Five Guys Burgers
Okay there is a chain that has decided to spread into Texas this past year all over the place called Five Guys Burgers, and they seem to commonly come up in people's conversations. For people I know who frequent there in other states, they seem to love eating there and enjoy it. I have a total polarizing opinion of this place, this is past a 180, past 360, all the way to like 1800 or some crap.
The first time I went there, the burgers were like $9.50 for two pieces of meat and toppings you wanted. Then you had to buy fries and a drink. So $15 a pop was pretty much what you were looking at. The food was pretty average in flavor, with a tiny burger and overdose of fries. I was very disappointed to say the least. Also it was jam packed with a ton of people at the opening so seating was very cramped. That was about six months ago.
So, my raccoonie decided we should be nice and give the place a second chance. I noticed the place was far emptier than my last visit, and that the burger price was now like $5. I have a sneaking suspicion the original price kept quite a few people from returning, hence the more reasonable cost now. The place is adorned with like twenty signs saying how great they are, and it comes off both tacky and arrogant. The person taking the orders got a little crunk with me, as I asked for lettuce and onions and that was all. She was giving me a dirty look of "what? Is that ALL?", as if I had broken some carindal rule of the place. So Bravo got a hot dog and we sat down to wait.
I think the register worker realized I was peeved as she quickly came over and said she'd get any refills we needed and we could help ourselves to peanuts while we waited. Funny thing, she never came back, and am I supposed to go scoop peanuts out of the bin into my hand? On the table? I don't know as there wasn't a damned thing to put them in, and nobody was chewing on any. I guess this is supposed to be a Texas Roadhouse and I just litter the crap out of the floor? *shrug*
Finally the order came up and into the bag. Since Bravo didn't get fries I split with him, bag fries were his, foam cup were mine. Odd thing he got more. Not like we ate them really. They were undercooked with some raw potato flavor, and seasoning was overboard. Okay there is sprinkling some seasoning and shaking them up which is fine. Then there is dumping a bucket of Zatarain's powder inside the entire fry is orangey, shaking once so the bottom half has zero seasoning, and serving it up. Honestly, you would have thought some of the fries had been batter dipped until you got close and saw it was seasoning as it was that thick.
The burger was as ordered, and looked pretty good. The cheese and bread were the best thing though, and thankfully I seemed to have plenty of those in comparison to the meat and vegetables. The meat was bland, poorly drained, and covered maybe two-thirds of the bun space. Seeing bun past burger is a very sad sight, and definitely not expected from a place priding itself on burgers. There was one piece of lettuce which I didn't even notice, and then plenty of onions. Onions need either a sweet flavor or a rich twangy savory one. They should be crisp and just caramelized, or slighty limp from being batter-dipped and fried. These were like ... well..... mush. Brown mush. I thought they covered the bun in brown gravy lumps. The flavor had been cooked out, and they were past done.
So overall, I'm done with them as tossing half of my meal away seems quite frustrating to me at that price. I could go to Burger King, get three double cheeseburgers, two fries, and a drink all for $6.00 which is half a buck less than the Five Guys burger alone. Also the BK ones would taste slightly better, with anything in the trash from having too much, not from refusal to eat it. Also this leaves me wondering how they can stay open when the American Ideal is giant amounts for low cost. I guess hype alone runs it here?
Please if anyone likes this place, can you tell me why? All I can think of is that every one of the places in Texas blows and you all have magical burger joint with totally different food. The only other thought I have is that it is the opposite which sometimes I think is true which is that Texas food is so damned good, with half the population knowing how to cook, that it is crap by comparison as you all don't know any better. Like giving someone a molded pee-soaked dishrag to chew when daily they have stinky turd sammiches. Hearing people like WildFox actually hating McDonalds in his state makes me think this might be true. So which is it?
The first time I went there, the burgers were like $9.50 for two pieces of meat and toppings you wanted. Then you had to buy fries and a drink. So $15 a pop was pretty much what you were looking at. The food was pretty average in flavor, with a tiny burger and overdose of fries. I was very disappointed to say the least. Also it was jam packed with a ton of people at the opening so seating was very cramped. That was about six months ago.
So, my raccoonie decided we should be nice and give the place a second chance. I noticed the place was far emptier than my last visit, and that the burger price was now like $5. I have a sneaking suspicion the original price kept quite a few people from returning, hence the more reasonable cost now. The place is adorned with like twenty signs saying how great they are, and it comes off both tacky and arrogant. The person taking the orders got a little crunk with me, as I asked for lettuce and onions and that was all. She was giving me a dirty look of "what? Is that ALL?", as if I had broken some carindal rule of the place. So Bravo got a hot dog and we sat down to wait.
I think the register worker realized I was peeved as she quickly came over and said she'd get any refills we needed and we could help ourselves to peanuts while we waited. Funny thing, she never came back, and am I supposed to go scoop peanuts out of the bin into my hand? On the table? I don't know as there wasn't a damned thing to put them in, and nobody was chewing on any. I guess this is supposed to be a Texas Roadhouse and I just litter the crap out of the floor? *shrug*
Finally the order came up and into the bag. Since Bravo didn't get fries I split with him, bag fries were his, foam cup were mine. Odd thing he got more. Not like we ate them really. They were undercooked with some raw potato flavor, and seasoning was overboard. Okay there is sprinkling some seasoning and shaking them up which is fine. Then there is dumping a bucket of Zatarain's powder inside the entire fry is orangey, shaking once so the bottom half has zero seasoning, and serving it up. Honestly, you would have thought some of the fries had been batter dipped until you got close and saw it was seasoning as it was that thick.
The burger was as ordered, and looked pretty good. The cheese and bread were the best thing though, and thankfully I seemed to have plenty of those in comparison to the meat and vegetables. The meat was bland, poorly drained, and covered maybe two-thirds of the bun space. Seeing bun past burger is a very sad sight, and definitely not expected from a place priding itself on burgers. There was one piece of lettuce which I didn't even notice, and then plenty of onions. Onions need either a sweet flavor or a rich twangy savory one. They should be crisp and just caramelized, or slighty limp from being batter-dipped and fried. These were like ... well..... mush. Brown mush. I thought they covered the bun in brown gravy lumps. The flavor had been cooked out, and they were past done.
So overall, I'm done with them as tossing half of my meal away seems quite frustrating to me at that price. I could go to Burger King, get three double cheeseburgers, two fries, and a drink all for $6.00 which is half a buck less than the Five Guys burger alone. Also the BK ones would taste slightly better, with anything in the trash from having too much, not from refusal to eat it. Also this leaves me wondering how they can stay open when the American Ideal is giant amounts for low cost. I guess hype alone runs it here?
Please if anyone likes this place, can you tell me why? All I can think of is that every one of the places in Texas blows and you all have magical burger joint with totally different food. The only other thought I have is that it is the opposite which sometimes I think is true which is that Texas food is so damned good, with half the population knowing how to cook, that it is crap by comparison as you all don't know any better. Like giving someone a molded pee-soaked dishrag to chew when daily they have stinky turd sammiches. Hearing people like WildFox actually hating McDonalds in his state makes me think this might be true. So which is it?