Jack’s Newtown

Have been meaning to try this place for some time after mixed reviews from friends and online.
It is what it is, however a burger can set you back $ 12 with nothing extra (like chips)
$ 31 later for 2 burgers and 2 soft drinks ($ 3.50 cokes), you could probably get more thrift elsewhere, but luckily the bacon cheeseburger has an allure in its ability to dispatch a hangover with more precision than a game of thrones sell sword.
Taste gets 5 stars. Price –2
I doubt they can sustain this price for just a burger for a long term plan. There’s no draw card to the shop (like they don’t sell booze like Mary’s do), it is austere and has zero atmosphere. Is a get in, get out place.
Try it on occasion, but you’ll go broke if you get addicted.

Been in Sydney for about 3 months now and I just moved to Newtown. Was looking for a decent burger and stumbled upon Jacks Newtown on the Internet. So I figured I would give it a try. This place has the best burger I have had in Sydney by far. I will be a regular of this place for sure. The sauce they put on the burger is amazing and the quality of meat they use you can taste it in every bite. They may only do a couple of types of burgers but they are doing them right!

So we are late to this burger madness in Sydney.
This is the first time we’ve come to a place which isn’t maccas and specialises in burgers. The décor is limited but OK — think easy to clean. The service is perfunctory, which is all this place needs.
So, décor and service are OK — how is the food. It’s the only reason you would go out of your way to come ere. For me the burgers are good and filling, but don’t leave that queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach, nor do they make you feel a stripe of shame like maccas does.
The fries are good, and leaving here makes me feel full, but not stuffed — satisfied. I’ll be back, if I can plough through the rest of the burger craziness on offer.

People kept telling me that this is supposed to be like Shake Shack. I’ve never been to Shake Shack, so I can’t comment if it’s the same.
These guys make a really nice American styled burger. I order the double cheeseburger and it was small enough to hold, a bit messy which is great and the bun was just the perfect brioche.
The store itself opposite the Marlborough Pub on the corner. You can’t miss it, the neon pink burger lights and signage is on point. Overall it gives it a really weekend vibe off, all day and late into the night. There isn’t a great deal of room, we got a table before it got busy, however I can imagine it being busy all the time.
The staff are honest about portion sizes and great with recommendations. Unfortunately they didn’t have milkshakes the night I went there, but hopefully next time I can try those as well.
It’s not Mary’s. Mary’s is a different taste and vibe. Each to their own, but both are equally as good and are very much a talking point on the burger scene in the inner west.

Jacks Newtown (or the media) claims to be the Shake Shack of Sydney. Why not copy an existing billion-​dollar business? did they name Jacks to rhyme with Shack, apparently not it is owned by a Jack. The ingredients are sourced from fancy producers all around Sydney.
Eating in is quite uncomfortable. They went literal with the decoration with their shack colorbond inspired counter. Minimalist works sometimes but to be honest in terms of comfort, Maccas is 10x better and cleaner too. Did I mention there was no air conditioning? The food had better be extraordinary to make up for it.
The menu was classic with no flair; including cheeseburgers, double cheese burgers, cheeseburgers with bacon and lastly a veggie burger option. Another reason to why the food better be faultless.
CHEESE BURGER $ 10 (+$ 2 bacon)
The burger took about 15minutes to come out even at a non-​peak time. First impression is that, god this is small for $ 12.
The patty was served well done (no pink in sight). To be honest, it had nothing memorable overall although I did like the soft buns. In the end, I only remembered how small it was and a double wouldn’t have made it better as the patty itself was ordinary despite it being the ‘perfect’ blend. Sad to say that even the Burger Project is better than this.
CRINKLE-​CUT CHIPS $ 5 (+$ 2 if sauce)
The crinkle cuts chips were fried to be very crispy. All the potato filling inside the chips was dried up. They are unique but not in a good way. It is a matter of taste however these kind of fries are not what I consider good. The same result could of been achieved by overcooking frozen chips from the supermarket. Definitely get the sauce, although that’s $ 2 extra. No free sauce was provided nor offered.
Conclusion
Average overpriced food that cannot complete with the best in Sydney. It’s lack of personality and abysmal dining-​in is a setup for failure. Shakes were unavailable. On a side note, they do serve double patties now.
It is not worth traveling for. If you happen to be in Newtown head to Mary’s or even Burger Fuel.
@thesydneynoob

Great tasting burger– the rest was quite amateurish. $ 2 for the smallest tub of sauce I have ever seen– lol
Wouldn’t line up to wait for it.

After revisting for the third time we finally found the place to be open. Overall quite an average experience compared to the hype of the place. The burgers look like shake shack but are nothing like shack shake. That can be a concern for people who may not be full after a regular single pattie burger. Suggest going for a double pattie cheeseburger. Fries were good but quite average nothing special.

I do not understand the hate for this place, especially not the comparison to Shake Shack in New York City. Who cares? Anyway, the food here is simple and good. The meat is provided by Victor Churchill, so it’s about the best quality beef you can find. The burgers are excellent and I loved the crimped style french fries.
Yes, the line can be long (and I am not waiting 90 minutes for anything, especially not a hamburger), but if you come during mid-​week in the late afternoon, you can walk right in. My husband and son love this place, and come here often. I work in North Sydney, so it’s not as convenient for me, but I can attest to the fact that it is definitely a welcome addition to the burgeoning burger scene in Sydney.

People who line up for this place are complete idiots. You are just pandering to the undeserved hype of this overrated, average takeaway burger place. It’s just an ordinary burger place with only 3 different types of burgers and average chips. Nothing on the menu is in any way creative or revolutionary. They don’t even include pickles on their cheeseburgers, which is in my opinion, an essential ingredient. The burger is also small. I was hungry afterwards. My friend was hungry after eating two of them. The bread and meat weren’t bad, but overall the burger was plain and the meat overcooked for my taste. The vegetarian burger, while not offensive, is fairly tasteless. There are many other better burger places around Newtown, no idea why you would line up for an hour for this place, or even for 5 minutes.

I stood in line for 30 min for a burger (granted, it was the same day as Newtown Festival). When ordering, I asked the guy if the burgers are cooked Well Done. He says yeah. I get my burger, and it is Medium-​Medium Well. The tomato slices were placed on the bottom of the bun, so between the tomato juice and the meat juice, the bun is super soggy. Also, the bun, while being good quality, is far too small. I’m not kidding, McDonalds hamburger buns are bigger. My $ 3 small soda is filled only ⁴⁄₅ full with no ice. I hand it back and ask for it to be filled up all the way. Instead of self-​serve tomato sauce, they put out tiny cups and squirt sauce in only about ¹⁄₃ full, so I have to take 2 cups and still don’t have enough sauce. Couple this with the cost of $ 20 for burger, fries and soda, and it was quite disappointing. I also don’t need a huge thing of fries for $ 5. Why not give half as much and charge +$ 3 when added to a burger? Not a bad burger really, but not worth the price or the hype.

I seemed to have gotten lucky with timing as I got a table and didn’t have to wait much to order. I am from Canada and have dabbled in the American burger scene and I actually didn’t think I liked hamburgers except for the occasional drunk maccas cheeseburger but even without the «meat» patty I’d probably like those drunk.
Back to real food though, for $ 11 I got the cheeseburger with dried crunchy onions and I seriously thought it was the best burger I had. I even got it without the bun and it was amazing… bet you didn’t see that coming.
Just to reinforce this, my friend decided we needed to do a burger crawl for comparison so we went to Mary’s. The drinks and ambiance at Mary’s were better but their $ 16 burger was just as good if not slightly overly sauced.
So yeah best burger ever!

Sorry but I did not like it much at all. The size was small — about the size of my fist. The patty was unseasoned and tasteless. There was no sauce on the cheeseburger. Even the lettuce and tomato was bland. You would probably need 2 – 4 burgers to get full. The strawberry soda was light and not very flavoured like they only did a half pump of drink mixture into the soda. Don’t come here post gym.

I really wanted to like this place. After and hour an a half waiting for our food we were expecting greatness and what we got was mediocre at best.
The first thing we got was our «frozen» custard shakes. These were basically cool, not even cold, sweetened milk with some flavour sitting at the bottom of them. They were actually disgusting and our entire group was unanimous in their disapproval.
The fries and burgers arrived about 15 minutes later. The fries were actually pretty good. Tasty and pleasantly crunchy. The kind you get from woollies and can cook in the oven
I got the bacon and cheese burger with onion. The flavour of the burger wasn’t too bad. The mince was unfortunately full of gristle. The bacon was undercooked with more stringy gristle. Overall a flavoursome but flawed burger.
Jacks Newtown was an underwhelming experience to say the least. Definitely not worth the hype or the wait.
P.s everyone felt sick afterward.

You know that feeling you get when you take a bite of something, and then time just stops and you get to savour the moment? No? Well that’s what happens to me when I eat a burger I really like. It’s like if you were traveling overseas somewhere and then ran into an old friend unexpectedly. You embrace, rejoice, share some good times, and then you’re on your way again.
Jack’s Newtown opened on Monday and I’m so glad I stumbled upon it when I was walking through Newtown yesterday. The menu is ridiculously simple, you can get a cheeseburger ($ 10) with onion for a little extra cash or a bacon cheeseburger ($ 12.) They also serve custard shakes and natural sodas. It’s kind of a mix mash of some of the better burger chains you can find in America, as they have crinkle cut fries ($ 5) like Shake Shack, and the meat is rolled into a ball that they smash into a pattie when they grill it, like Smashburger, and quality like Teddys’ Bigger Burger (minus the size.)
Naturally, I got a double cheeseburger (+$ 5.) I don’t think I ever get anything less than a double if there’s an option. Now this is a grease monster, I’m talking greasier than Mary’s and you’ll need several serviettes if you order a double. I can’t confirm with the normal burger if it’s as greasy but I assume so. The burger is packed with flavour, and I really wanted to order another after I polished it off.
What sets this apart for me is the bun… it’s very similar to a potato bun (which I love) and don’t think I’ve seen yet in Australia. This burger is just great and vaults itself into one of my favourites in Sydney.
The biggest gripe I have with the burger here is that it’s on the small side; it’s roughly the same size or smaller than Mary’s, so for $ 10 a single or $ 15 a double it’s definitely pricier than average… but for the taste, I’ll gladly pay that price.