The Polo Bar

The Polo Bar is Ralph Lauren's first New York restaurant, and it is among the harder rooms in the city to get into. Only pre-theater and post-theater reservations are bookable online; everything else goes through the restaurant's own reservations office. This assessment is based on one visit.

The burger matches the room. Lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, cheddar, and bacon on a sesame bun is the most conventional construction available, and it is executed properly. Every component is there and they work together.

The smartest decision in it is restraint. The sauce is applied lightly, and that is what makes the balance work. On a build this familiar a heavy hand would flatten everything into one sweet, soft note, and instead the individual toppings stay legible.

The limit is the patty. The meat bite was solid and not mind-blowing, and when nothing else in a burger is doing anything unusual, the beef is the only thing that could carry it higher. It does not.

The most accurate description we have for it is the best country club burger you will eat, and we mean that plainly rather than as a put-down. It is a very good version of a conservative thing.

Two things worth knowing that do not affect how we score a burger: the atmosphere is fantastic, and the coconut cake is good.

Restraint is what this burger does well. Applying the sauce lightly keeps a conventional build from collapsing into one note, and the result is a properly balanced classic.

What holds it back is that there is nothing else in it. With no distinguishing component, the patty would have to be exceptional to lift the burger, and it was solid instead.