Budapest Burgerwar: We May Have a Loser!
Since we've just published a review of what may well end up to be the winner of the Budapest Burgerwar™, it seems fitting to pair it with a review of a burger that has a good change of coming dead last. That is, if it can be called a burger at all.
Just a few hours ago I had the distinct displeasure of lunching at the Longford Irish Pub, which sits in a part of District V notorious for its rip-off drinking and dining establishments. While I sat down with the assumption that my experience would not be particularly positive, I still came away somewhat shell-shocked. But since I want to get this whole experience out of my mind as soon as I can, I'll just quickly run down what went wrong.
For one thing, the service was atrocious from beginning to end. Even though the ratio of waiters to patrons on the pub's terrace was roughly one-to-one, every time we wanted something, the servers just ignored our waves and cries for attention.
Second, the menu was confusing to the point of fraud. It was only after I enquired why there were things listed as "hamburger," "baconburger" and "steakburger" that I learned the first two were made of pork rather than beef, even though, at Ft 1,790 and Ft 1,890 (€7.70/€8.15), these pigburgers are anything but cheap. And when my "steakburger" (Ft 2,290) arrived, it contained not a hamburger made of ground steak, like some of the actual luxury burgers we've enjoyed over the past year, but a few thin slices of steak with a handful of unmelted white cheese gratings thrown on top. In other words, it wasn't actually a hamburger at all, but a crappy steak sandwich posing as a hamburger.
While the bun and the accompanying fries were at least halfway decent, what happened when I called for the check was so appalling I almost coughed them right up. On my bill were two mysterious extra charges for Ft 150 each, which my waiter gruffly explained were for the cheese, and the catsup for my fries. And it gets better, because when my companion pointed out that charging us for catsup seemed a little tacky, Mr. Charming first tried to rationalize the outrage by saying that McDonald's charges for catsup, and then, when reminded that McDonalds doesn't charge Ft 2,290 for a sit-down burger meal, reminded us how expensive beef is.
Which, of course is true: beef is expensive these days. On the other hand, getting to write all this up, and knowing that it may soon be the first thing that comes up when anyone Googles the name of this place, that's priceless.
How They Stack Up:
Meat: (0/10)
Bun: (5/10)
Trimmings: (4/10)
Service/Setting: (0/10)
Affordability: (0/10)
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Total Score: 1.8/10
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People who come to Hungary to eat burgers, and try their luck in an Irish pub get what they deserve.
I put a warning in my travel guide about this place overcharging diners falsely and padding checks. There was a long complaint and follow up by the Budapest Times. They not only target tourists, but locals equally. How they stay in business is beyond me.
They stay in business because most of their patrons are tourists, and the kind of tourists that tend to visit Budapest are not the kind of people who ever do any advance "research" on where to eat (or NOT to eat). So you can burn thousands of people, and it'll never really catch up with you.
Meanwhile, though it's great that the BP Times may have done a story about this place sucking, note that they have historically published lots of kiss-up reviews of places almost this bad.
The waiters at Longford are all too busy checking out the coochies walking by, chating with each other and nextdoor bank's security guards to concentrate on their jobs and customers. To them it's your privilege to be trapped by them, so shut up and show me the money.
I can add my recent experiences from the New Year's Eve.
The place stinks.
We were waiting like 1 hour for our drinks, then got it all wrong, waiters had fight between them all the time, we've been charged 20% service, without any reasonable reason and plenty of things more.
After that, we went to Hajos/Nagymezo utca, and enjoyed much more in some Hungarian clubs and pubs.