White Manna - Hackensack, NJ

Posted By Anna Leon on December 26, 2011 9:39 AM

Are you kiddin' me? After seeing this place on television I just couldn't resist going. What a disappointment. The burgers at White Castle are better in my opinion. These guys have a grill where they cook the slider in front of you and dress it with ordinary options. The bun is Martin's Potato Bread buns which can be brought in any supermarket in northern New Jersey. I brought the burger several ways. It was nothing I couldn't make better at home. The fries were just fries.

I think the customers just like the look of the place. Without exception, for the time I was there, all the customers were middle-aged or older. White Manna facade hasn't changed in decades and maybe there is a bit of nostalgia going on for the bye gone glory days of Jersey.

I guess I was expecting something special.

Overall Rating

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Cheeseburger

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Posted By Jack Ziegler on May 23, 2011 5:26 PM

The pictures of those White Manna burgers are making my mouth water. I use to work in Paramus, and would come over to Hackensack for the burgers and fries several times a month. Nothing else like it.

The burgers remind me of the ones I used to get as a kid in Baltimore, Maryland at a place named the Little Tavern. At one time there were about 40 of them all over the Baltimore area. The last one closed years ago.

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Posted By Seth Bogdanove on May 18, 2011 9:27 AM

I hadn't been to White Manna since 1983, but having been told by my doctor that I have to go on a strict diet, I had to go one more time. My wife and I rented a car for the weekend to visit some of my favorite NJ food places, and White Manna was #1 on my list.

The line now, as it was then, was out the door, but we joined it, me in anticipation and my wife with trepidation (she's a very picky eater). We finally got to the grill and placed our order; four burgers with pickles and onions for me, two cheeseburgers no onion and pickles for her, with fries and sodas.

We miraculously got two seats together at the corner of the counter, and ten minutes later, the burgers and fries arrived. To my pleasure, they were exactly as I remembered from my last visit in 1983! They were steaming hot, juicy and fresh, but not greasy. The fries were also perfection, and my wife told me she regretted not ordering more cheeseburgers.

This place, which has been continuously in business since the 1940s has been hyped on every Roadfood TV show I've seen, and rightly so. If you're near Hackensack, you owe it to yourself to experience White Manna for yourself. You'll thank yourself!

Overall Rating

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Cheeseburger

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Posted By Mike Iacoucci on March 12, 2009 1:55 PM

"Perfection" is the only way to describe the burgers you receive from White Manna in Hackensack. White Manna serves what is one of the greatest "slider" burgers that can be found anywhere, the perfect marriage of bun, meat, cheese, and, of course, onion.

With thousands of burgers served from a 15' by 30' diner, the atmosphere is somewhat chaotic: there's a line out the door into the parking lot, and the lucky few who manage to get inside are scattered all around, as there is about five feet between the door and the grill. Yet somehow through all of this, the grill runner manages to keep all of the customers' orders straight. What makes it amazing is that nothing is written down; the customers shout out their orders, some of them complex, and it all manages to work out somehow. I have tried to look at the grill to see if there is come kind of "code" to the layout that keeps the orders straight but I have yet to find one. There is only one rule to abide by when ordering: tell the grill person your burger order and NOTHING else. There is more staff stationed behind him or her; place your fry and drink orders with them.

The meat is fresh-ground beef that is shaped into tiny balls. When you place your order the ball is placed onto the grill (two balls for the doubles) and if ordering with onions an excessive amount of shoestring-cut onions are placed on top of the balls, and the two are smashed down with a metal spatula. After the burgers are turned, a slice of cheese (if ordered) is placed on top. Before the burgers are removed, the buns (potato of course) are opened and placed on top of the burgers to collect all of the grill steam and juices. All burgers are cooked well-done, but it doesn't matter: these are some of the juiciest, tastiest burgers you will ever eat!

Overall Rating

Hamburger

Cheeseburger

Double Cheeseburger

Double Hamburger

Fries

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