As I wrote previously Friendly’s and Red Robin are not fast food. Fuddruckers, Smashburger and Five Guys feel like they are more Fast Casual than fast food. Their business model seems closer to Chipotle than McDonald’s to me and it just doesn’t feel fair comparing them.
Five Guys does not cook your burger to order. Its only served welldone.
It isn’t placed on the grill until you order it. That’s cooked to order. They may not cook to the doneness you like, but that really doesn’t have much to do with the point being made.
That may be true (although I honestly see no difference between Five Guys and In N Out in terms of “fast foodness.” Fuddruckers and Smashburger do feel somewhat different to me. Which may just mean that In N Out is not fast food, either. And certainly Culver’s couldn’t qualify if Five Guys doesn’t.) But, if so, then pretty much three-quarters of this list would not qualify. I suppose you can use the restaurant industry term “quick-service chain” to lop all these in, if you’d like. (To me, though, it’s all “fast food.”)
Lots of fast food places cook to order if there isnt a lot of business. Five Guys is no different then Fatburger.
Yes, we’ve been discussing it for 2 pages now.
I kept waiting for the Voters count to hit 200 before posting this but that may never come! 
Make of these snapshots whatever you will:
Poll Results: Which fast food chain serves your favorite burger?
Five Guys Burgers and Fries 35 17.68% 10 19.61% 15 15.00% 23 16.20% 29 17.06%
In-N-Out Burger 25 12.63% 3 5.88% 11 11.00% 17 11.97% 22 12.94%
Carl's Jr./Hardee's 16 8.08% 5 9.80% 8 8.00% 13 9.15% 15 8.82%
Wendy's 11 5.56% 1 1.96% 3 3.00% 7 4.93% 8 4.71%
Burger King 10 5.05% 2 3.92% 5 5.00% 7 4.93% 9 5.29%
Whataburger 10 5.05% 3 5.88% 7 7.00% 8 5.63% 8 4.71%
Fuddruckers 9 4.55% 1 1.96% 4 4.00% 6 4.23% 7 4.12%
Smashburger 8 4.04% 2 3.92% 3 3.00% 5 3.52% 8 4.71%
Red Robin 7 3.54% 2 3.92% 3 3.00% 6 4.23% 6 3.53%
Culver's 6 3.03% 1 1.96% 3 3.00% 3 2.11% 4 2.35%
Shake Shack 6 3.03% 1 1.96% 1 1.00% ? 4 2.35%
Jack in the Box 5 2.53% 3 5.88% 5 5.00% 5 3.52% 5 2.94%
Steak 'n Shake 5 2.53% 1 1.96% 2 2.00% 4 2.82% 4 2.35%
White Castle 5 2.53% 0 0% 5 5.00% 5 3.52% 5 2.94%
Sonic Drive In 4 2.02% 1 1.96% 3 3.00% 3 2.11% 3 1.76%
Fatburger 4 2.02% 2 3.92% 3 3.00% 3 2.11% 4 2.35%
Voters: 198 Voters: 51 Voters: 100 Voters: 142 Voters: 170
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I wonder about the numbers for Five Guys. They’re ‘new’, having opened their first restaurant in 1986; and I’ve only seen them here on the West Coast the last few/several years.
Now, Five Guys has a nice burger. But as I’ve said twice in this thread, I don’t find them that much better than the burgers I typically get at Wendy’s. OTOH, I’ve only been to Five Guys a couple of times. I generally don’t have the time to stop and eat. Since they don’t have a drive-through, they’re inconvenient. Maybe when I’ve had a burger there, it was an off-day for the burgers or my taste buds.
So what I wonder about is this: A bit over a decade ago, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts came to the West Coast. People went crazy, and there were lines around the block. I tried Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and still try them if someone brings them into the office. They’re kind of gross. They’re certainly not as good as Winchell’s or Spudnuts. But they’re ‘new’. Maybe people put them at the top of their list because Five Guys is trendy?
I don’t necessarily think so. I think it’s a lot to do with their geographic availability. They are pretty much available nationwide now, they make a burger (IMHO) that is a cut above McD’s, BK, and Wendy’s. It would be kind of interesting to somehow adjust for geography. In-N-Out is only available in a handful of states, (and Whataburger tends to be limited to the southern areas of the US, Culvers the Midwest with a smattering of outposts elsewhere), so there are a whole lot of people who haven’t had those three chain burgers. (And there’s a good number more that are also similarly regional, like White Castle and Jack in the Box. Speaking of, where is Krystal in this poll? ETA: Nevermind. I was looking alphabetically. I see it’s there after White Castle.) Then there are hyper limited places like Kewpee, which makes a great burger, too, but I venture few people at all have had them.)
That might be a part of their overall business success, but I have more faith in the SDMB membership than to think we’d vote for them as “our favorite burger” on that basis.
You know, there’s a reason a lot of you have never kissed a girl.
I tend to agree (with your unsaid premise, that is), believe it or not. Debates about what is or isn’t fast food, or what is or isn’t a sandwich tend to bore me to death. I realized what I had done about 30 seconds after I made my post about not considering Five Guys fast food.
That being said, there are a lot of people on this board who really enjoy those discussions, so I don’t want to disparage the conversation in any way.
And if talking about such things would give me a even a temporary respite from my social schedule, particularly this time of year, I’d be the one starting the threads.
One thing to keep in mind: if we ever have a poll on some topic where opinions, beliefs, attitudes and preferences are usually all over the map, and we wind up with at least 75% agreement on one of the options, we can be close to certain that the voters haven’t even read the OP!
Really hard to say, few of them are good contenders. Some I have never been, are not in my area.
Just skipping to the end of the thread so sorry if this has been debated for whatever reason:
Burger King. The extra long BBQ burger (formerly the rodeo burger). Cheeseburger with BBQ sauce and onion rings. mmmmm mmmm
I had one of those once.
Once.
So yesterday I happened to be in town. I decided to try Five Guys again.
I got a double cheeseburger with mayonnaise, lettuce, pickles, and raw onions. Good burger, but still lacking. It tasted a little ‘watery’. Could’ve used a little more salt. Last time I had a burger there, I thought it was about as good as Wendy’s; maybe jut a little bit better. This time, I think a Wendy’s burger would have been better (and cost half as much).
The fries were good, but most of them were bits about an inch long. I might have gotten longer ones if I hadn’t stopped the guy from dumping a tray full of fries onto my small order of fries. I like the offer of the lagniappe, but there’s a reason I order the smallest container of fries. As it was, I barely finished the huge burger.
Johnny Rockets, followed closely by Smashburger.
That seems always to be the case, hereabouts, anyway. Maybe they save money by buying rejects (?) Certainly, it’s nice that they serve LOTS of fries. (And the peanuts are nice too.)
IMHO, Burger King is pretty good. Not the best, but plenty good, and very dependable. Like Wendy’s. There are times when “pretty good” is good enough.
Two? The website lists over 40 in the greater LA area and almost 20 in the San Francisco Bay Area (if you include Vacaville). However, I am not a fan of it - it’s like In & Out; “good”, but not really worth the price.
My vote went to Fatburger, but only for the grilled one (and I have only seen one where I got the option - on the Vegas Strip); if I am limited to “fry only” Fatburgers, my vote then goes to Carl’s Jr, mainly for the BBQ sauce on the Western Bacon Cheeseburger. (A&W burgers are good as well, if you can get them at a discount; I think Papaburgers are 2-for-1 on Tuesdays.)