[Boston] Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage
Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage started out as a small convenience store facing Harvard Yard, selling burgers and sandwiches, along with greeting cards and paper goods. Since then, Mr. Bartley’s became the Harvard Square institution of today, attracting locals and tourists from all over the world. .
After strolling at Harvard campus for an entire morning, we arrived hungry and tired at Mr. Bartley’s, only to find the line stretched wayyyyyy out of the door.
We promptly decided to order our burgers as take out, as it would be much faster than waiting in this insane line. We went into the restaurant to order our burgers and found the restaurant to be packed!
The interior of Mr. Bartley’s has a wacky, hip, and charming atmosphere. Filled with posters and funny signs, this really felt like burger joint that Harvard student would hang out and dine.
Burgers here are cook to order. The big chalkboard describes their burgers, each with an unique name.
Charles ordered the Scott Brown, with bacon, cheese, grilled onions, and jalapenos, with a side of french fries.
I ordered the Jersey Shore, with bacon, cheese, grilled mushrooms & onions, with a side of onion rings.
We waited about 15 minutes for our burgers and carried them to Harvard Yard and enjoyed on the steps of Widener Library.
Our burgers were loaded with ingredients and each came with a very generous portion of fries and onion rings. I liked that the buns were grilled as well but was disappointed that it looked and tasted like a burger bun that you could buy in a grocery store. The burger patties were quite thick. Both patties were slightly charred on the outside with the beef juices seared inside to make it moist and juicy. I liked Charles’ Scott Brown because the jalapeno added a spicy kick. The onions in our burgers were also grilled, not like the cold and raw onions one usually gets at some burger joints. It was a very nice touch.
I found my onion rings to be a little soggy and the batter was too dense. The fries also seemed like a commerical brand fries. It would be nice if they could serve better fries!
Overall, our burgers were very delicious. They were not the best burgers we’ve had and they were a little pricey, but they were certainly very tasty and satisfying. I would still recommend Mr. Bartley’s for anyone visiting Cambridge!
