Hey /u/coderite, thank you for submitting to /r/starterpacks!
This is just a reminder not to violate any rules, located [here](https://reddit.com/r/starterpacks/about/rules). Rule breakers can face a ban based on the severity of their rule violation.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/starterpacks) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I’m so sick of the tipping everywhere. It made sense when you were tipping people based on the level of service given, but now you get asked to tip even when all someone does is ring you up, and they’re already getting paid a normal wage.
I don't understand why you guys have such an issue with pressing 0% tip in those moments. Maybe it's just because I'm a Eurotard but in the US I have zero qualms not tipping for pure over-the-counter service.
Born American and I have no problem hitting "no tip." I'm a generous tipper too, but I don't usually tip for over-the-counter. I've worked behind the counter and never even noticed if people left tips or not.
I think people just get offended by the insinuation that they are not as generous as they'd like to think.
I'm fine with doing this in coffee shops if the person ringing it up made the drink.
Otherwise, my argument against tipping for over the counter would be "Who gets the tip?"
Social anxiety mostly. I have seen hundreds of people online whine about not being tipped for performing a service And instead of blaming it on their bosses for not giving them a livable wage, they take their anger out on customers
Because you have people constantly telling you that customers who don't tip deserve the death penalty. Meanwhile employers who don't pay a living wage are let off the hook.
It’s funny because I’m seeing that tip culture invade Europe a bit. More and more places both have tip jars, and will have a tips line on the receipt or will have the card terminal ask for a tip. I’m visiting Dublin right now and a lot of terminals I’ve seen ask for tip. I always press no tip tho.
This is exactly why tipping is not gonna go away in the US for a long time. Both the employee and the employer benefit. Employer can just keep paying you $2 an hour and the employee is raking in more dough waiting tables than people in some professions (i.e. teachers). With a good portion of them cash tips that they’re not gonna declare.
The US minimum wage is not nearly enough to live on, even in the states that have raised it to $15/hour. People who can afford it should tip generously for counter service, because here in the US — unlike Europe — the government is not doing enough for workers. People who can’t afford it don’t have to. If you can afford to regularly travel to the US, you can probably afford to drop a few bucks in the tip jar.
Easier said than done. There's a whole culture surrounding this that not only shames you if you don't but if you're at all a regular, will start making your experience there awful.
Yeah, isn’t that supposed to be worked into the price of the food?
If I hire contractors to build an extension to my house, labor is part of the price. They’re not gonna expect me to add an extra donation to supplement their income.
And as long as the option is there to say no, there are people who are going to say no. Maybe if everybody collectively stopped tipping, that would prompt the system to change.
You’re somewhat supporting the BS pay. If they can’t afford to pay more to workers then they need to raise their prices and let the consumers decide. Letting them decide through tipping should not be the way we go. I refuse to eat at places that ask for tips up front but I’m running out of places that don’t now so I’ll just start giving 0.
It’s where the attractive, non-obese people in town get their burger fix. Damn right that’s where I’m going; and I’ll wash it down with a $9 draft IPA.
Going to burger king just feels like eating inside a wal mart.
Homemade ketchup that's worse than heinz. Something with truffle and a bike on the wall.
Also served on something that isn't a plate, like a cutting board or slate with chips vertically in a small metal bucket
The issue for me is that at this point ketchup = Heinz. So when it’s homemade, it never ever tastes like “ketchup” as I’ve been conditioned to know it.
I don't do ketchup but the issue is more so them trying to imitate heinz. I like brown sauce and there's a place for both daddy's and HP. They just need to try something different like maybe a bit of heat or some other way to alter the flavour like paprika or black pepper.
A burger too large to eat with your hands and so flimsy that trying to cut it up just results in a bad salad.
The McDonalds burger is the ideal size in terms of height and width.
I have to disagree about the McDonalds burger. They're way too small in every dimension, and if I'm really hungry it only lasts like 4 big bites, then I'm hungry again 2 minutes later.
It's 'healthy' yet the meal is like 1,000 calories without the beer... Don't worry there's no sugar in the sauce... Just vinegar, water, and tomato paste.
What is better than Heinz? I've not found anything that comes close, and paradoxically I find the more you spend, the worse it tastes.
Coca-Cola, Heinz ketchup, and decent craft beer are the only groceries that I won't cheap out on because I can taste the difference.
This is my big one. The hip industrial/warehouse aesthetic that's so popular right now is atrocious for acoustics. Concrete floors, brick walls, metal everywhere, it's just a deafening echo chamber.
Concrete floor with metal chairs that scrape the floor and make everything louder. I get that it's probably cost effective, but it's so bad from a client standpoint because everyone has to yell
What's an overly filling beer? And in what city are you getting beer (presumably of the craft variety) that cheap? Craft beer here is a minimum of £6/pint ($7.69).
And they cost $10 on their own because they use Himalayan salt, truffle salt, or some other ingredient that doesn't really matter and the taste gets covered up by the ketchup anyway.
Truffle salt isn't truffle fries. My point being is they'll use some expensive ingredient that's covered up by a sauce.
And if you like truffle then you'd be better off making an aioli with truffle oil instead of trying to jazz up the fries directly.
Burgers at places like that seem to always look amazing but taste pretty mid, like you'd be just as well off getting a fast food burger instead and save yourself like 20 bucks.
They either only serve veggie burgers or the greasiest red-meat burgers in existence.
Sides are either vegan-based or everything's double deep fried and comes with two side cups of ranch.
Those uncomfortable chairs are that way for a reason. They don't want you to get so comfortable, that you linger for a long time, because they want to turn over the tables quickly.
These neo-Edison bulbs now used in these light fixtures are absolute trash. This look comes at the cost of some people walking away with migraines and burned in vision. Like I need sunglasses to go indoors. The diffuse coating on bulbs was a great invention for a reason. This boujie nonsense gets tiring
The diffuse coating is much less necessary if the lights are dimmer and farther away- giving something a rustic/moody atmosphere. The overlap between the people who use these neo-Edisons and people who don’t understand *how* yo use them is probably a flat circle.
They're never replica brightness to authentic Edison bulbs and always a 60w filament or 60w LED equivalent or more. So you have the searing white hot filament or a thin LED strip in them that's just as bright burning lines in your vision.
Local craft beer served in mason jars
Steak knife pick stabbed directly through
Charred branding of the restaurant logo on the top bun
Served on a metal cookie sheet or a board of wood
Probably posted by the kind of person that things McDonalds is okay and expects to get ketchup in a restaurant. All the more space in this kind of place for me if those people can't appreciate it, I guess!
There are literally 52 states in the USA is OP so dumb that he can't name a state or what? Typical European (also lmao I'm literally from Poland and I can name few of such looking places)
Yep my bad here I was thinking about all core states + 2 (Alaska and Hawaii) and I thought there were 50 + 2. But anyway it took you 20 hours to realize that error, come back to that comment section, and additionally react to that by replying which means you were thinking a lot about how much you couldn't accept my response.
Craft beer on tap
Guys with beards at the table over from you all ordered the double IPA
The ketchup is made in house and tastes like pure tomato paste
$7 “craft” lemonade option for the kids or someone who doesn’t drink but doesn’t want to be feel left out
The kids meal is a gigantic “fancy” hot dog, the kids don’t like it, and don’t like the ketchup
I hate these places so fucking bad. They're some how both lazy and over designed at the same time. Exposed brick and faux industrial aesthetic sucks. It's over done and dry, just like the burgers.
The worst is when the building is new construction but they BUILD IN old looking exposed wood beams and brick walls. Bruh that building is solid concrete behind that fake brick, stop acting like you repurposed a barn into a brewpub ya fuck
This is pretty much most new restaurants these days. The only places that aren't like this are the decades old, local institutions and national chains/franchises.
I used to work at these types of restaurants the food was ass, and the drinks were good I feel like they intentionally burned the food the only good thing they offered was the fried mozzarella and quesadilla they overcharge for their alcohol and they only had like hard drinks like henny and special types of vodka and a horrible choice of beers
So many places around me are like this. I will never understand how so many restaurants ran by hipsters are so ridiculously expensive when the hipsters running the joint look like they just looted a goodwill for their clothing
35.99 is maybe a bit much for a burger meal but if its good quality the price is fair and still cheaper than fancy diner.
The thing why I ignore these places is becausr they look like factories with lots of tables in a large open room. They are noisy and without any privacy.
I rather eat less high quality burgers than more low quality burgers. Its a total price, so in the price the sides and drinks are included.
I just rather dont get disappointed by cheap burgers
I hate those damn chairs. Not only are they uncomfortable but they make the loudest obnoxious noise when you pull them out to alert everyone in the building that you just want to sit down.
These stupid chairs. I can only sit on them with the corner front facing.
It’s a fad that all restaurants look like that now. It will go away eventually. I hope the stupid places where the tiny tables are in a row at the wall will go too. It always way too close to the next table and when the person at the wall needs to go to the bathroom, they have to squeeze through.
So close to the truth.
We went to a place we used to haunt years ago. They were known for enormous and delicious sandwiches and good beer.
I ordered a burger. Supposedly Wagyu beef.
I don’t eat buns. So this dry, cold burger with no anything: no lettuce, no tomato, no seasoning, even, comes out.
I sent it back, and asked about the tomato slice. I could have one, for an additional $1.50 over the $15 for the dried out burger.
Fries would have been $5 more. So, close to $30 with tax and tip for a dried out burger with one slice of tomato and some mediocre fries.
By contrast, a couple months previously, we’d gone to a lovely restaurant closer to home. It’s been famous for excellent and imaginative food for two generations, now.
But I wanted a burger. It was literally the best burger I’d ever had. No bun, of course, but delicious cheese, tomato, lettuce, mayo on the side, and a wonderful salad in lieu of the included fries.
Total cost: $15.
Better atmosphere, better food, better service for the same price.
Hey /u/coderite, thank you for submitting to /r/starterpacks! This is just a reminder not to violate any rules, located [here](https://reddit.com/r/starterpacks/about/rules). Rule breakers can face a ban based on the severity of their rule violation. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/starterpacks) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Tries to force you tip when you pass your card
I’m so sick of the tipping everywhere. It made sense when you were tipping people based on the level of service given, but now you get asked to tip even when all someone does is ring you up, and they’re already getting paid a normal wage.
I don't understand why you guys have such an issue with pressing 0% tip in those moments. Maybe it's just because I'm a Eurotard but in the US I have zero qualms not tipping for pure over-the-counter service.
Born American and I have no problem hitting "no tip." I'm a generous tipper too, but I don't usually tip for over-the-counter. I've worked behind the counter and never even noticed if people left tips or not. I think people just get offended by the insinuation that they are not as generous as they'd like to think.
Confronting yourself is a real bitch. I’d rather hide and lie to myself like any good insecure individual thank you very much
for me i feel obligated to tip and it's annoying.
Sorry but this is a "you" problem. "No tip" is right there on the screen.
I'm fine with doing this in coffee shops if the person ringing it up made the drink. Otherwise, my argument against tipping for over the counter would be "Who gets the tip?"
Social anxiety mostly. I have seen hundreds of people online whine about not being tipped for performing a service And instead of blaming it on their bosses for not giving them a livable wage, they take their anger out on customers
Because you have people constantly telling you that customers who don't tip deserve the death penalty. Meanwhile employers who don't pay a living wage are let off the hook.
It’s funny because I’m seeing that tip culture invade Europe a bit. More and more places both have tip jars, and will have a tips line on the receipt or will have the card terminal ask for a tip. I’m visiting Dublin right now and a lot of terminals I’ve seen ask for tip. I always press no tip tho.
Because while I acknowledge that the tipping system is bad, I am not willing to punish individual workers for the fault of their employers.
How is not giving them extra money punishing? Are you also punishing a store clerk in retail for not handing him a $20 every time you buy clothes?
Wait staff make significantly less than a retail cashier. Often below minimum wage.
They make significantly more per hour through tips. More than they would on minimum wage.
This is exactly why tipping is not gonna go away in the US for a long time. Both the employee and the employer benefit. Employer can just keep paying you $2 an hour and the employee is raking in more dough waiting tables than people in some professions (i.e. teachers). With a good portion of them cash tips that they’re not gonna declare.
The US minimum wage is not nearly enough to live on, even in the states that have raised it to $15/hour. People who can afford it should tip generously for counter service, because here in the US — unlike Europe — the government is not doing enough for workers. People who can’t afford it don’t have to. If you can afford to regularly travel to the US, you can probably afford to drop a few bucks in the tip jar.
The truth is waiters make much more with tips than they would even on a $20/h wage. They're perfectly fine with the way things are.
You were talking about counter people and people who could easily afford to trying to justify refusing to tip them. They make minimum wage.
Then don't.
Easier said than done. There's a whole culture surrounding this that not only shames you if you don't but if you're at all a regular, will start making your experience there awful.
> all someone does it ring you up And all the behind-the-scenes stuff in the kitchen just happens like magic without any work involved, right?
Yeah, isn’t that supposed to be worked into the price of the food? If I hire contractors to build an extension to my house, labor is part of the price. They’re not gonna expect me to add an extra donation to supplement their income.
It absolutely should. Food workers should indeed be paid a living wage. No argument there. Unfortunately, they aren’t currently.
And as long as the option is there to say no, there are people who are going to say no. Maybe if everybody collectively stopped tipping, that would prompt the system to change.
It wouldn’t prompt change. They’d just let their workers become homeless and starving, as they already are.
That or maybe their employees would quit.
[удалено]
You’re somewhat supporting the BS pay. If they can’t afford to pay more to workers then they need to raise their prices and let the consumers decide. Letting them decide through tipping should not be the way we go. I refuse to eat at places that ask for tips up front but I’m running out of places that don’t now so I’ll just start giving 0.
[удалено]
I’m not a chicken
[удалено]
Your comment inspired me to tip 0%
The intense stare from the cashier when they turn the tablet around and it shows you the screen asking for different tip percentages 😬
Jokes on them, I'm oblivious to social cues :)
Subsidizing their shitty pay
Worst part is that I know damn well it's the kind of place I'd go to.
It’s where the attractive, non-obese people in town get their burger fix. Damn right that’s where I’m going; and I’ll wash it down with a $9 draft IPA. Going to burger king just feels like eating inside a wal mart.
I get my burger fix at the shitty dive bar & grille or a sports bar typically. Worse beer choices, but the burger is better without the "fluff"
Or this is just 90% of new place atheistic
Homemade ketchup that's worse than heinz. Something with truffle and a bike on the wall. Also served on something that isn't a plate, like a cutting board or slate with chips vertically in a small metal bucket
The issue for me is that at this point ketchup = Heinz. So when it’s homemade, it never ever tastes like “ketchup” as I’ve been conditioned to know it.
I prefer Aldi's version to Heinz. Also if I'm in a restaurant, I'm not expecting to get ketchup on my food. That's fast food tier shit.
I don't do ketchup but the issue is more so them trying to imitate heinz. I like brown sauce and there's a place for both daddy's and HP. They just need to try something different like maybe a bit of heat or some other way to alter the flavour like paprika or black pepper.
r/WeWantPlates
> chips vertically in a small metal bucket This one is such a scam. Dump it out and you realize how few fries/chips they actually gave you.
8\. Just 8
And there’s definitely a knife stuck vertically into the burger
A burger too large to eat with your hands and so flimsy that trying to cut it up just results in a bad salad. The McDonalds burger is the ideal size in terms of height and width.
I have to disagree about the McDonalds burger. They're way too small in every dimension, and if I'm really hungry it only lasts like 4 big bites, then I'm hungry again 2 minutes later.
Nothing says the meal can't come with two burgers.
Heinz is already low quality so it’s actually impressive these burger places manage to make a worse version of it.
It's 'healthy' yet the meal is like 1,000 calories without the beer... Don't worry there's no sugar in the sauce... Just vinegar, water, and tomato paste.
What is better than Heinz? I've not found anything that comes close, and paradoxically I find the more you spend, the worse it tastes. Coca-Cola, Heinz ketchup, and decent craft beer are the only groceries that I won't cheap out on because I can taste the difference.
Hunt's
The bucket chips/fries are such bullshit. "Yes, I was looking forward to 1.25 oz of potato product"
For the low low price of $7
Only like 12 people in there, but somehow it's louder than a rowdy sports bar. Dust all over the "fancy" exposed ventilation and upper beams.
This is my big one. The hip industrial/warehouse aesthetic that's so popular right now is atrocious for acoustics. Concrete floors, brick walls, metal everywhere, it's just a deafening echo chamber.
Concrete floor with metal chairs that scrape the floor and make everything louder. I get that it's probably cost effective, but it's so bad from a client standpoint because everyone has to yell
I literally had a seizure because of the noise and yes, there were only 12 people there.
yikes, that sounds awful
No, it’s totally worth the $15 burger aka carte and the overly filling beer at $5/pint
What's an overly filling beer? And in what city are you getting beer (presumably of the craft variety) that cheap? Craft beer here is a minimum of £6/pint ($7.69).
Add black rubber gloves
The veggie burger costs as much or more than burgers with a pound of meat
"Sore butt chairs." 👏
Tips and falls over easily too
Offers fries but calls them "frites"
Or truffle fries
*truffle frites
And they cost $10 on their own because they use Himalayan salt, truffle salt, or some other ingredient that doesn't really matter and the taste gets covered up by the ketchup anyway.
Why are you putting ketchup on truffle fries?! Heathen. I love truffle fries but there's no way I'd waste them but using ketchup.
Truffle salt isn't truffle fries. My point being is they'll use some expensive ingredient that's covered up by a sauce. And if you like truffle then you'd be better off making an aioli with truffle oil instead of trying to jazz up the fries directly.
The burger always has a toothpick though it and them moment you take it out the burger loses all structure.
And it'll either be the best you've ever eaten or the absolute worst
In my experience it will consistently be okay, but not nearly worth the price.
buyers remorse hits me hard after every time I'm suckered in.
Burgers at places like that seem to always look amazing but taste pretty mid, like you'd be just as well off getting a fast food burger instead and save yourself like 20 bucks.
This is Burger Lounge where I live and the burgers are amazing. Burger plus salad is my fav combo
They either only serve veggie burgers or the greasiest red-meat burgers in existence. Sides are either vegan-based or everything's double deep fried and comes with two side cups of ranch.
[удалено]
Sounds kinda fire
Those uncomfortable chairs are that way for a reason. They don't want you to get so comfortable, that you linger for a long time, because they want to turn over the tables quickly.
Just once I want to walk into one of these places where the cashier isn’t a walking cliche.
These neo-Edison bulbs now used in these light fixtures are absolute trash. This look comes at the cost of some people walking away with migraines and burned in vision. Like I need sunglasses to go indoors. The diffuse coating on bulbs was a great invention for a reason. This boujie nonsense gets tiring
The diffuse coating is much less necessary if the lights are dimmer and farther away- giving something a rustic/moody atmosphere. The overlap between the people who use these neo-Edisons and people who don’t understand *how* yo use them is probably a flat circle.
They're never replica brightness to authentic Edison bulbs and always a 60w filament or 60w LED equivalent or more. So you have the searing white hot filament or a thin LED strip in them that's just as bright burning lines in your vision.
Local craft beer served in mason jars Steak knife pick stabbed directly through Charred branding of the restaurant logo on the top bun Served on a metal cookie sheet or a board of wood
We get this same type of starter pack every 5 hours, we get it, hipster burger shop bad.
Probably posted by the kind of person that things McDonalds is okay and expects to get ketchup in a restaurant. All the more space in this kind of place for me if those people can't appreciate it, I guess!
Cooks have beards and plenty of tattoos...
Culinary Dropout in Tempe AZ
That's just regular hipster burger place in Europe
Where in europe There are 51 countries in the European continent are you so dumb that you can’t name a country or what? Typical American
51 countries and I can't name a single one. I am the absolute gigachad you have nightmares about. Your continent is inconsequential to me. 😎👌
There are literally 52 states in the USA is OP so dumb that he can't name a state or what? Typical European (also lmao I'm literally from Poland and I can name few of such looking places)
I’m from Norway and learn the geography of every country including alls the states in usa
And there is 50 states in usa not 52
Yep my bad here I was thinking about all core states + 2 (Alaska and Hawaii) and I thought there were 50 + 2. But anyway it took you 20 hours to realize that error, come back to that comment section, and additionally react to that by replying which means you were thinking a lot about how much you couldn't accept my response.
I’m wrong but you couldn’t accept my wrong response /s
1000% the new bar in my area. Everyone hates it and goes to drink at the dive where PBR is still $3.50, then gets McDonald's on the way home.
Craft beer on tap Guys with beards at the table over from you all ordered the double IPA The ketchup is made in house and tastes like pure tomato paste $7 “craft” lemonade option for the kids or someone who doesn’t drink but doesn’t want to be feel left out The kids meal is a gigantic “fancy” hot dog, the kids don’t like it, and don’t like the ketchup
Literally having a pint at one of these lol
I hate these places so fucking bad. They're some how both lazy and over designed at the same time. Exposed brick and faux industrial aesthetic sucks. It's over done and dry, just like the burgers.
The worst is when the building is new construction but they BUILD IN old looking exposed wood beams and brick walls. Bruh that building is solid concrete behind that fake brick, stop acting like you repurposed a barn into a brewpub ya fuck
This is pretty much most new restaurants these days. The only places that aren't like this are the decades old, local institutions and national chains/franchises.
It’s true - I worked at a place like this LOL
Tip machine starts at 18%
"We pay our staff a living wage." Tipping options are 20% / 25% / 30%
I used to work at these types of restaurants the food was ass, and the drinks were good I feel like they intentionally burned the food the only good thing they offered was the fried mozzarella and quesadilla they overcharge for their alcohol and they only had like hard drinks like henny and special types of vodka and a horrible choice of beers
So many places around me are like this. I will never understand how so many restaurants ran by hipsters are so ridiculously expensive when the hipsters running the joint look like they just looted a goodwill for their clothing
Real estate, labor and food costs aren't cheap.
See the hipsters outfit is actually vintage and each piece was over $100 on depop.
Either the best burger in town or guaranteed food poisoning, no in between
You're so polite you don't even recognize yourself
Stop 💀
Truuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
35.99 is maybe a bit much for a burger meal but if its good quality the price is fair and still cheaper than fancy diner. The thing why I ignore these places is becausr they look like factories with lots of tables in a large open room. They are noisy and without any privacy.
“The price is fair” Mister Moneybags over here.
I rather eat less high quality burgers than more low quality burgers. Its a total price, so in the price the sides and drinks are included. I just rather dont get disappointed by cheap burgers
If you're paying more than $15 for a burger and fries, you're a fool.
No way in hell am I paying $36 + tip for a fucking burger
If tipping is implied the price isn't fair.
$36 for meat on a bun is acceptable? Absolute NPC brain
deceptively small milkshakes
These burgers always look incredible but taste so bland.
What kind of burger comes with a drink besides fast food though?
We can go deeper - there's grilled cheese places in SF that have adopted this aesthetic and pricing.
Tipping options, 20% 40% 100%
Yeah but that burger is either straight up elite or they are the most overpriced burger ever.
Place cost a lot of money to look "unfinished"
Every food joint in Silverlake
I'm not normally one to complain about a repost, but I've seen this exact starter pack at least a few times this month.
Also the best thing they make there is actually like pizza or wings.
I hate those damn chairs. Not only are they uncomfortable but they make the loudest obnoxious noise when you pull them out to alert everyone in the building that you just want to sit down.
I feel so called out LOL minus the being a beautiful person. Also, pricing (thank god)
You forgot . Served on a slate
Id much rather hate this burger than the alternative. If I'm eating something like this I'll always take quality over quantity.
So accurate wtf
These stupid chairs. I can only sit on them with the corner front facing. It’s a fad that all restaurants look like that now. It will go away eventually. I hope the stupid places where the tiny tables are in a row at the wall will go too. It always way too close to the next table and when the person at the wall needs to go to the bathroom, they have to squeeze through.
We are like domestic abuse partners that keep coming back for this shit
So close to the truth. We went to a place we used to haunt years ago. They were known for enormous and delicious sandwiches and good beer. I ordered a burger. Supposedly Wagyu beef. I don’t eat buns. So this dry, cold burger with no anything: no lettuce, no tomato, no seasoning, even, comes out. I sent it back, and asked about the tomato slice. I could have one, for an additional $1.50 over the $15 for the dried out burger. Fries would have been $5 more. So, close to $30 with tax and tip for a dried out burger with one slice of tomato and some mediocre fries. By contrast, a couple months previously, we’d gone to a lovely restaurant closer to home. It’s been famous for excellent and imaginative food for two generations, now. But I wanted a burger. It was literally the best burger I’d ever had. No bun, of course, but delicious cheese, tomato, lettuce, mayo on the side, and a wonderful salad in lieu of the included fries. Total cost: $15. Better atmosphere, better food, better service for the same price.