I have found the texture of Harvey’s hamburger patties to be a little off compared to an all-beef patty cooked at home. Note that Harvey’s has some filler in their patties (bread crumbs and soy, I think). I like the toppings bar, though.
But not 1000 island dressing.
And 27? Besides mustard, mayo, ketchup, and A1, what other condiments do they have?
That is crazy. Especially the small fries. But you ordered Coke in a bottle, which is always overpriced.
They dont have fountain drinks?
I do not know. And not sure they would charge differently between the two. Since I was using an online order system I think they only offer bottled soda. I did not include delivery or tip or tax in the prices you see above. It’d cost even more than what you see there to have it delivered. Pushing $30 all told for a burger, fries and a Coke from a fast food restaurant. Madness.
Mix ketchup and mayo and you’re pretty close to Thousand Island dressing.
I ran @Whack-a-Mole’s same order at my local 5 guys. For pickup it was $18.07 before tax.
They do have unlimited fountain drinks in the store.
I’m not a big fan; I’m not defending them here. Just pointing out that prices do vary around the country for the same product.
And IME their prices are not at all out of line compared to other “niche” burger joints who are not the Big 3: McD / BK / W.
I tried the same basic order at a BK nearby the 5 guys, so similar rent, material & labor costs, customer SES, etc.
A Whopper Jr combo meal w small sides for pickup came to $8.49 plus tax. I’m betting that’s about the same size burger. If not, a full-sized Whopper combo meal w small fries & drink came to $9.99.
Five Guys across the street from my office:
Cheeseburger + Little Fries + Regular Coke = $17.07
Burger King just one block down:
Whopper + Medium Fries + Medium Coke = $10.29
Both are before tax.
Five Guys offers seven different sauces: Ketchup, Mustard, Mayo, Relish, Bar-B-Que Sauce, Hot Sauce (Franks RedHot) and A1 Sauce . Total topping list:
Seriously over-priced for what you get. Definitely not a fan. I’ll drive the extra 100 yards to In-N-Out.
Come to Bozeman–my favorite food truck Low Key has hand ground local beef, fresh bun, hand-cut fries (not that crispy–1 fry I’m sure, but very tasty). About $20 including tip!!
The Small Fries at Five Guys is an Extra Large anywhere else.
And they do cook every burger to order (which is why it takes longer and is more considered a Fast Casual place and not a Fast Food place).
Whenever go to Five Guys, I can’t finish half the fries, even the Little Fries. The burger also seems much greasier than the fast food ones.
All in all, I feel overstuffed every time I go to Five Guys. I never go unless my coworkers want to go.
For less than the price of the burger, fries and drink I can get one of:
Bento box at the Japanese/PanAsian restaurant (many choices)
Bibimbap at the Korean place
Pad Thai or Fried Rice at the Thai place
etc.
Maybe same price if you factor in the tip (total ~$20)
And with the queues at Five guys, I’m not sure they are faster.
I think those are a better comparison to Five Guys than McDonald’s or BK.
For $6, it damn well should be. Maybe let me pay $2.50 and get a normal serving of fries.
A “small” fries at The Hat in SoCal will run you $3.99.
It’s an entire scoop of cooked to order fries that are actually GOOD.
5 Guys blows.
You can get a “Family Share” bucket-o-fries from McDonald’s for five or six bucks. It’s still breakfast hours so I can’t check the app for an exact price but it’s around there. I just looked at my local Five Guys website and it’s $5.19 for a small fries.
The thing is, I’d never order myself a Quarter Pounder and a Family Share fries. So having that be your “small” size isn’t value-added for me. It’s just either wasted food or an extra thousand calories I didn’t need. There’s not even any real value in “But if you’re ordering for three people, you only need one fries” because you could pay the same anywhere else for a heap of fries, they’ll just call it an extra-large.
If the Five Guys small fries was $2.59 then it’s be a bargain (if still probably an excessive number of fries). But selling you a jumbo fries at average jumbo fries prices and calling it a “small” doesn’t make it a deal.
The biggest grumble I have about the local donut chain we have here, Bosa, is they don’t do crullers.
One mystery I have is there is a donut shop just down the street from me with a sign, BoSa like all the others, but not in a red, stretched hexagon. They never appear in the locations listed in the BoSa ads. I made a point of stopping and asking the lady behind the counter but she didn’t speak English too well. I picture a family fight or something and the youngerst son storming off and starting a store.
And as far as Krispy Kreme goes, I prefer cake donuts over raised so they don’t do it for me. They do have cake available I have but it’s not their forte.
I feel this way about the food quality and/or portion sizes of most restaurants. Even when it’s ok and fresh I can eat like half of it and then I am full. Something like a burger does not reheat the next day.
A small order of 5 Guys fries is like 4 potatoes cooked in peanut oil. Ask yourself how often you have eaten 4 potatoes in a single sitting and felt good about it and then add slurping down a few tablespoons of peanut oil on top. Ok, split the small order. When have you eaten two potatoes and a tablespoon of peanut oil ON THE SIDE of a heavy burger and shake or soft drink?
I don’t understand the modern American diet. Not as in why we are all fat, I know why, but why are there no good reasonably healthy and affordable options.
I find myself eating raw plain food more and more. Banana, baby carrots, slice or two of home made wheat bread with some butter. That’s a happy stomach and wallet, but you can’t franchise that.
I live in North Carolina, and they’re pro-mustard here. I’ve gotten burgers at Wendy’s that aren’t even supposed to have mustard, but they put mustard on them anyway. 
I hate mustard. It’s all good, though, because I really don’t need to eat fast food.
Don’t take this as endorsement of Five Guys over Burger King.
For me, food budget is calories, not dollars. Obviously there is a dollar limit, but if I’m going to have a burger and fries, I would much rather get a (post inflation) $20 burger from a good restaurant than a $5-10 fast food burger. The fact that for $20, I’m only going to get that burger occasionally is part of the point.
Nope.
Okay, but I do not consider the veggies to be condiments, they are toppings.
The fries and the hash browns are about the only things i still get there, and those rarely.
Depends on where you are.
Where I grew up, Wendy’s was the newcomer, and JITB didn’t exist. This was 45 years ago, of course. And Wendy’s was massively better than the others.
Nowadays: McDonald’s is on every street corner - almost as common as Starbucks. BK is probably next in line for commonness; there are only 2 Wendy’s within anything like a reasonable drive. JITB and In n Out basically don’t exist around here. There are actually more semi-upscale places / chains locally: 5 Guys, Elevation Burger, BGR, and various local non-chain (at least as far as I know) places that do so much better. But if you’re travelling and your aim is refueling versus dining, any of the chains will be just fine.
Dunkin Donuts has a lot of nostalgic fondness here: my father would stop there after Mass on Sundays and get 2 dozen, so we each got 4. Cream filled, and glazed, never anything else; I was shocked the first time I went into a store and saw all the other options. KK was a surprise when I got to college; they were packaged and sold in the vending machines in the dorm. Wasn’t until many years later that I happened to go into an actual store, and saw they had other varieties as well. I’m still fond of DD though - but I basically never buy them unless we happen to be travelling and wind up there for a bathroom break. Otherwise, Homer Simpson would be looking at me and saying “Dude, slow down and ease off the doughnuts!”.
Like burgers, we’re somewhat spoiled for “upscale” donuts around here. Duck Donuts (no choices in filling, but LOTS of choices in toppings), which is right next door to my doctor’s office (I don’t go in until AFTER the blood draw!!!). Donutchew (mochi-based). But for a filled donut, DD is the only game in town. District Doughnuts (which is [un]fortunately very inaccessible, so I’ve only ever gotten something there once).
Implicitly, California, since I’m talking about In’N’Out.