Newark Airport Food Review: Custom Burgers

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Newark Airport Food

Back in November 2014 I had a chance to get a taste of  what was coming Newark Airport’s Terminal C at an event called The United Experience by OTG.

There was a long list of impressive names attached to new dining experiences coming to the terminal. Besides the new food options, the terminal would also be going high-tech with orders being done from iPads as a good example.

A couple of weeks back I caught a flight from Newark’s Terminal C on my way to the Freddies in Atlanta and didn’t realize that some of the new dining options had already opened up for business with iPad ordering and all…

Since I didn’t have a chance to eat lunch before arriving at LaGuardia Airport, I checked out the options and decided to try out a place that I’ve wanted to try for a long time. I decided to give a burger a try at Custom Burgers by Pat LaFrieda.

For those of you unfamiliar with Pat LaFrieda, they provide the meat for Shake Shack as well as at many top restaurants in the NYC area.

Newark Airport Food

I walked up to the counter and felt that the operation was a but disorganized. I saw the menu close to a register along with a couple of iPads. People were standing around but there was no clear signage showing where or how to order and where to wait for your food once the order was placed.

Rather than make a custom burger, I decided to go with one of their “Custom Classics“.

I ordered a burger called Bovine & Swine which is reasonably priced at $7.50. The burger is topped with Applewood Smoked Bacon and Maytag Bleu Cheese (possibly my favorite kind of blue).

Newark Airport Food

Even though I ordered one of Custom Burger’s menu options, I still encountered some hiccups using the iPad.

The first and main issue was that I could only choose from having the burger cooked medium or well done. Well what if I don’t want my burger cooked one of those ways?? I looked around the screen and was surprised to see that there wasn’t a way to type in how I’d like my burger cooked. (I prefer my burgers medium- well but definitely not too well…)

The next issue was the payment process. I figured that if I’m ordering from an iPad then I’m paying through the iPad. But no, I had to wait for a slip to hand over the counter to a cashier, who I then had to pay… Weird.

Then I found out from the cashier that the shake I had ordered was not available as I went to pay. In fact, I don’t think any shakes were. You’d think since we’re using technology to order, it would be easy for Custom Burgers to not allow orders to be placed for items not available!

I’d say that for a first time use, I was not impressed with the iPad ordering system.

Although I was curious to see some of the things I found out about at the OTG event come to life, I wasn’t here for the technology, I was hungry and was here to try the burger!

Newark Airport Food

I waited around 10 minutes for my order which was definitely an acceptable time to wait.

At first glance I saw a bun with a ton of bacon between it. I hoped that they didn’t forget to put the burger inside too- they didn’t, they just happen to be generous with the bacon!
Newark Airport Food

Once I took a couple of bites, I was definitely enjoying my selection. The burger, a thin yet decent-sizes patty was cooked well.

I forgot how I ordered it but my guess is that I chose medium. Everything worked well together as I expected it would. The Maytag Bleu was a bit melty and delicious with the flavorful burger patty and the bacon added a nice saltiness to the mix.

This is definitely a tasty burger, especially for an airport!

While it isn’t as good as (let’s say) Shake Shack, I’d definitely give it another try at an airport or if they had regular restaurants.

Custom Burgers has locations at Newark and LaGuardia Airports.

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