JeffB wrote:Kampy kitsch, big burgers and faulty syllogism.

But was it a tasty burger?

Don't know. Just know the place is big in California. That was the point.

I went a couple weeks ago (I think July 1). I took a friend that loves Kampy Kitsch and she just loved it, although she didn't pay. The total bill was about $35 for a burger, a chicken sandwich and an appetizer.

The appetizer was supposed to be a mix of poppers and deep fried cheese stuffed olives. The olive bites were actually olive pieces mixed with cheese and deep fried, but were tasty. Unfortunately, it was about three pieces of each in a martini glass for $6.95.

I probably will be back the next time tourists are in town and want to eat at a fun spot.

Sad to see that this is what replaced Cafe Boost...just too many coffee joints on that end of Andersonville. I live on Argyle near clark and as I have said since I moved in...I would be willing to trade one of the gay bars on our end for one of the coffe shops on the North end, at 7:30 in the morning I could use a no foam latte rather than....well, whatever it is (or whoever it is) they are serving at Man's Country at that time.

I live near Hamburger Mary's and can't bring myself to go in. The food that is being brought out just doesn't look worth it to me - monetarily or calorie-wise.

I should probably get over the neighbor grudge I have with them and at least try it once - maybe when it is cooler and the newness of it wears off. Until then, I'm going to Huey's. The hamburger is nothing to write home about, but the chicken (marinated! grilled!) garden salad coupled with those weird cheese sauce cheese fries is somehow exactly what I want at least twice a month. Colleen and her family worked their rears off to get Huey's up and running - to walk by and see half their former business across the street makes me hurt for them.

My beef of the moment with HM is that they are now painting a mural on the side of their building that is remarkably similiar to the one inside Huey's. I know, I know - that's a neighbor kvetch, not a restaurant kvetch - but it still pisses me off!

Stopped in for a hangover lunch with a friend yesterday. Had burgers and fries, which were both o.k., but a over cooked even after requesting medium. The buns got soggy which made it pretty hard to pick up and eat. Two burgers with 2 Bloody Marys came to a little over $40 with tip. Fun enough place and glad I tried it, but in no hurry to go back.

Ate there on Friday night. Service was good (6 of us), and food was fast. We had the combo appz with the poppers, chicken, and cheese filled goo. My wife had chicken sandwich, while I had banzai-type burger. Interesting decor. Decent beer selection. Overall, i'd give it a 7/10.

Milk wrote:Ate there on Friday night. Service was good (6 of us), and food was fast. We had the combo appz with the poppers, chicken, and cheese filled goo. My wife had chicken sandwich, while I had banzai-type burger. Interesting decor. Decent beer selection. Overall, i'd give it a 7/10.

What goes on a banzai-type burger?

we had one in DC briefly. It felt--and functioned--much like a gay-theme Bennigans or Ruby Tuesday: phony, silly, mediocre in all respects—especially the grossly oversize, cheap-beef burgers. It was quite popular with bachelorettes feeling campy. I don't think anyone misses it.

We went last Saturday night and the burger was okay. Was it a Beinlich's? No. Even with the wine marinade and a slice of swiss, overcooked is overcooked (We all specified medium rare, we got medium shading into well).
But who can resist trying to eat a wimpy in the middle of "Night at the Roxbury"?

Ugh. I went to Hamburger Mary's last night--okay, I was taken there against my will, having read this thread like a good girl--and Holy Smokes was it bad. Seriously. It's a burger place, and yet they don't ask you how you want your burger cooked? Well I'll tell you when I suspect it was cooked: hours beforehand. Our burgers were brown. No, not browned, just brown. Flat, brown disks of dry meat(product). And the "kitsch" factor was pretty weak, my friends. No more kitschy than your neighborhood Applebee's. Ooh, they're showing episodes of Mary Tyler Moore on their umpteen tvs while playing vaguely bad 80s songs on their naughtily loud stereo system! How kicky!

Thank God I wasn't paying.

ps. Our server and our bartender were both very nice. That's the only good thing I can say about this place.

Christopher Gordon wrote:

Milk wrote:Ate there on Friday night. Service was good (6 of us), and food was fast. We had the combo appz with the poppers, chicken, and cheese filled goo. My wife had chicken sandwich, while I had banzai-type burger. Interesting decor. Decent beer selection. Overall, i'd give it a 7/10.

What goes on a banzai-type burger?

banzai-type meaning it was a replica of the Banzai Burger from the Red Robin chain in the suburbs.

Milk wrote:

Christopher Gordon wrote:

Milk wrote:Ate there on Friday night. Service was good (6 of us), and food was fast. We had the combo appz with the poppers, chicken, and cheese filled goo. My wife had chicken sandwich, while I had banzai-type burger. Interesting decor. Decent beer selection. Overall, i'd give it a 7/10.

What goes on a banzai-type burger?

banzai-type meaning it was a replica of the Banzai Burger from the Red Robin chain in the suburbs.

the question remains: what goes on it?

Christopher Gordon wrote:

Milk wrote:

Christopher Gordon wrote:

Milk wrote:Ate there on Friday night. Service was good (6 of us), and food was fast. We had the combo appz with the poppers, chicken, and cheese filled goo. My wife had chicken sandwich, while I had banzai-type burger. Interesting decor. Decent beer selection. Overall, i'd give it a 7/10.

What goes on a banzai-type burger?

banzai-type meaning it was a replica of the Banzai Burger from the Red Robin chain in the suburbs.

the question remains: what goes on it?

The Banzai Burger™

Marinated in teriyaki and topped with grilled pineapple, Cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and mayo.

From Here

Banzai Burger

Marinated in teriyaki and topped with grilled pineapple, Cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and mayo.

edit: I lose!

Red Robin - Woodfield Mall
120J Woodfield Mall
Schaumburg, IL 60173
(847) 517-4476

Red Robin - Bolingbrook
250 N. Weber Rd.
Bolingbrook, IL 60440
(630) 759-3036

Panther in the Den wrote:Red Robin - Woodfield Mall
120J Woodfield Mall
Schaumburg, IL 60173
(847) 517-4476

Red Robin - Bolingbrook
250 N. Weber Rd.
Bolingbrook, IL 60440
(630) 759-3036

thank you, that does sound good in an awful way:

I am unfamiliar with these, how do you say, "suburbs."

Christopher Gordon wrote:[I am unfamiliar with these, how do you say, "suburbs."

H Mary's is a scam. I had the standard cheeseburger and the closest comparision I can make is Burger King. But BK doesn't cost $10!

Now the place across the street, Huey's, they have a good burger and better fries---which ifyou ask, you can get a 1/2 order [not on the menu] for only $1.

Andersonville as an eating destination has gone downhill for me as it has grown upscale. Now we need a $10 hamburger stand? I fondly recall the *old* Andies, before it became middle eastern disneyland. It was just 10 tables or so, the actual Andi behind the grill, no waiters, no wine list, no rissoto. The greek and lebanese food was better and the price was half. Something like Taste of Lebanon only more tasty.

Christopher Gordon wrote:I am unfamiliar with these, how do you say, "suburbs."

Better get familiar, unless you're going to reduce yourself to Faux Gras... or maybe Free Gras with expensive potatoes.

Better get familiar, unless you're going to reduce yourself to Faux Gras... or maybe Free Gras with expensive potatoes.

Surely someone should make a "Free Gras" t-shirt a la the classic "Free Winona".

I don't think I'll be going back to Hamburger Mary's anytime soon.

I live walking distance and have been wanting to try it since moving back from NYC.

First off, it took way too long for us to be seated. We walked inside and stood for a few minutes in the half empty restaurant where servers walked by, never acknowledging us or saying that someone would be right with us.

Our server wasn't overly friendly and after taking our orders came back once, almost as an afterthought, as we were finishing up our meal. I would have liked to have asked for a glass of water, but by then there was no point.

But the biggest disappointment were the burgers. There are two things that make a burger great for me: quality/flavor of the meat and the bun. Either can win me over for having special attention given to them. The Mary Burger had no character and was ruined by their "special sauce", which my boyfriend pointed out seemed awfully "Big Mac"-like. I'd compare them to Red Robin, which I really dislike.

The fries were overseasoned and the potato salad less than spectacular.

Overall, my whole experience was completely underwhelming. Maybe I didn't know what I was getting myself into for not looking into what their burgers entailed, but that still doesn't make up for the totally indifferent service.

Not to get over dramatic on my very first post at LTH forum . . but hamburger scary's is complete bullshit (when it comes to burgers.)

I live a few blocks away and was really excited when they were opening. I went the first week and it was a major disappointment. I had the"SPICY MARY" and I will say in all seriousness . . . McDonalds is WAY more delicious.

I am a forgiving man though.

So a few weeks ago I decided to give them another shot just in case it was growing pains that produced such a vile monstrosity. As Schwarzenegger would say, "big mistake."

If you are in the mood for a burger why not just walk a few blocks north east and get Moody's . . you'll get a friendlier / less obnoxious staff and a delicious burger.

On the bright side, the mojito was decent at Scamburger Mary's . . I can see myself getting a few drinks there. . but thats all.

Dear Edgewaterglutton,

Seems the perfect amount of drama for Ham-bungled Mary's

pd

pdaane wrote:Seems the perfect amount of drama for Ham-bungled Mary's
pd

Well played!

I'm going to write the minority opinion here and say I really enjoyed it. I gave it a good review when I went and, having eaten more cheeseburgers since (it's sort of my part-time job this summer) I've become more fond of it.

There may be the temptation to shrug off the food because the decor is sooo campy - I wasn't digging it - but if you close your eyes and eat, the meat is tender and beautifully flavored, and the "special sauce" they mentioned in the menu (I know, I winced, too) was great. Too bad they put some strange spices that tasted like some pre-sold meat flavoring on the fries.

Here's a picture of the "Queen Mary" burger.
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HM's is a decent place, but $10 burgers aren't something I can afford often. I love the Buffy burger (red wine soaked burger with swiss cheese), and the fries are good. I live on Balmoral a 2 minute walk away, but I've only been there 3 times I think, in a little over a year.

geli wrote:Ugh. I went to Hamburger Mary's last night--okay, I was taken there against my will, having read this thread like a good girl--and Holy Smokes was it bad. Seriously. It's a burger place, and yet they don't ask you how you want your burger cooked? Well I'll tell you when I suspect it was cooked: hours beforehand. Our burgers were brown. No, not browned, just brown. Flat, brown disks of dry meat(product). And the "kitsch" factor was pretty weak, my friends. No more kitschy than your neighborhood Applebee's. Ooh, they're showing episodes of Mary Tyler Moore on their umpteen tvs while playing vaguely bad 80s songs on their naughtily loud stereo system! How kicky!

Thank God I wasn't paying.

ps. Our server and our bartender were both very nice. That's the only good thing I can say about this place.

I went to Hamburger Mary's earlier this summer, and I have to agree with the majority consensus, unfortunately. I was shocked at how bad the food was there, especially since the sides I had with it were really cold, and not very appetizing to me.

The only thing that might entice me back to Hamburger Mary's, is if they had any decent drinks, which I dunno if they have any decent ones or not(since I didn't try one, the one time I went here). And finally, I also have to second what Erik M. said, about my amazement of how HM always draws crowds, despite its definite mediocrity.

And anyway, why go here, when there are MUCH better burger places nearby? Charlie's Ale House has several burgers on their menu which are decent(not to mention, pretty decent selection of beer, even if not as broad as Hopleaf), plus the slightly further away Moody's Pub(on Broadway Ave., by Thorndale) are both miles better in greatness, than Hamburger Mary's ever will be.

Fast food wise, you can get a great burger by either crossing the street to Huey's, or going to Patio Beef, which is 2 blocks north of Moody's Pub on Broadway, and across the street from Dominick's. The latter, IMO, is very underrated in how great their burger is(which I also personally think has to be one of the best cheeseburgers I've ever had in the city of Chicago).

EDIT: I chose to make this post more lth-style, and add the addresses of the places I mentioned:

Charlie's Ale House
5308 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 751-0140

Huey's Hot Dogs
1507 W. Balmoral Ave.(across from Hamburger Mary's)
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 293-4800

Moody's Pub
5910 N. Broadway St.
Chicago, IL 60660
(773) 275-2696

Patio Beef
6022 N. Broadway St(across from Dominick's)
Chicago, IL 60660
(773) 764-8500

Following our nose to the nearest good-smelling restaurant, we wound up at Hamburger Mary's for lunch. Now, I'm not a fan of overdecorated restaurants with clearly overqualified waiters serving gussied-up pub fair, but we were hungry, and smelled MEAT.

We opted for the $6.95 lunch menu: two "mini Marys" for me and a GBLT: G for Guacamole for the 'spouse. The mini cheeseburgers were quite good, actually: a "slider" but with real meat. The GBLT was good in theory, but unfortunately the lime in the guac fought with the bacon and it didn't work like we'd hoped. The accompanying salad was a nice chopped salad with fair blue-cheese dressing (still probably bottled, but at least not sugary) and the tomato soup was tomato soup. Portions were reasonable for a light lunch to be followed by decadent pastries, but small for the price.

Will I eat there again? Probably not, especially considering what else is in the area - but it wasn't terrible if you didn't fall for the $10 burger. The fact that our check arrived in a red stiletto pump did not improve my opinion.

I'll have to go against the consensus here - my experience is similar to peglegged_heart's.

went on a thurs evening. I had the bbq, my friend had the guac thing, my husband, the buffy (the red wine thing). All burgers were well enjoyed and cooked exactly to specifications. Mine was medium rare and extremely juicy. My only complaint is the over-seasoned fries. The burgers are pricey but they are also huge. I could barely finish half of mine.

My conclusion is HM must be inconsistent, and I was lucky enough to be there on a good night. Service was friendly and competent.

Huey's across the street is far, far better.Excellent burgers,good dogs, and even Italian beefs. All for way less than HM. My wife and I went there (Hamburger Mary's) once and it was awful,mediocre burgers, high prices, lousy service. I'll never go back.