A Hamburger Today- aht.seriouseats.com

I want to like Blue 9, but the staff and space make it impossible. Yes the burgers are dependable for what they are, but the staff are generally miserable, frequently don't speak at all and seem to resent their jobs. I just don't trust them to make my food.

The space was beaten down two months after it opened and hasn't gotten any better (there was at least one touch-up a year or so ago). Trash cans are often over-full, with trash under uncleaned tables. The floor near the registers is often greasy underfoot. I like greasy burgers, but a greasy floor is a reminder that cleanliness isn't a priority there.

I used to go there for late-night take out burgers, often trying to call in an order before I got there to save time. Delivery always took significantly longer than the time I took to walk there, order, eat and walk back. Frequently they would put me on hold for long enough that I arrived before ordering. That happened several times and each time the restaurant was empty with employees just sitting around.

I would like for them to succeed, I'm originally from California, and while their burger is not even close to In-n-Out, Blue9 is a welcome bit of burger diversity. They just need a manager on staff at all times making sure the place is clean and the staff isn't screwing around.

totally agree about the staff, and while the burgers were good, they were nothing to write home about. myself, i prefer new york burger company off 23rd... (can't quite remember the street right now.) while we're on the topic of blue 9, though, the milkshake i had there was truly terrible. it was like... milkshake malt flavored water. it was undrinkable. i didn't know, though, if this was just MY shake, or if this was ALL their shakes, so i was afraid to complain to the already surly staff. Any similar experiences or thoughts on the shakes?

just as a note, the last time i ordered delivery from there they told me the minimum was raised to $10, which for a simple meal for one person there, it seemed a bit much. if a double cheeseburger is $6 and fries are $2, what am i supopsed to do next. i'm at home, i don't need a drink. other than that the burger are fine. much better than lucky burger.

I've eaten at Blue 9 three times, each time with a hopeful feeling (based on lots of good write-ups) and I have to say, it sucked every time.

The comments about the staff/cleanliness are right on - I felt like I was in a gas station bathroom that sells burgers out of one of the stalls.

But I could overlook that if the burgers were good, and they weren't. They were sloppy and tasteless, and the meat had that weird springy quality that I associate with the gristle-heavy Grade D patties at my high school cafeteria.

I spent half my childhood in L.A. and I do like In'N'Out (though I actually prefered Fatburger - the other fresh-and-local-feeling L.A. chain that inexplicably gets not a thousandth part of In'N'Out's love). I don't see much of a similarity between Blue 9 and In'N'Out except for the general shape and thickness of the patties. Given that there are a lot of great burgers in the city (poor Sparky's in Williamsburg - so good and so overlooked), I feel very, very comfortable leaving Blue 9 to the teenagers.

I've eaten at In'n'Out Burgers for years, and while I 'm not quite the rabid fan as some Californians are, I felt I should size up this upstart New York wannabe when I was in town this summer. Blue Nine clones much of In'n'Out's formula - the menu is minimal, just burgers, fries, sodas, and shakes (Blue Nine also has salads, for some reason) The mission statement about freshness seems to have been cribbed from In'N'Out's promotional materials, and putting burgers from the two joints side by side, I'd find it hard to tell them apart by looking at them. They even asked me when I ordered whether I wanted raw onion on my burger - something that I've only ever been asked at In'n'Out. One thing Blue Nine hasn't cloned is the In'n'Out efficiency machine. On my visit to Blue Nine, a double cheeseburger and an order of fries took 20 minutes to arrive, despite having only two other dine in customers and a delivery order ahead of me. I've waited 20 minutes to get my food at In'n'Out as well, but in those cases there were 30 dine in and god-knows-how-many drive thru orders ahead of mine. The fleet of cheerful, highly paid high school students is replaced here by one little-seen cook in the back and grumpy cashier making personal phone calls when not taking orders. But what the hell, it's all about the burger, right? Well, to tell you truth, it's a pretty complete clone of In'n'Out and a fine burger on its own, if a bit expensive. The meat patty had a similar thickness, consistancy, and flavor as an In'n'Out burger, the bun was spongy and grilled just so, and even the size and proportions of the veggies and toppings were about as close to the original as I could tell without having a sample burger from In'n'Out and a set of weights and calipers next to me. One element that gave it away was the special sauce. Both are a form of thousand island dressing, but In'n'Out's 'spread' has a creamier, almost mayonaise like consistancy, whereas Blue Nine is a bit thinner. Blue Nine's fries are cut thinner and fried longer. I'm not a huge fan of either restaurant's fries so I had no real preference there. Blue Nine does offer a mango-chili dipping sauce for your fries. A nice concept, but it is far too watery to be a proper dip as it runs off the fry before you can get it into your mouth. Stick with ketchup. If you don't plan on making it out to the west coast any time soon but want to find out what all the fuss is about, or if your a transplant from California missing the comfort foods of home, Blue Nine provides a fair approximation of the 'real thing'.