Red Hook Tavern - Brooklyn

Worth every dime of the high price and every moment of the long wait. The tavern burger is one of the best cheeseburgers I’ve ever had.Narrow in its flavor profile—relatively light on salt, with no pickle chips for tartness or tomato slice for sweetness—this burger focuses almost exclusively on what makes a cheeseburger satisfying. With a perfectly seared, generous helping of fresh savory beef laden with warm gooey melted cheese atop a bed of sharp raw onions, within a buttery toasted bun, that classic bread-butter-meat combo is everything here, with subtle notes of peppercorn making it just a that much better. That warm, crumbly, gooey texture makes each bite a tongue massage. And the fries are cut like pickle chips—the ideal shape, just ask Roll ‘n’ Roaster—and perfectly crisp. Pretty much flawless if you ask me.

I wish I could give it 0 stars. Aside from the food being mediocre. When we arrived at 7pm we didn’t have a reservation (it was a Tuesday). We expected to wait when we got there and the hostess told us it would be forty minutes to an hour. We put our name down and left. Happy to wait, we checked back in after not hearing anything for an hour and ten minutes. When we arrived the hostess said it would be just a few more minutes. If the hostess had been honest and told us we would have to wait another hour for a table, we would have walked away then, but instead proceeded to tell us just a few more minutes for the next hour at which that point everything else in the neighborhood was closed and we were forced to continue waiting. When we finally sat down no one was apologetic, but instead talked about us behind our backs. Arguably the most bizarre occurrence was as we walked away we received the most sarcastic “thanks for coming by” when we were 50 ft away from the restaurant. My sister and I both have worked in the restaurant industry and agree that the whole experience was unprofessional. Avoid this place, there are better restaurants in Brooklyn that are better staffed and have better food.

The best burger in NYC! Definitely worth to go all the way to the neighborhood for this burger. It’s simple, but the quality is tremendous. The dry aged patty is sooooo juicy, oily (in a good way) and full of beef flavor. I have tried multiple burger places, including Peter Luger, Gramercy Tavern, Emily… Nothing can compete against Red Hook Tavern!

I’ll order 3 of those cheese burgers the next time I come back, omg the BEST!! PS the ketchup is for the fry’s, the burger is amazing how chef makes it.

Honestly nothing bad to say here. Burger is a tough pricey but it’s also massive so that’s just nitpicking. High quality flavor in everything you get. 100% recommend.