Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage

Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage is a Harvard Square burger restaurant billed as a Boston landmark since 1960. The specialty is gourmet burgers made from seven ounces of choice beef ground fresh daily, and the restaurant calls its burgers “The Beethoven of Burgers.” Lime rickeys are part of its reputation too. Press coverage has pointed out that it is one of the few places in the Square for a quick bite that is not part of a national chain.

Over the years the restaurant has been written up by Travel Holiday, the Harvard Lampoon, the Improper Bostonian, Boston Magazine, the Harvard Gazette, the Harvard Crimson and the Cambridge Chronicle, with one write-up calling it an icon of the Harvard Square area. Coverage describes an unpretentious place that draws students, businesspeople and older customers alike. It has also appeared on This Old House, MTV, HBO, the Food Network, Evening Magazine and The Phantom Gourmet.

What to Know

• One write-up dubbed it a first-rate burger joint in a pizza town.
• Press coverage credits its burgers with numerous awards.
• It has been noted as a hangout for Harvard faculty.
• It is listed with the Harvard Square Business Association.