Jimbo’s Hamburger Palace

Just another lunch spot in Harlem. the place is very small and looks run down but the Burger is pretty good. Not the best but good enough. The place is pretty much a diner so you can order breakfast at any time.

As a Harlem native, I’ve happily been going to Jimbo’s since high school. Back in my meat eating days, I decided that Jimbo’s sells the best burgers around. Add fries or onion rings and you’re gold. Now that I don’t eat meat, I go to Jimbo’s much less but when I do I usually get their vegetable omelettes. I don’t care for their homefries so sometimes I’ll order regular fries with ketchup in place of the homefries the omelette comes with. Their other breakfast and food options are quite good as well. I still love this place.

TERRIBLE! I ordered from here yesterday for the first time and I was so disappointed! All i wanted was a simple burger. What i got was a headache.
First off the man who took my order took my number down wrong. apparently 3 sounded like 6 to him… but whatever simple enough mistake. But when I called to see where my delivery was I was yelled at because the delivery guy was in the lobby but couldn’t reach me… wasn’t my fault.
Next the bill was 7.30. I gave the guy a 20 and he gave me 10 back and left before i could ask for all of my money.
Which means he tipped himself more than 50% of my bill and I’m only 3 blocks away from this place! Not okay! i decide how much and when i’m going to tip! You don’t just take your tip out of my change and run!
Last but certainly not least. My burger was cold, greasy and undercooked! I tried to just pop it in the microwave for about a minute but that didn’t help so I ended up having to throw it out, because after the first bite I could sense I was going to be sick if i ate anymore!
Maybe the other locations are better. I don’t care enough to want to try and figure that out for myself!

Best breakfast in town. I have been eating from here for years and they have yet to disappoint. Delivery is always fast and food is always hot. Prices are very good also.

This is the best place in Harlem to grab a burger.
They have been here since the 1970’s and very well may be the original inspiration for the Saturday Night Live skit featuring burger flipping «cheese burgers» and «no coke, pepsi». If not, they could have been.
Fast efficient service and coffee that does what it supposed to do. Wake you up!
(Not a date spot :-))

one of the classic NYC establishments most NYers below 110^th have never heard of.

Jimbo’s is not pretentious nor is it fancy. It is a greasy spoon diner. BUT they have very good and tasty turkey burgers. You can go to Jimbo’s at any time and order the Turkey Burger Deluxe ~ Turkey Burger cooked any way you’d like, salad, fries with fried onions on the side for less than $ 7.00, yes, that’s SEVEN dollars. Where else in New York can you get dinner for $ 7.00? Best Turkey Burger in Harlem.

Tiny place where they cook your meal right in front of you. Right in front – you can probably stretch out your arm from the counter and burn yourself on the griddle. I went with a bacon cheeseburger. No frills, just straight up bacon cheeseburger. The ingredients were fresh, the fries plentiful and fresh (bland, but there’s a salt shaker handy). They give you the food right off the griddle, so be careful, because it’s HOT. It’s more of a takeout place anyway, so I imagine after walking it home (which I’ll do next time), it would be perfect. What really did it for me, though, was the beef. This is a seriously tasty patty without any fancy tricks – just a good burger.
Service is quick and curt, as one should expect from a diner catering mainly to takeout customers, but not rude. What keeps me from giving Jimbo’s more than three stars is twofold: one thing is that they don’t do refills. Not unforgivable by any means, but the markup on sodas and coffee being what it is, I’d say that this is a disadvantage. The other thing is that the burgers could be a little cheaper. Now, granted, they ARE cheaper than most places in the city – but we’re talking about a city that think it’s ok for any burger outside of a fast food chain to cost $ 15. That’s absurd, and while Jimbo’s is a better deal, the price of their burgers doesn’t match the value of their other items.
Anyway, I’ll probably be back.

So first… how I found out about this place.
I moved to NYC in December, and until Jimbo’s the only place I knew that served breakfast all day in Harlem was IHOP (yeah, there’s probably some diners and what not but I hadn’t heard of them).
I first heard about Jimbo’s in a conversation that I overheard at the dry cleaners (or was it the barber shop?). The next conversation I heard was an order being placed by the staff of my laundromat. After that, I figured I better find out what the locals know.
Turns out, the locals know some pretty good $#it. And I’m guessing that it’s a closely held secret because this particular Jimbo’s (there are several around Harlem I found out) stays stacked (at least when I go in mornings) yet there’s only ONE Unilocal review (Go Devin!)?
To clarify, let’s review what Jimbo’s (especially this particular location) IS and what it is NOT.
Jimbo’s IS:
–A one counter bar with one grill and one fryer that makes arguably the best ALL DAY BREAKFAST and BURGERS around (at this location, most people order for takeout or pick up). It’s open 24 hours a day, delivers, and unlike Devin states, does take credit/​debit cards (they have a machine in the back so you’ll have to wait longer and be willing to have your card disappear in the back to be swiped — for-​warned is for-​armed)
–A four man front operation (one cook, one prep/​finishr, one order taker, one pay/​coffee master) that «magically» outputs massive quantities of decently priced, decently tasting food (it’s not really magical — they just hustle like you’ve never seen — sit at the bar and have your food ‘for here’ if you’re able and you’ll see)
–A hole in the wall spot that is frequented by a cross section of Harlem. While frequented by Hispanics and Latino’s, I’ve seen everyone from clergy to an MTA bus driver stop his bus and pick up some Jimbo’s.
Jimbo’s IS NOT:
–A date spot (unless you and your date just woke up from some sweaty buffalo sex and just want to throw something on and get some good inexpensive food to eat)
–Bougie OR cheap (a guy came in and asked for a cup of tea for 75 cents — he was promptly shown the door). Have yourself together when you come up in there because at times it is controlled chaos (just like most of NY — you’ll need to go in and be prepared to speak confidently, ask if you don’t know, and be on your P’s and Q’s — just be real/​yourself and you’ll be fine.)
Jimbo’s gets 4 stars from me because the food is delicious, reasonably priced, and the location is 3 blocks from my house so I can walk in and get my pancakes, scrambled eggs and cheese, and beef sausage ‘for here’ and get my dose of Harlem local life. Why doesn’t it get 5 stars? Because it’s not on the level of Pete’s Grille, the BEST BREAKFAST AND BURGER BAR I’VE EVER BEEN TO (it’s in Baltimore if you must know/​go). They’re almost there
Almost.

This is the epitome of the greasy spoon, burger dive.
The burgers are not the best, but they are tasty. The fries are also good. It’s open ²⁴⁄₇ which is nice too.
It may look a bit icky, but it’s not that bad.