What we love: the burgers, the onion strings, the artichoke dip, outdoor seating at the downtown location
What we could live without: no reservations available at their original location on the Upper East Side or at their new Lincoln Center location, too many loud finance guys, indifferent service, forgetful waitstaff, disappointing coleslaw and pickles
Burger scale: A
Price range: $$ out of $$$$
Payment method: Cash, Mastercard, Visa, Amex
We made our way to the downtown location of PJ Clarkes at the World Financial Center for this round of the Burger Series. While we weren't thrilled to find ourselves in the distinctly mall-like setting of the Winter Garden, we were relieved that we had a reservation and weren't standing wait for a table at one of the chain's uptown locations.
Not that location should have concerned us. PJ Clarkes falls well into the ranks of slightly overpriced pub restaurants (aka pubaurants) that look the same no matter where one is. A pubaurant usually comes with an artificially induced old-time feel created through the overuse of wood panelling, brass trim, sepia tinted pictures and yellowed newspaper clippings.
Each pubaurant (Cheers, Ruby Tuesdays, TGI Fridays, Outback Steakhouse, Applebee's, et al.) claims to be different from the rest of the pack. PJ Clarkes' claim to fame is that it was founded in New York City. We suppose we are to find comfort in knowing that no matter where we are, setting foot in a PJ Clarkes feels like a return to the UES. In practice, setting foot in a PJ Clarkes outside NYC would most likely have us living an odd form of de ja vue.
And, like pubaurants everywhere, the service at PJ Clarkes sucked. It wasn't just poor. It sucked, blew, stopped to have a cigarette and then sucked and blew some more. The hostesses were too busy chatting with each other to remember where they seated our early arrivals. They suggested we walk through the entire restaurant (and both bars) to find our friends ourselves. Once we found our friends and seated ourselves, we waited 20-30 minutes before we realized that our neglectful hostesses forgot to assign table service.
We began to conquer and divide. Emissaries were dispatched to the bar to get drinks for the table. The rest of us put to work Hail Marys, placing orders with any server we could flag in hopes that at least one of our orders would make it to the kitchen (and back). By then, we had had a few rounds of drinks to satiate our hunger, and if life has taught us anything, it's that there's nothing that can't be made better by a few rounds of drinks.
Despite our mediocre to poor experience at PJ Clarkes, we'll give credit where credit's due. The burgers were excellent. The proportion of bun to patty was just right, and the patties managed to stay patty-shaped while retaining their moist tenderness. Those of us that had bacon on our burgers found it to be just the right amount of crisp and thinness. Those of us that sampled the turkey burgers thought the bird patties to be well seasoned and not too dry, dryness being the bane of any a fowl burger. The smothered onions were a perfect complement to our burgers, although we were confused as to why they cost $1.05. That nickel seemed arbitrary.
Even more arbitrary, however, was the magically appearing jukebox that appeared where one wasn't. One minute, we were chatting amongst ourselves over the din of finance guys talking loudly over each other, and the next minute, we were talking quietly amongst ourselves over blaring classic rock tunes emitting from a jukebox that the staff had wheeled to stand next to our table. First: we were completely unaware that jukeboxes had wheels. Second: Uhhhh, yeah.
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| Burgers at PJ Clarkes |
We liked the food at PJ Clarkes, but we probably won't be back. There are too many restaurants in New York with equally (or more) delicious burgers than the ones at PJ Clarkes for our return to be worthwhile. We had to work too hard for our food.
