West Village diners just picked up a Martha's Vineyard import: Fat Ronnie's, the island burger bar known for thick, old-school patties and a build-your-own toppings spread, has opened its first New York City outpost. The compact counter-service shop sits at 303 Sixth Avenue at Carmine Street and brings Reynaldo “Ronnie” Faust’s family burger craft back to the city with a no-frills, butcher-lean menu.
The restaurant's website spells it out with a splashy headline declaring "New York City is now OPEN !!" at 303 6th Avenue, and lays out hours, a phone number and menu highlights. On March 23, Time Out reported that the West Village menu leans away from smash-burger trends toward thick, pub-style Angus beef patties ground in-house and cooked to order, backed up by more than 30 toppings and six mac-and-cheese variations.
A butcher's burger and a family story
Faust frames Fat Ronnie's as a generational craft. Time Out notes that his grandmother, Maxine Faust, "was the first Black union butcher in the United States," and that the business traces back five generations. That lineage helps explain the choice to grind beef on site and serve a heavier, butcher's-style patty instead of a thin smash burger.
Menu, hours and what to expect
The menu mixes classic sandwich-shop fare, including lobster rolls, fish & chips, wings and veggie blends, with the brand's build-your-own burger format. The restaurant's website lists hours as Sunday–Thursday 11 a.m.–11 p.m. and Friday–Saturday 11 a.m.–1 a.m., and provides a local number for takeout and questions.
From plan to open
Fat Ronnie's had been on the West Village radar for months. What Now New York reported last July that the team was aiming for a fall debut and expected a small, roughly 16-seat footprint. The outlet also noted a brief Miami outpost that opened around 2020 and later closed as the brand refocused on the Vineyard and now New York.
Expect weekend waits early on while the neighborhood tests out the build-your-own setup, along with a steady flow of locals looking for a dependable, big-burger option. For West Village diners, it is a slice of Martha's Vineyard pedigree dropped onto Sixth Avenue, with patties that remember where they came from.
