburger of the day - Medium Rare (Today's was Teriyaki sauce burger with a fried onion ring, lettuce, tomato, peppers, and what tasted like fried pineapple) [side note: learn how to pronounce artisanal]
Luke: Classic $9 - Medium Rare, plus cheddar cheese and caramelized onions
Brian and Leila shared a Classic with American Cheese, and an M and M $15 (flambeyed in whiskey, with caramelized shallots, cheddar cheese, and bacon)
Above: Luke's Classic, Leila's Class
Below: Kate's Artisanal, Brian's M and M
Burger Patty:
Burger Experience:
Fried Pickles: 5 [3-7] ... (I'm not sure why Brian gave these a 7... no one seemed to like them)
Below: wine with dinner, wine with dinner, fried pickles
It's hard to describe what this place is like. Maybe it's having an identity crisis, but it has elements of a steakhouse and elements of a California Pizza Kitchen. We gave it a score of 82, because we couldn't really say it was better or worse than Five Napkin Burger. The two images below are in favor of the CPK comparison. The $15 price tag on a burger is the counter argument. Having said that, we ordered a bottle of red (from Washington State, if anyone's interested) and our total bill ended up being $120, plus tip.
Leila was waivering about Rare, but a long email chain later, on top of a long week, we arrived in Murray Hill, ish? To get to the rooftop bar, you go through the side entrance on 37th street, and up. It was kinda cool, the service was ok, the drinks were EXPENSIVE. $9 for a bud light? really? After about an hour of catching up, we went to the restaurant and were able to get a table immediately.
The menu is overwhelming and we anticipated that we make feel that 'overfull' feeling, similar to Five Napkin Burger. We tried to stay somewhat true and consistent, so we avoided the organic lean beef, the steak 'burger,' and the bison burger. The orders....
Kate: Artisanal Burger $11 - Cheeseburger of the day - Medium Rare (Today's was Teriyaki sauce burger with a fried onion ring, lettuce, tomato, peppers, and what tasted like fried pineapple) [side note: learn how to pronounce artisanal]
Luke: Classic $9 - Medium Rare, plus cheddar cheese and caramelized onions
Brian and Leila shared a Classic with American Cheese, and an M and M $15 (flambeyed in whiskey, with caramelized shallots, cheddar cheese, and bacon)
Above: Luke's Classic, Leila's Class
Below: Kate's Artisanal, Brian's M and M
Burger Patty:
- M and M: 7.5 [7-8] anndddd M and M wins for patty!!!
- Classic: 6.6 [6-7]
- Artisanal: 7
Burger Experience:
- M and M: 7.1 [6-8.5] anndddd M and M wins for experience!!!
- Classic: 6.6 [6.5-7]
- Artisanal: 7.5
Fried Pickles: 5 [3-7] ... (I'm not sure why Brian gave these a 7... no one seemed to like them)
Below: wine with dinner, wine with dinner, fried pickles
It's hard to describe what this place is like. Maybe it's having an identity crisis, but it has elements of a steakhouse and elements of a California Pizza Kitchen. We gave it a score of 82, because we couldn't really say it was better or worse than Five Napkin Burger. The two images below are in favor of the CPK comparison. The $15 price tag on a burger is the counter argument. Having said that, we ordered a bottle of red (from Washington State, if anyone's interested) and our total bill ended up being $120, plus tip.
It's a convenient after work location, if you do in fact work in the area, but the fact that we went out to Blind Tiger Ale House afterwards, versus staying and drinking at the bar, says it all.
