A new Habit Grill opened in New Jersey two weeks ago, so I decided to mosey on down to give it a try. The restaurant is very inviting, clean, and conducive to serving dozens of people comfortably. I ordered just about everything on the menu, having the advantage of being accompanied by my family.
First, let me just say, their grilled tuna sandwich is outrageous and is the best thing on the menu. This will appeal to people, like women, who opt out of eating red meat. Their bacon chicken club with avocado was good too, along with the fries and shake.
The hamburger, specifically their double char burger was excellent, in a Burger King sort of way. If The Habit Grill is the new Burger King, then Shake Shack is the new Mcdonald’s, taste wise. It’d be funny if both mega-burger chains were behind this great burger conspiracy, no?
All in all, Shake Shack is a better restaurant. For my palate, In and Out and Bobby’s Burger Palace both have better burgers than The Habit Grill too. However, there is plenty of room for growth here. And even though HABT doesn’t have the best burger, that doesn’t mean their business won’t prosper the most. The best product in any category rarely wins. It’s all about execution and management. We’ve yet to see how good the managers are at HABT; but will get a glimpse this Tuesday, after they report earnings.
NOTE: I know some of you are obsessed with the news out of Greece. It is a non-event.
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I sense disappointment
I wanted it to be better, but it wasn’t. My kids loved it and wanted to go again.
I’ve always said SHAK was the best and that still holds true.
googled habit, looks like shit
And so do you
im sexy as hell
Habit has the price point to be everywhere. Fast food is about price and taste. The Habit blows every shit fast food place out of the water. Burger King McDonald’s Wendy’s etc. Shake Shack is not fast food. It will never be everywhere. It costs too much. Middle class peeps can not pay ten bucks on every child for lunch. In and Out is a freak of nature, super cheap but ONLY burgers.
Agreed. Price is cheap
Also Habit is the throwback Frosty Freeze that every small town had back in the day. This may just be a west coast thing, but every town had a mom and pop burger joint that was way better than Mcdees. Slowly they got marginalized than forced to shut down. Mainly due to freeways and a shift to really fast food. With the taste revolution happening. Habit has a chance of being the corporate version of all the family run joints of old.
Isn’t Chipotle almost $10 for a burrito and a drink? I agree that they are expensive, but Shack Shack is probably the hippest out of all these burger joints.
Never been to habit, not in my area. Does the restaurant sport a drive-thru?
Not that I would have expected anything less, but this is an incredible objective write up and I think captures the truth quite well. Good stuff. The burgers are good. Long term the franchises should do well. They are not reinventing the wheel, all they have to do is take marginal demand from existing burger places.
To Clark, the ones by me don’t have a drive thru.
It’s not just price it is the illusion of moral superiority too. College kids pay dollars more for an equally unhealthy burrito over McDs because they think they’re sending some sort of message.
I don’t know Shack but I do know Habit (or Hobbit as my kids like to call it). Their burgers are good but my favorite is their Vegetarian with Bacon added. I call it a Yin & Yang burger. Also good: Sweet potato fries and Tempura battered green beans.
In and Out for life
I”m happy eating a little cheeseburger at Five Guys or a value menu cheeseburger from Burger King. Just to get some red meat in me at least once a week. I do wonder how pure the meat at BK is.
I’m no longer near In-n-Out so it’s Five Guys for me about once a month.
I’m happy to see the price for the Five Guys cheeseburger has approximately doubled in recent years, because this means there is a good chance the product quality is not degrading.
Five Guys burger patty size has been reduced, but I haven’t noticed a great reduction in quality.
I’d pay ten dollars for the Five Guys cheeseburger if the patty size was returned to what it was a few years ago.
But that’s just me and I will pay for quality even if I can’t afford very much of it.
Comment- I think the US Congress might alter their financial behavior if food and other consumer products held the line on product quality and portion sizing and raised the dollar price instead. There’s a massive amount of potentially useful consumer anger that has been tempered by the games played with portion and package sizing.
I think if the American people really felt the destruction of the dollar they would be on the warpath against the managers of the US finances.
Most non-red meat eaters will eat the tuna only if it was caught using environmentally friendly apparatus and is sustainable.
Needs to be caught without purse sein nets or longlining. Actually have to use a pole and a line.
Was there a warning on the menu for pregnant woman about eating too much mercury laden tuna?
So what kind of tuna was it?
Albacore, bigeye, yellowfin or skipjack?
Or perhaps Bluefin which reproduces in smaller numbers.
Did you ask the worker or was it posted?
If not posted, what kind of eco challenged dump was this?
Yee dissapoint me Caddy. Isn’t non-red meat eaters another word fer them that be light in tha loafers? Don’t ya know a REAL MAN prefers to catch em on the edge of his own vessel… Ya squint through yer monocle, tilt yer cap to the side, then line em up with yer harpoon and spear em laddy. Arrrr!
Now that we are doing reviews ….
I’m waiting to hear how that guy turned out with his underwear search.
I cant eat out anymore..its all disgusting, prepared by mexicans, food quality is shit and its expensive.
Cap’n, while yee be clogin yer arteries n heart valves with them thar greasey delights and hydrolized fats, I’ll be embarking on searching fer a worthy sea vessel to help me bank coin. Arrrrrrr(teries)!