Big ol' Burger Comparison Thread

Hxc · 9 Oct 2015 at 11:42

Had my first shake shack last night at the westfield stratford branch after a few beers. It was.. okay. Not worth the price, but better than five guys... very very cheesy, mind.

Woden · 9 Oct 2015 at 11:48

We had a go at trafford centre. Just couldn't eat it, it was greasy, tasteless and overpriced. And they got the orders mixed up.

oli collett · 9 Oct 2015 at 18:57

Hxc said:
Had my first shake shack last night at the westfield stratford branch after a few beers. It was.. okay. Not worth the price, but better than five guys... very very cheesy, mind.

You should have tried the covent garden branch at lunch today - they had a collaboration burger with Sat Bains which was awesome!

Oh Ed not again. · 9 Oct 2015 at 20:14

What's in it? Looks tasty!

oli collett · 9 Oct 2015 at 22:22

randal said:
What's in it? Looks tasty!

Fresh shallots, beauvale cheese, penny bun mushroom ketchup, smoked mayo and a touch of pine

Shame there was only 500 of them, I should have ordered 2

I'm not normally a fan of burgers with blue cheese but this was incredibly well balanced

Oh Ed not again. · 10 Oct 2015 at 00:20

That looks pretty incredible, and the description just made me a drool a little.

Must try and recreate something like that at some point.

Maundie · 28 Oct 2015 at 11:52

Lost my 5 guys virginity at the weekend in the O2 (been here 3 months and only just tried one) and while on the face of it they seem expensive after you've added the toppings (which some companies charge for) they can work out reasonably priced and I cannot believe how many fries I got.

Must admit I was surprised at how nice it actually was and am definitely going to have a couple more in the 2 weeks I have left down here (unless I get a contract extension which at this moment is looking unlikely).

bsoltan · 28 Oct 2015 at 23:04

I had a FiveGuys for the first time last Saturday.

Now I was about 4 or 5 beers in having watched the rugby but I thought £14.50 for a cheeseburger with a few fillings, caijun fries and a regular coke was a bit much.
It was a nice burger but wasn't amazing and either the fries or the burger and fries were so salty.

I want to try it again but I was a bit disappointed following the hype.

(edit: this was FiveGuys in Milton Keynes)

FrenchTart · 29 Oct 2015 at 07:51

That matches my experiences of Five Guys too. They're not awful by any means but they're expensive for what they are and the salt levels on the fries at least are ridiculous.

the-evaluator · 29 Oct 2015 at 08:34

It was the Milton Keynes one that I went into first where I ended up binning the fries because they were so over salted they were inedible.

Spuj · 2 Nov 2015 at 21:20

Had Shake Shack and Five Guys in NY when I went in September. It was the first time I have had both. I preferred the Burger from Shake shack, I really liked the shack sauce and I felt overall the burger as a whole was better. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the Five Guys, because I really liked it

For me they are the best Fast Foody type burgers I've had, I am yet to have had them in the UK so can't compare.

Diagro · 4 Nov 2015 at 12:24

Jolteh said:
Couldn't disagree more dude.

Ashamed to say this, but I've been four times since it opened last Monday (In my defense I live about 2 minutes away from the Trafford Centre though.)

Admittedly it is expensive for a burger, but £20ish quid for a casual meal for two is pretty standard. It's easily the best food experience in that food court now. All the burgers are made fresh to order with exactly the toppings you ask for at no extra charge (free extra cheese and extra bacon - the best bacon I've had on a burger) is a complete winner.

I'll hold my hands up and say I love Almost Famous too, but if you've ever had a basic bacon cheeseburger at AF it's not much to write home about, where they excel is all their creative toppings. Also, when I compare going to Almost Famous where I'll expect to wait an hour for a table and subjected to the hipster contempt of the staff to somewhere like Five Guys, which is instant sit down, fast service and flawlessly polite staff then I'll go to Five Guys any day of the week.

I've not been to Byron, but the fact that you can compare GBK's frozen efforts favourably to Five Guys seriously makes me doubt your palate to be honest. (no offense)

I disagree with you.

The reason why I dislike Five Guys:

The Bacon, Its smoked pieces of bacon glass. That's NOT BACON. WE ARE NOt AMERICAN.
The Cheese, Its not very nice.
The Price, Seriously? £8 for a TINY Burger with crap cheese and bacon glass???

I Liked the fries and the fact its refillable cherry coke. For me to see it as a decent buy i would need to carry a 20L Backpack with a plastic liner, then fill it with Cherry coke. Only then would i be happy paying the price.

I much prefer the Triple XL Bacon burger from Burger King. Massive, Meaty bacon goodness. You may think that's horrible, but I like it. I have one as a treat every couple of months.

Then again im odd, At MCdonalds i will have a big tasty.. but ask for it ONLY CHEESE and then cover it in sweet and sour sauce... Am i odd?

uchuff · 4 Nov 2015 at 12:41

Has anyone had a good black & white malted milk shake anywhere? Had a wonderful one this time last year at 5 Napkin Burger in NYC.

HazardO · 5 Nov 2015 at 10:22

Looking forward to trying the father cheesemas burger from Byron next week. Looks epic!

Regy53 · 5 Nov 2015 at 20:25

im up manchester way next Monday and Tuesday with a stop over on me todd.

any decent burger joints worth visiting while there?

Scam · 6 Nov 2015 at 11:03

Not a lot of love for Shake Shack then? We have a Byron next door to work but a Shake Shack is opening up closeby...

FrenchTart · 6 Nov 2015 at 11:04

Regy53 said:
im up manchester way next Monday and Tuesday with a stop over on me todd.

any decent burger joints worth visiting while there?

Almost Famous and Solita are about the best in Manchester. Almost Famous being the better of the two.

edit: There's a few other new places I haven't got round to trying yet too (e.g. Filthy Cow).

Siliconslave · 6 Nov 2015 at 14:08

Scam said:
Not a lot of love for Shake Shack then? We have a Byron next door to work but a Shake Shack is opening up closeby...

I don't mind it tbh, better than five guys burger wise but fries arn't as good...

FrenchTart · 6 Nov 2015 at 14:10

I just tried Filthy Cow in Manchester/Deansgate.

It was pretty tasty. Definitely better than Byron (which I don't rate). Probably not quite as good as Solita and definitely not as good as Almost Famous. The burger itself was quite close to a smashed burger in terms of levels of browning and very tasty. Unfortunately it was just a bit too much in terms of bun to burger ratio and it suffered from the problem of simply being too tall to easily take a bite out of. I'd happily eat there again but I'd also happily go to AF or Sol instead.

Junglist · 6 Nov 2015 at 15:10

I really like Five Guys but I find it a tad expensive for essentially a fast food style burger.

If you ever visit Bristol we have an awesome burger joint called Atomic Burger. Love their food.

Beef burger, meatballs, crispy bacon and chipotle pulled pork. Yum