7th Street Burger, NYC

I don't seek out fast food that often.  I don't seek out burgers that often these days (although, many years ago, I hosted a weekly burger night, where we went to get burgers from places all over San Francisco, ranging from fast casual to high end steakhouses that served burgers only in limited quantities in their bar, etc).  Yet I was very excited recently when I got to finally try 7th Street Burgers, when my office had a special event at Barclay's Center, and they were one of the vendors.  I was so impressed by that first encounter, I quickly sought them out back in Manhattan at their regular stores.

"Craveable smash burgers, loaded fries, and late-night bites. 7th Street Burger serves fast, greasy goodness across NYC, Brooklyn, DC, and beyond."

7th Street Burgers has been on my radar for a while, often sited as a great, affordable, smashburger around New York.  The concept is fast casual, and pricing is lower than pretty much anywhere else.  The chain started in the East Village in June 2021, and has a slew of locations now in New York, New Jersey, and DC.  They are known for, well, the smash burgers.

"A "smash burger" is made by smashing the meat patty on the grill, creating a crispy outer crust while keeping the center of the burger juicy. Our house sauce brings the whole experience to the next level!"

7th Street has a very streamlined menu.  Cheeseburger or spicy cheese burger (with jalapeños and ghost pepper sauce).  All have onions cooked in.  Single or double. Vegetarian impossible burger option.  Fries, loaded or not.  And that is it.  No sides besides fries.  No fresh vegetables, e.g. lettuce/tomato as toppings.  No appetizers.  No desserts.  No chicken, salads, etc.  Heck, they don't even have a non-cheeseburger on the menu.  No ability to specify the done-ness of your burger.  Smash burger, the way they make it, and fries. That is it.  I'm sure this helps keeps costs down.

Visit #1: June 2026, Barclays Center

My first visit was to their stand at Barclays Center, just a concession stand.

Cheeseburger & Fries.

Since I was at a concession stand at Barclays, things were even more streamlined - the burgers were already made, and just handed over in a tray.   We had no choices, just the cheeseburger and regular fries.  They were handling steady lines so items were actually fairly fresh, but, obviously not quite the same as ordering at a real location.

Fries.

"Crispy, golden fries with a perfectly salted exterior and fluffy interior."

The fries did not impress me.  They were very generic, very simple, basic fries.  Not particularly flavorful, not particularly anything.  They just were.  With Fuku right around the corner with seasoned very crispy waffle fries, why would you ever pick these?

One of my co-workers however did like them, saying, they were "basic but not badly executed if that makes sense. I.e. they are crispy, not soggy, but lacking any good seasoning."  He was right, they were that, but to me, that didn't make them worth eating.  I was glad someone else wanted them.  2.5/5.

At their regular stores, these are $4.50.

Cheeseburger.

"Single patty, 100% fresh beef burger served with American cheese, grilled onions, pickles and house sauce on a Martin's potato bun."

The burger though.  That was something else entirely.

Wow.  Um.  This was good.  Really good.  Really satisfying.  And yes I'm talking about basically a fast food burger, not even from their own store, but from a stadium concession stand.  I then really, really wanted to try one at their real restaurants!

But backing up.  I really liked everything about this.  The burger had a great char.  Loved the crispy edges.  The beef was nicely seasoned.  It was fairly juicy inside for a thin burger.  The cheese was well distributed and perfectly melty.  Plenty of it, but not overwhelming.  Simple American, nothing more needed.  Yay for grilled onions and pickles.  Creamy flavorful house sauce (although I did add a bit more ketchup on some of the edge bits that had no sauce).  No "fresh" elements like tomato or lettuce, but I didn't mind. This was just a very satisfying burger base!

And then the bun.  Unlike most fast food or fast casual buns, this was not a generic bun at all.  Flavorful Martin's potato bun with a bit of sweetness.  Lightly toasted.  I often do lettuce wraps or open-faced burgers because I want to taste more of the burger/toppings and want to have more fries/sides and don't want to fill up on bun, but this was a bun I gladly devoured.

I truly enjoyed every bite of this, and can't wait to get another.  4.5/5.  Yes, for a concession stand burger (but again, it isn't trying to be a thick, mid-rare, truffle topped, $30 burger.  It is a cheap smashburger.  But a damn good one!).  At their regular stores, this is $6.50.  Insane value.

Visit #2: June 2026, Times Square Location

So, uh, a few days later I visited a real location, the one near Times Square, when the Knicks won a game in the finals, and 7th Street gave out 777 free burgers, and I of course snagged one.  You know how much I love my freebies!

Sidewalk.

Outside on the very busy sidewalk was two tables only, standing room, for devouring burgers on the spot, which I saw several people do, in impressive record time.

Counter.

Inside was a simple ordering counter, old school Coca-Cola branded menu board, and some booths.  The music was loud, the place had grit.  I liked it even more.

Cheeseburger.  $6.50.

The burger looked nearly identical to the one from the concession stand, slightly less scorch mark on the top of the bun, slightly less beef overhang, but, very close.  The bun did seem perhaps a bit softer, a bit more fresh.

Cheeseburger: Inside.

Inside was the real difference ... while it had all the expected cubes of grilled onions, it did not have any pickles!  I loved the pickles last time, and they should have been included.  Alas.

The onions were good, the cheese was perfectly melty, the sauce well distributed, the burger was nicely charred.  All just very nicely done for this style of burger.  3.5/5.

Visit #3: June 2026 - Flatiron Location

A week later, another visit, this time I picked the Flatiron location just to try somewhere new.  Also, yes, another freebie when the Knicks won again.

Spicy Jalapeño Burger. $7.

"Single patty, 100% fresh beef burger served with American cheese, grilled onions, jalapeños and ghost pepper sauce on a Martin's potato bun."

Next I tried the only other burger, the spicy jalapeño one.  Same basic burger, but this swaps in jalapeños for the pickles (a loss to me actually, I love the pickles) and uses ghost pepper sauce instead of their house sauce.  I got this mostly for completeness and curiosity, not because it sounded better to me than the basic cheeseburger.

I was a bit sad to see it seemed made with less care - the burger had part ripped off, and it wasn't warm, even though I had arrived ahead of my pickup time, it clearly was ready much earlier.  It seemed less juicy and less charred as well.  It did have the best bun toasting of any so far though.

Spicy Jalapeño: Inside.

I was also a bit sad to see the jalapeños were raw.  I somehow thought they'd be cooked and maybe chopped up like the onions.  They were just raw jalapeños.  I'd definitely go back to the pickles in the future.

As for the ghost pepper sauce, it was fine, a bit spicy, creamy, but there was only a pool of it in the middle of the bottom, so I found it didn't spread much onto the rest of the burger.

My least favorite burger so far, partially because I prefer pickles/house sauce over the jalapeños/ghost pepper sauce, partially because it was less fresh, partially because it just didn't seem as well made. 3/5.

Visit #4: June 2026 - Times Square Location

So I went back to the Times Square location, also wondering if location made a difference.

Spicy Jalapeño Burger ($7) + Extra Onions ($1).

Ok, this was the worst made one so far.

The bun had no toasted mark on top at all.  I ordered extra onions, and got the regular amount.  If anything, it had less than usual.  The cheese was barely melted.  The patty was dry.

Spicy Jalapeño Burger: SO MUCH JALAPENO!

The burger was loaded with jalapeños.  I ordered extra onions, regular jalapeños.  Did they just mix those up?  It had jalapeño under the top bun as well.  Way way too much raw jalapeño.  And where were my onions!

This was just not well prepared, on any level - the bun lack of toasting, the burger dryness and cheese not melted, the lack of customization followed ... if it was my first one from here, I never would have returned.  3/5, everything did taste good but wow, execution was off.

Visit #5: June 2026 - Times Square Location

Impossible Burger ($8)
w/ extra onions ($1), pickles ($0.50).

"Single Impossible patty served with American cheese, grilled onions, pickles and house sauce on a Martin's potato bun."

At first glance, the Impossible burger really did look exactly the same as the regular.  Same thin smashed patty, etc.  The patty had decent char on it.  The bun was lightly marked on top.  But closer examination showed the patty didn't crumble apart in quite the same way.  Still, this is the closest thing I've ever seen to a vegetarian smashburger.

This costs $1.50 more than the regular beef version.

Impossible Burger: Inside.

The patty was decent, it tasted like any other Impossible burger I've ever had, albeit more thin than I've had at other places.   It tastes vaguely meaty, with a slightly odd taste that makes you realize it isn't beef, but the texture and look are pretty close.  With enough cheese and special sauce, and my extra pickles and onions, it was pretty easy to nearly miss the fact it was a veggie burger.

Slight point miss though because the cheese was barely melted.  Overall though, good if you want a vegetarian option, or just aren't feeling like red meat.  I'd get it again if I was in the mood for that.  3.5/5.

Double Cheeseburger ($9.50).
w/ extra cheese ($1), extra onions ($1), extra pickles ($0.50).

"Double patty, 100% fresh beef burger served with American cheese, grilled onions, pickles and house sauce on a Martin's potato bun."

My next order I went big.  A double.

This guy weighed a lot!  Very noticeably heavier than my previous single burgers, as you'd expect since it is a double.  And was considerably more greasy than any previous burgers, likely due to the double cheese and beef?  The wrapper was totally saturated in oil.  It was also a bit mushed together and slightly hard to eat as it was bulging out of the bun.

I got this to compare the experience of the double to a single mostly, and because the single really is a kinda small burger compared to a standard burger elsewhere, so I thought this would be more like getting a quarter pounder or something, although I realize now that two of these patties are still much bigger than a regular McDonald's quarter pounder, as they are 3 ounces each (so, 6 ounces for double, quarter pounder is obviously 4 ounces).  

Anyway.  This was a tasty pile of meat and onions and cheese and pickles loosely held together by buns doing a valiant effort, but I wouldn't really recommend a double as it is just a bit hard to navigate (perhaps fork and knife would be better?).  Everything in it was good though, melty cheese, tasty onions, creamy sauce, nicely charred patties.  4/5.