Five Guys Burgers: What's the deal?

Cafe Society
1

So here in the SF Bay area burger joints are popping up all over the place. All to the good I say. One of the many is Five Guys Burgers and Fries.

On paper it looks great. Zagut rated. Good reviews. Fresh ingredients, a sign in the store telling you what farm they came from. A simple straight forward menu, but you can mix and match a bunch of toppings. So far so good.

You walk in, the place has a nice, old time burger place feel. They have sacks full of salted unshelled peanuts with little trays you can fill up yourself to snack on while you wait. The kids are amused and kept occupied cracking peanuts.

But then the food comes. The fries are fine. Nothing special, but fine white potato fries. It’s the burgers that are the problem. Crappy wonder bread feeling bun. The toppings are good, but the beef is bland and sloppy. It tastes like it was boiled. Not nasty, but just flavorless and falling apart. It would have tasted better to leave the meat patty out.

I have tried two different locations. Is it just me and my wife? Is this an east coast thing? It probably doesn’t help to eat a bunch of salty, tasty peanuts right before biting into the burger, but they have to know that, right?

2

Their quality has suffered with their massive recent expansion.

3

I tried them on a stop in Portland and wasn’t impressed. Luckily I was only 1000 miles away from LA and had Tommy’s the next day.

4

Had them a couple times while travelling. I was not impressed.

5

It’s a franchise, so quality can vary. That said, I’ve never had a bad burger there.

6

Unfortunately, I have never had a good burger there. It is odd that the problem is so fundamental. I would say its a good burger place, except for the burgers. And I would say the burgers are good except for the beef and bun. If those two things were acceptable, it would be a great place to go.

7

Being called the best fast food burger is a dubious compliment. Talk about low hurdles.

8

I don’t understand it either. They make a reasonably good burger but that shouldn’t be enough to justify their mass expansion. Their burgers are on par with many other places and inferior to lots of others. I know of a couple of pubs near me that make much better burgers and I can cook better ones at home quite easily.

9

I absolutely love them. I think the burgers are fantastic, and the fries to die for. And I live in the land of In-N-Out and Tommy’s, so I am not otherwise deprived when it comes to good burgers. However, I do have some friends who have encountered bad locations, and have changed their minds when I’ve taken them to a location I was familiar with. I am under the impression that not all of the franchises are up to snuff as they expand so quickly.

This guy (YouTube link) speaks for me when it comes to my feelings about Five Guys.

10

I’ve heard people here rave about them so I was horribly underwhelmed. The burgers taste like ones you make at home (so why bother?) The fries are in fact horrible. Fuddruckers blows them out of the water.

11

They are great here in NC. Their base is in DC, IIRC so maybe their west coast branches are not up to snuff.

BTW, try the cajun style fries instead of the regular ones.

That said, 5G does not aspire to be more than a really good, basic roadside burger.

12

Five Guys was outstanding when it was two joints in DC, operating out of standing-room-and-takeout-only storefronts. I don’t care for them now, and there are far better options in Portland.

But as far as comparisons, I have to say that all the talk on this board about In-N-Out burgers over the years had my mouth watering to try one. This past summer, I got the chance while driving through CA. Worst fucking burger/fries plate almost ever. I absolutely do NOT get the love for that place. It must be a nostalgia sort of thing, much like Burgerville here in the PNW.

13

I’ve had them in Virginia near DC and they were okay. Nothing I’d make a special trip for. Had them in the Chicago suburbs and they were sub-par.

I don’t get the love for the place but more power to 'em, I guess.

14

But that is exactly what the ones I have had are not. The beef tastes terrible. Nothing you can do to fix that without actually fixing that. I would chalk up to a bad location, but I tried two different ones so far and the burgers were the same bland unflavored lump.

15

I get burgers at the local Austin Five Guys outlet, and I love them- I just think they’re a little on the expensive side, for what you get.

16

They started with a small shop in Arlington, VA. The dad opened a burger shop with his four sons and the first shop was to die for. They were hard working and paid attention to detail to keep customers, and to attract new ones. Five Guys becamse a real success story. Until they decided to franchise.

Further… if you wanted to franchise with them you had to open five stores. That makes a huge difference in quality because it’s no longer the original family doing the cooking but rather a new owner who is more concerned with making a profit. There are two within five minutes of where I live and one of them produces much better burgers than the other.

17

My first experience with Five Guys was also in DC (on H Street, if I recall correctly) back in 2008. I’ve since had them in Cleveland and LA as well. They’ve all basically been the same to me.

As for In-N-Out, I am not a huge fan of their fries, but I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone say that they actually hated the burgers. I don’t know what to say other than to chalk it up to different tastes, I guess.

18

I was thoroughly underwhelmed by Five Guys.

In-N-Out’s burgers are about average fast food, but I’m quite fond of their fries.

19

They taste fine to me but but when I go, I always get the bacon cheeseburger all the way with hot sauce so it’s quite possible that I never actually taste the meat.

20

I have.

There was a restaurant near where I worked called “Two Guys”. So when I saw Five Guys I jokingly said to my girlfriend, “We should try it. I mean, hey - they’ve got three more guys, right?”

Soggy, greasy, sloppy burger. Some of that could be excused by it tasting great, but it was average at best. The fries were only so-so too. I won’t be going back.