Bronx Alehouse

five for five!

At the end of 2024, I pledged to have a burger from every borough on my ranking in the following year. I come to you, on December 29th 2025, with a pledge fulfilled. A real buzzer beater, as I ate this burger yesterday, December 28th, but a deal’s a deal.

The Bronx is admittedly a blind spot for me as a whole. I’ve never made it up to Arthur Ave (a blight on my countrymen), never made it to the zoo or the allegedly superior botanical garden. I’ve regrettably been to a Yankee game but that’s just because my alumni associate did a ticket deal with unlimited hot dogs and beers.

In my burger research, there didn’t seem to be a clear consensus on the best of the borough. Facebook groups and Reddit threads referred to places long closed or hyped up White Castle (it’s in the top 10 burgers of the Bronx on Trip Advisor too). Other burgerfluencers left out the borough entirely or cited a burger in Yankee Stadium as its way of checking off the Bronx. TikTok showed me a lot of smash burger spots which is fine, but on a winter day fresh off a snowstorm, I was seeking out a stick-to-your-ribs style burger for lunch that could fuel my afternoon.

view of my subway car by the time i got off at 238th Street

I landed on Bronx Alehouse in Riverdale Crossing, around the corner from the penultimate stop of the 1 train. It’s a spacious sports bar with TVs around the perimeter of both the bar and the dining room and a pretty robust draft list. I settled into a back corner table with my book and ordered a pint (airport rules) and their Original burger, one of the eight burger options.

All of their burgers are half a pound on a brioche bun and come with fries. With more and more bar menus making all sides a la carte, I appreciated the full meal, and only for $17! My Original was served with green leaf lettuce, tomato, IPA Pickles, diced raw white onions, & special sauce.

My first bite was super juicy and well balanced. Any time I have a burger on brioche, I’m grateful for any crunch and moisture I can get from fresh veg. The pickles were plentiful and briny and for the record didn’t really taste all to IPA-y to me. The further into the burger I got, though, the more the moisture from the lettuce and off-season tomato conspired with the medium burger to make things a bit messy. This meant a few things: the finely diced onion ended up pooled on the plate instead of in my mouth, the bottom bun got thinner and thinner, and the supersized piece of lettuce was basically ice skating across the patty.

I thought this was a great bar burger, especially if you’re already uptown or in the Bronx and once the weather changes up a little, I’d love to make it back for those smashes at Milk Burger, Bronx Burger Co. and Slap Burger! I’m placing the Original burger at Bronx Ale House at 38 between Au Cheval and Toad Style. As a reminder, you can see my full ranking spreadsheet by becoming a paid subscriber and you can check out burgers by neighborhood in my directory (for free!).

Stay tuned this week for my updated Top 20 burgers of NYC!