WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN THE MONTROSE SHAKE SHACK OPENS THIS THURSDAY 
Aside from the standard beefy fare, here’s what you can expect to encounter at the chain’s new Burger-King-replacement location on Westheimer west of Montrose Blvd. when it opens this Thursday: tabletops made from “reclaimed bowling alley lanes,” a mural from local artist Michael Rodriguez (the same guy behind new female astronaut artwork next to Shake Shack’s Rice Village location and the colorful first floor of the former Battelstein’s building downtown), and a free Shake-Shack-themed holiday ornament for the first 100 customers (doors open at 11 a.m.). There are also a few Montrose-specific menu items planned at the 1002 Westheimer restaurant including custards acquired from nearby UB Preserv and less-nearby Fluff Bake Bar, as well as a carrot cake offering served with coffee grounds from the location’s next-door neighbor Blacksmith. [Previously on Swamplot] Photo of construction on Montrose Shake Shack: Swamplox inbox
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Meh. I’ll pass.
I don’t think that this place will match the vibe at the Burger Joint. But, perhaps it will thin out the line at the Joint.
The layout of this building on the site is very disappointing. There is a large expanse of grass between Westheimer and the patio at the front of the building that I see no practical use for.
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Did they not request a setback variance? I thought there was a big push to make this stretch of Westheimer more walkable. If a variance was requested, it surely would have been granted, right?
Montrose must be one of the only places in Houston that actually gets more inconvenient and more expensive to eat out as time goes on.
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Good riddance!
@Donald: There’s a Shake Shack in Uptown, Dallas where they used outdoor landscaped space out front for games and a sort of park-like area. Maybe they plan to do something like that here as well?
@Donald: That stretch of Westheimer is empirically walkable. I’ve been walking it since the 1980s. The “expanse” of grass is can’t large enough to dissuade walking.
@Donald
Agreed. The immediate area is actually becoming less walkable.
@joel Shake Shack is relatively cheap actually.
I don’t get it.
The area is LESS walkable because they did NOT get a setback variance and now they have an expanse of green between the store and Westheimer? How does that make it less walkable ?
Why does an expanse of grass need to have a practical use? Just being grass rather than concrete is the best practical use in my book.
@Donald…There is a large expanse of grass between Westheimer and the patio at the front of the building that I see no practical use for.
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Maybe patio people don’t want to eat their grub 6 feet from the exhaust of a passing Metro bus.
They planted two small trees in the grass area, that area needs trees, nice improvement,
Lmao, this comment section is cracking me up.
Shake Shack is leaps and bounds better than that
old Burger King, and for the record Shake Shack is
better than The Burger Joint.
Case closed.
houston walkability hand wringers, lol