Joe Allen's Off menu Cheeseburger

Joe Allen is a place i've wanted to eat at for ages. On Saturday i went with ten friends for a birthday meal. The venue is a theatre district fave, bustling with life and spread over three dining areas, the walls of which are covered in posters of classic plays. Friendly staff showed us to our table. 

Most of us ordered medium rare cheeseburgers with fries. When mine arrived it looked pretty good. A little on the small side due to its 6oz patty. Its a super basic recipe, a bun, a patty, some melted cheese. On the side comes a thick slice of white onion and a pickle. Old school. I cut the thing in half and the patty was cooked medium. It was also was bone dry and overly peppered. The consistency of the patty was very dense, it looked like the mince had been mixed to death. The shape of the patty was high and narrow, like a slightly squashed meatball, this meant your first bite was 80% bun. Melted cheese was bland in taste, but covered the patty well. The soft brioche bun was the best part. 
I had to pour on lots of ketchup just to lubricate the burger enough to be edible. 

My sister (bless her) saw my disappointment and swapped her half eaten burger with mine. Her's looked medium rare, but was still dry as a bone. The birthday boy had a few drips of burger juice on his plate and thought his was ok. He said it was *almost* as good as a Byron hamburger (which costs 1/2 as much). 

The fries were pretty good, but the roquette and parmesan salad i ordered was miserable. It was just roquette and a few bits of shaved parmesan. No oil, no vinegar, just a bowl of dry green leaves. Someone had a corn on the cob side which was so overcooked the kernels had hardened and shrunk so much they had gaps between them, it was also slightly burnt in places. I'd expect that from a half drunk buddy not paying attention to his bbq, but in a restaurant? dreadful. 

The bill came to £30 per person. Based on a burger, fries, shared sides, a couple of beers and the tip. I realise restaurants have bad days from time to time, but this was so disappointing i'll never risk trying it again. There's a good reason that the burger is off-menu at Joe Allen's - its awful.

Not recommended. 2/10