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Long running Harvard Square burger place up for sale

By adamg on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 10:09am

Boston Restaurant Talk reports that Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage can be yours for $475,000. The idea is that you'd keep it as is, but, you know, Harvard Square ain't what it used to be.

Neighborhoods: 
Cambridge
Harvard Square
Topics: 
Dining
Free tagging: 
hamburgers


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Comments

By Scratchie on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 10:09am.

That would be a great space for a CVS. Or maybe a bank branch.

By ScottB on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 10:19am.

Starbucks or Dunks

By BostonDog on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 10:22am.

Clearly only a Cafe Nero will do.

By anon on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 12:57pm.

A Caffe Nero is about to open on Austin Street in Newtonville, literally just steps away from a Starbucks, around the corner from George Howell Coffee and across the Turnpike from, of course, a Dunkin. We'll see how this works out. The nearby Rox Diner has shut down for good. I guess they're counting on the occupants of the two new apartment complexes to fuel the business.

By J.R. Dobbs on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 3:32pm.

I'll take a dozen Nero's over a single Capital One cafe/bank.

By anon on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 10:48am.

After all, there's a CVS two blocks down, where the main T entrance is.

By Scratchie on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 2:43pm.

Your point being... ?

there's a CVS two blocks down

By Michael on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 11:40am.

There must be 4 or 5 people who don't have a cell phone yet

By anon on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 10:14am.

There was always such a long line of tourists to get in there, specifically on weekends. I never saw what the big deal was about that place.

By perruptor on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 10:30am.

I was surprised, the last time I was there, that Hayes Bickford's is still there. If you'd asked me back in the 60s or 70s which of the eateries was going to still be there 50 years later, The Bick would not be on the list. But yeah, pretty much everything else is changed.

By Scratchie on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 10:35am.

What?

By Allstonian on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 11:10am.

When on earth was the last time you were in Harvard Square? Not only is the Bick long gone, the Chinese restaurant that was in its place for 40 years (Yenching) has closed as well. Clover Food Lab is in that space now.

By Matt Frank on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 11:37am.

It's possible they are thinking of the Ihop facing the Kennedy School which I always assumed runs strictly on late night students who forgot to eat all day but remembered at 1am.

By Ron Newman on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 1:21pm.

It opened in 2006.

By Allstonian on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 1:29pm.

The IHOP only opened in 2006, though.

However, speaking of Bickford's - TBH, I had no idea there were any left anywhere!

By Ron Newman on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 1:18pm.

and certainly not in Harvard Square. It was already gone when I was a student in the late 1970s. If you still want a Bickford's, go to Burlington or Woburn.

By GoSoxGo on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 3:49pm.

And they are indeed down to two here.

By perruptor on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 3:11pm.

Apparently I was having an acid flashback, or something.

By SamWack on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 8:38pm.

That must have been some bad shit. I mean, Bickford's.

By anon on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 8:43pm.

I stopped by The Tasty the other day for a grilled cheese and it was the same as it ever was. A little tight on the social distancing due to there being something afoot but at least the owner isn’t a crazed MAGA grifter like they have over there at Bartley’s. Plus I could sneak into Varsity Liquors and grab a handful of nips for $3. I was really hankering for some grub at Joyce Chen’s but I’m saving up for a trip out to Charlie’s Pizza in Arlington followed by an ice cream sundae at Chadwick’s and maybe a tilt over at the Hideaway Pub or catch a show at the Kendall Cafe before I head home. It all depends on if they decide to run the Red Line out to Belmont Sq. or not.

By perruptor on Thu, 08/06/2020 - 7:43am.

I went with a bunch of friends for a New Year's Eve dinner at Chen's. I ordered Peking duck, and it was a tiny amount of meat surrounding a section of bone about an inch in diameter. This is not what you get in Beijing. Then, when I opened my fortune cookie, it was empty. Never had any urge to eat there again.

By Scratchie on Thu, 08/06/2020 - 11:07am.

Right across the street from Aku-Aku.

By Scratchie on Thu, 08/06/2020 - 9:55am.

I wish I could make up my mind, whether to eat lunch at Elsie's or Buddy's Pit.

By BostonDog on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 10:31am.

I've only been there once or twice, last time was perhaps 12 years ago. The menu was pretty funny, the burgers not bad but overpriced as I recall. If it wasn't a tourist trap and/or if it didn't close so early it would be a good place to eat. (Why wouldn't they stay open to 10 or 11pm?) Reminiscent of the type of place you find in small College towns.

Still, very sad to see them go.

By Don't Panic on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 11:07am.

I didn't like their rounded burgers but that location is being disrespected by that low offer. I know it's been 5 months with no revenue, but please don't settle for less than a million.
Location, Location, Location!

By tblade on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 11:28am.

...is different than selling the real estate.

By Matt Frank on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 11:30am.

They are selling the name and cheap plastic furniture... You still need to pay the insane level of rent and this is a pandemic. I think 500,00 ish is about right if not a little high tbh.

By Kinopio on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 2:33pm.

Plus they have no liquor license or a bathroom. The owners son who is selling it is a world class turd. I’ve never seen someone treat coworkers so poorly.

By ChrisInEastie on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 11:19am.

I would buy today.

By RMM on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 2:20pm.

That restaurant is worth less than zero dollars presuming Harvard Square rents, limited square footage with which to social distance and the RAGING PANDEMIC.

I love Bartley's, but you'd need to pay me 6 figures to take on that lease.

By Matt Frank on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 11:33am.

Harvard Square has seen many changes and many restaurants have been forced out of their locations but just like the Green House fifteen years ago... Sometimes people retire and don't have kids. The owners are getting older and this is going to be a rough year. Whoever buys it can get a bargain now and rebuild when things get better but I think the owner is making a choice that works for them. If they were leaving soon anyway why break your back to adapt? The business is not optimized at all for this... A new person can come in and change the business to make it more Covid19 compliant tho.

By Scratchie on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 11:58am.

I assume it would be takeout only if it were Covid-19 compliant. The alternative would be to remove 3/4 of the seating (or more).

Will people still be willing to pay a premium for burgers with weird toppings and funny names if they have to eat them at home instead of in a tiny, quirky dining area?

By anon on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 1:01pm.

And the seating at Bartley's puts you much closer to strangers than at a typical restaurant, since they have shared tables.

By anon on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 2:10pm.

Cambridge is a disgrace of its former self, sorry kids!

By roadman on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 3:55pm.

How long has it been Mr. Bartley's? When I used to visit my sister when she was living in Cambridge in the early 1970s, it was Mrs.Bartley's Burger Cottage.

By anon on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 6:31pm.

I remember it being Mr. and Mrs. Bartley’s in the early 2000s.

By jmeltzer on Thu, 08/06/2020 - 9:45am.

a bad divorce.

By Darryll J Fernald on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 10:16pm.

how about Bartley's / Tommy's Lunch and Elsie's, like a theme park to the old days

By Oscar Worthy on Thu, 08/06/2020 - 1:13am.

that Elsie's pastrami sub I ate 30 years ago.