Resisting the urge to stay in the house all weekend, the boyfriend and I decided we wanted to try something new in the restaurant department. After plenty of deliberation, we landed on My Burger Bar in the Northtown Plaza, which has only been open about a week. Sharing the same owners and plaza as My Tomato Pie, I was looking forward to similar quality food and atmosphere.

We walked in and I was immediately confused about the theme of the place. There is no spot for a hostess, and we were told to sit anywhere we wanted. The tables and chairs (along with two flat screen TV’s playing Cartoon Network) reminded me more of a sub shop than a restaurant, and you could tell the walls were still bare due to the “newness” of the place. An electric fireplace on one of the walls served as an attempt to make it feel “homey” or comfortable, but I couldn’t get that feeling.

Hoping the food would help me draw a conclusion about their goal here, I was still excited to eat. Our waitress greeted us very casually and explained the menu, which requires you to check off the items you want and hand it in. It allows for a totally custom order, choosing by hand everything from cheese to extra toppings like mushrooms and onion rings, even the temperature of your burger. Along with the delicious root beer floats we ordered, My Burger Bar serves spiked milkshakes, which is where the “bar” part comes in I’m assuming. Even though their Mudslide sounded good (Bailey’s, Godiva Chocolate Vodka, Three Olives Vanilla Vodka, and Kahlua), I’m not exactly comfortable with the idea of throwing one back in a room that feels similar to Jim’s steak out. Although, if you’re in need of something to soak up a hangover, our waitress suggested one of their signature burgers, the “Cheese Melt”, which consists of two grilled cheese sandwiches and a burger in the middle. I passed on that, and was happy to see that there are chicken and veggie burger alternatives that actually cost less than beef burgers for once.

We started with their Buffalo Chicken Eggrolls (comes with two), and I was pleasantly surprised. Inside the fried roll were small pieces of chicken and a thick buffalo wing sauce. I was also happy they were substantial in size, considering they were close to six dollars.

For our burgers, my boyfriend went for a beef burger with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and the house sauce, even though the waitress didn’t remember exactly what the house sauce was. I ordered the chicken burger with the same toppings. Since the burgers were reasonably priced around $8, I couldn’t resist getting the sweet potato fry basket, one of my favorites. Our food arrived, and needless to say, we both were left unimpressed. The house sauce on our burgers was good, like a creamy dressing – but other than that I couldn’t pick out anything special, it was a plain old satisfactory burger. Mid meal, my boyfriend needed another drink, and the waitress said “what?” after not being able to hear what he said, as if he was bothering her. I think that just about turned me off my food, so I ate half of my burger and left the rest to finish my sweet potato fries (Which were good, but the portion was a bit small for the price)

All in all, I really wanted to give this place a chance. I have a soft spot for small business owners, especially in Buffalo. I did a little research after my visit and saw that one of My Burger Bar’s twitter followers had a similar feeling about the atmosphere of the place that I did. My Burger Bar’s response was “We are very happy with the atmosphere but except the fact that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Thanks.” Besides improving their grammar, I hope that My Burger Bar continues to grow and take their customers feelings into consideration. The concept is there, but needs a lot of tweaking to get return customers. I’ll give them about six months until I go back and give them another chance, call it a learning curve. For now I know to stick to Cheeburger Cheeburger for the same menu selections with better prices, service, and atmosphere.

Service: 2/5
Variety: 3/5
Atmosphere: 2/5
Taste: 3/5
Price: 3/5

Overall Rating: 2.5/5