Union Square Cafe used to have a very good burger for lunch. Goes nice with some red wine.

I agree with Union Sq. Cafe. Haven't had Shake Shack, the lines are always tooooo long, but aren't they both Danny Meyer burgers? My DD loves BLT!

The best burger I ever had was at the Spotted Pig.

We were in New York a couple of weeks ago and went to the Shake Shack on 8th Ave. We went right at lunch time and waited about 10 minutes to place our order and another 10 minutes to get our burgers. The burgers and fries were great and the price was reasonable. The place was crowded-we shared our table-it was nice to visit with other diners, we didn't mind at all.

I like The Half King, West 23rd near 10th Ave. It looks really small, but they have several rooms. They have 8 different burgers, a sirloin, kobe, veggie, venison, turkey, buffalo, Mexican and salmon crab cake burgers. $12-16, but really good. We tried the kobe and it was good, and we also got a turkey club which was great as well.
Primeburger is a interesting place to be, but their burgers are on the small side. We also had a pretty good one at Tonic on 3rd ave.