Shake Shack Upper West Side
Danny Meyer took the old Jacques-Imo's room at 366 Columbus Avenue for the second Shake Shack he ever opened. He built this one entirely indoors, so the queue would not stand in the weather.12
Why go
The brand began as a hot-dog cart, put in Madison Square Park to support the Conservancy's first art installation. It did well enough that the Conservancy asked Meyer for a permanent kiosk.3 That ivy-covered kiosk is still there and is still the world's first.3
The room reopened in March 2020 with four ordering kiosks and a redone room downstairs. It had taken twelve years to get the renovation.2 The staff will tell you the wood around it came out of a bowling alley.2 I have not found a critic who has reviewed this branch.
Order this / avoid
- Order: a burger with crinkle cut fries.4
- Order: frozen custard.4
- Avoid: standing on Columbus Avenue waiting. The line here was designed to wait inside.1
What locals & experts say
- Stephen Primal, the manager of this door, to I Love the Upper West Side in March 2020: the reopened room is meant to give people
heightened hospitality and heightened experience that they will love to see from Shake Shack.
2 - The Madison Square Park Conservancy, on what Meyer built in the first place: the kiosk is
his tribute to the great American roadside burger stand.
3
Good to know
- Downstairs: a redone seating area, with the artwork carried from the wall above the stairs onto the beams.2
- The rest of the card: chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, shakes, beer and wine.4
Verdict
could-visit — Walk in and use a kiosk. It is the same burger as every other Shack, and that is the point of it.