I had a chance to go downtown and sample some of the much hyped and much awaited Patty Burger offerings last night, and my feelings are rather lukewarm about the whole place. Much smaller than I imagined, there were no promised milkshake samples, or fries, and I was not blown away by these wunderburgers at all.

The burgers are fine, really. The meat seems to be of slightly better quality than other fast food offerings, but "The Sauce" seems to be only a slightly tangy thousand island dressing, and the cheese was rather blah. The burgers without cheese, in fact, tasted better. You can pay an extra buck (on top of your $3.29 single burger) and get bacon or avocado as a topping, and McD doesn't do that, but is that the key to a successful hamburger establishment?

All the rumors of Patty Burger being the closest thing to the beloved In-N-Out Burgers just don't seem to be true. It's a good burger, but it ain't all that. I imagine the spot will do fine, since it's right in front of the Art Institute, and it'll make its money on delivery (with a $.49 per item delivery charge), but expect crowds even when it's not lunch time since the place is tiny and C-shaped which leads me to think it'll bottleneck fast. Check out some pictures of the space, the menu prices and the burgers at our flickr.