Putting this up on my blog tomorrow. A hamburger place is moving into a perennial restaurant graveyard in Keyport where abut 5 or 6 places have failed since I moved to the area. One of those “What are they thinking?” moments.
“Hamburger Patty’s” to Give it a Try in Keyport Restaurant Graveyard
No pun intended—there’s a cemetery across the street. Moving into the little building next to Fantasies in Keyport is going to be Hamburger Patty’s. The first thing I thought was, “At least it’s not pizza”. They are the latest in a string of restaurants (a minimum of five since I moved to the area in the mid-90’s) to give it a try in a business graveyard of sorts. While the club next door thrives, none of the places ever seem to keep it together for very long. Bari’s Pizza probably lasted the longest, a good three or four years. The rest, mostly if not all Italian, have come and gone so fast that sometimes they were out of business before people even knew they moved in.
Image from their Facebook
One might think such a location would be a winner. It is easily accessible and one of the last dining stops before hitting the Garden State Parkway off Route 36. There will be hundreds of thousands of cars passing by on their way home from the beach. The summer alone could keep a business there going even through the slower winter months. Could it be that people stop at Wawa or QuickChek before they make it that far? Whatever the case is, no one has figured it out. The owners of Hamburger Patty’s have another location on Staten Island, so hopefully they will apply that successful business model to this and make it work.
Offering burgers, hot dogs, wings, and the like, this place does breathe some fresh air into a spot that was destined to remain in pizza limbo, or even worse, become the one millionth Chinese takeout joint in the area. My only hope is that they will be open late (located next to Fantasies makes that a no-brainer). After 11 PM, there is nothing in this area except an IHOP, and the thought of eating there makes me just want to stay home. I wish this place the best of luck. Such food offerings may be more popular with the shore crowd than pizza was.
Hamburger Patty’s is located at 65-NJ 36 in Keyport, NJ. They have an open hiring call scheduled for today from 3-6 PM for those looking for work.
