5 Guys - it makes no sense.
By dumpster,
June 21, 2021 in Food & Drink
dizogg
Yeah Five Guys is a decent burger place. Don't get the "it's expensive" thing because it's no more expensive than any other similar level chain food place e.g. Nando's etc.
I think it's just seen like that as people compare it to McDonalds and it isn't McDonald's.
I have to wonder if the whole "proper burger" restaurant fad has had its day. It's so easy to make a really good quality burger at home, it's not exactly difficult and the components are pretty cheap.
Even buying quarter pounder burgers from my local butcher (which really are amazing quality), they're £1.10 each. Add in a brioche bun (fancy) and you've got the equivalent of a £8 basic Five Guys burger for less than £2, but it's actually better. You can get really good quality burgers from supermarkets now for even less.
The fries at home were always difficult, but the Five Guys website says to stick your oven on at 180 degrees in preparation for your deliveroo (because you need to warm them up, wow!!) The thing is that there's loads of different fries at home options now, even Iceland/The Food Warehouse do TGI Fridays loaded fries for about £2.50.
This summer's BBQ season is going to kill the high end burger places IMHO, people aren't going to regularly pay £15 for a burger and fries when they've been doing it at home for a lot less and at better quality.
Five Guys is absolutely fine although I do wish they would season their patties a bit more. I wouldn't go there if I was in a city that had Honest, Burger & Beyond etc. available for a similar price, but for a widely available chain I think it's pretty good. Bacon cheeseburger with grilled onions, pickles, jalapenos, hot sauce and mayo is my go-to.
@gone fishin' Bit confused by your last point - surely decent burgers and brioche buns have been available to home cooks for years, but high end burger restaurants have still thrived.
It's a really odd point, that completely ignores some really important reasons for choosing to eat out.
You could make that argument about any type of food (that you can make a 'better', cheaper version at home), yet people still want to eat out.
2 hours ago, The Fox said:
Have high end burger restaurants thrived? Byron's went into CVA last year, Ed's Easy Diner went bust, 5 Guys has struggled in the States (but I think the UK operation is a different company).
Anyway, there definitely feels like there's a push for higher quality burgers at home, maybe because people are spending more time at home this summer (so more BBQs), but even the variety and ease of buying high quality condiments seems to have improved. Is there anything a Five Guys offers that you can't do at home now?
Hey, maybe people want the sterile, almost freshly bleached toilet atmosphere 5 Guys seems to exude....
But if you want a decent burger, save your Five Guys money towards a Cobb BBQ. In less than 10 trips to Five Guys, you could have one of these.
https://www.lakeland.co.uk/50243/Cobb-Premier-Charcoal-Barbecue-Grill-and-Carry-Bag
They're amazing.
1 hour ago, Dapple said:
My point was that making a burger at home, that's just as good quality, is a) easy and b) cheaper. The same can't be said of a lot of other chains or cuisines. Hey, I love cooking, but there's still plenty of things that I wouldn't even attempt at home.
Sure, you don't get a dining out experience at home, but I wouldn't say Five Guys is that great an experience. Certainly not worth the premium the price added to it. Like the OP said, is it worth £17 for a burger and fries? Probably not and I reckon a lot more people are going to think that after this summer of making burgers at home.
I think it's more likely that people haven't been making burgers at home and realise they don't really miss the 'premium' experience of Five Guys et al, so are just eating fewer burgers.
My review of Five Guys is in the "have you ever shat yourself" thread. :s
I get the appeal of them being fast, but they just make me sad we don't have In-N-Out over here.
Ranking them as better than Byron and GBK (places to go when you want the flavourless cavity wall insulation taste of an early 2000s pub burger) is not exactly a glowing review.
Good street food guys (Tongue N Cheek, Burger Bear, Lucky Chip etc.) are a league above 'prestige' chains (Honest Burger, Meat Liquor, Patty & Bun) who are still quite a long way above fast turnaround chains (Five Guys, Shakeshack), then BK/McD/Wimpy, then Byron/GBK if you are trapped in a provincial retail park miles from civilisation.
Thinking about it, I'd probably go for Wimpy over Five Guys.
(I have literally eaten one burger in the last year and it was from Burger King.)
(I think there is a big social aspect to 'proper' burgers. I have never thought to Deliveroo them. I want to be inconvenienced by a big soggy stack of goop while on a day out somewhere or a party.)
I've never really thought In-N-Out were all that special. I mean, there's a bit of a novelty factor due to scarcity and the fact they make out 'Animal style' to be a mahical experience, but I can't honestly say it's massively different from Five Guys/Shake Shack.
Not had any of them for a couple of years though, perhaps I need to do a proper taste test. To the airport I go!
On 27/07/2021 at 12:32, gone fishin' said:
I think a lot of the actual high end burger places - so not mediocre chains like Byron and Ed's - have been doing fine, and Five Guys is everywhere now.
A lot of them also offered home delivery kits through the pandemic. I am friends with the Honest co-owner and I understand they sold extremely well, to the point where the may become a permanent offering. I tried to get a Burger and Beyond x Smokestak one at one point but they had all sold out in a couple of minutes.
gooner4life
Byron's got fucked because of the Home Office thing and rightly so, Ed's is still in business but closed a lot of locations, Five Guys is ALWAYS busy round here.
Scribblor
Late to the GBK discussion, but on the few occasions I've had one, they've been dry as dirt and tough as leather. They might be cheaper than 5 Guys, but they're inedible by comparison. No better than McDonalds in quality, just presented more nicely. Chip portions were tiny (though I'm fully on board with the idea that 5 Guys portions of fries are insane) and the whole experience was disappointing.
Also, no-one buys burgers from a chain because they think home cooked ones are too difficult.
You buy them because you're not at home, you're hungry, they're nice and it's more convenient than going home, getting the ingredients and cooking it yourself. Yes, you pay a massive premium for that, but it's the same in any chain restaurant.
Nando's? You can cook tastier chicken easily and far more cheaply at home. Pizza Hut/Pizza Express/Other Pizza Restaurant? Takes a little bit of prep to make the dough but it's still simple, and once it's done your results will shit all over a chain's pizza. Total cost for the dough will be pennies, and even if you go mad on the toppings you'll be paying a tenth the price of a chain pizza.
On 27/07/2021 at 11:10, Dapple said:
Also he's costed 2 of potentially 15 things in that burger and called it done.
Buy each of those things and you're at the price of a 5 Guys burger even at home. Unless you're going to make about 30 of them at a BBQ or something. If it's just me at home most of those things will go off before I need any more of them.
Virtually every 5 Guys I've ever had was for lunch at work. But no apparently I'm going to fire up a bbq in the middle of the office or something.
At this point as far as quality of advice goes it's like saying "The bus into town is expensive" "Simply buy a car then petrol is just 20p!"
tonic_water
What's really shocking in this thread is the number of people who admit to eating at Burger King. Skanky beyond belief.
On 24/07/2021 at 09:32, Sketch said:
Five Guys is shit may have nice tasting burgers, but for the price I would prefer to go elsewhere - hence why I've never actually eaten there.
I lived in London for a while. Kept hearing about it. Walked into one. Saw the prices for what was basically just very basic crap. Said: "Fuck this." Walked straight out.
For a quick cheap burger I like Burger King. The specials tend to be a little fancy and good value. For really posh burgers, which i love, there's are plenty of high profile options.
Gourmet Burger Kitchen was a favourite:
https://www.gbk.co.uk/menu
GBK has several posh options for less than a tenner. Tell me again why, when given the option between this or 5G, you'd go with 5G? I suppose if you live in the outer Hebrides and there's literally only 5G and nothing else, you might feel forced into going, but if you had the choice - why?
Meat Liquor was also good. Hell, here's an entire article on good burger places:
https://www.timeout.com/london/food-and-drink/londons-best-burger-restaurants-1
Mostly I just make my own these days, given lockdown. A couple days back I had a barbecue with home-made lamb mince burgers. Fresh mint. Ciabatta rolls, lightly toasted. Home made gherkins (pickled in kimchi for a touch of spice). Delish.
I have never eaten at Five Guys and I doubt I ever will.
A valid point. I've edited my previous post for greater precision.
I suppose I'd try it if a mate insisted we eat there and bought my order for me.
It's like Waitrose. I only shop for the unique items found nowhere else. Everything else is the same quality as Tesco (same brands even) but with an added "Waitrose tax" which I balk at paying.
Byrons is also bloody great. Went there a lot when in London:
https://www.byron.co.uk/menu
GBK and Byron were amazing a decade ago when they were indie in that London, they are a chain now and both way below five guys - I had a Byron last night no less as kids chose it and the burger was fine (not as good as five guys) and the milkshake was shite, poss the worst milkshake ive ever had
I did however have a burger and beyond burger at Latitude and that was incredible, best burger ive had outside of London in years and years - it made five guys look cheap as it had full on festival tax and ive forgotten how much it was but in the £11-£14 range…. Worth it, soooooo bloody good!!!!
2 minutes ago, Shimmyhill said:
GBK and Byron were amazing a decade ago when they were indie in that London, they are a chain now and both way below five guys
The last time I had them was sadly in 2016? Or maybe even 2015. Also the last time I walked into a Five Guys.
Have the times a changed?
I went into Five Guys about 2 years ago. My wife and I shared some chips. Had a burger each, an alcoholic drink each and paid about £35 for it. It was really sloppy and I've not been back since. The end.
I think the sloppiness is meant to be a bit of a selling point - see also loads of indies who overfill their burgers with 'stuff' and just become a big oozing mess for the inevitable social media post.
skadupuk
3 hours ago, Shimmyhill said:
While geographically correct, they are a London based restaurant (they have a couple of sites) who started off in Camden market.
The big versions of their burgers is that price range, so not just the festival tax.
Their beef blend is fantastic, and they do home kits which are pretty good for recreating their stuff at home (I bang on a bit about them on the burger thread)
Surely the only acceptable time to eat a Burger King is when you stagger out of Luton airport customs at 3am and haven't eaten since you left Faro about 17 hours before. Imagine choosing it.
On the subject of those ridiculous mega-burgers you get, we ordered Patty & Bun to work once and they had a special on that involved the usual accoutrements such as onion rings and bacon and whatnot. Only this also had a block of deep fried cheddar in that was literally the size of one of those Cathedral City jobbers your mum would buy to make your dad's sarnies with. All up it must have had enough calories to stop the heart of rhinoceros and was pretty gross in all honesty. I just felt really basic for being weak minded enough to even order it.
4 hours ago, Gabe said:
Who wants those burgers though?
El Spatula
Loads of people? Hence their popularity?
6 hours ago, Art Vandelay said:
Hey man, if it's good enough for Andy Warhol...
This thread is ruining me (all I want to eat is burgers now).
I was at B&Q looking to buy a BBQ to make my own burgers. None in stock.
But there was a burger van in the parking lot. I broke down and bought. £5 for a cheap meat patty on white roll, soggy bacon, and a withered tomato. Yuck.
The craving has not been satiated. It only grows stronger.
You don't need a BBQ. just a decent heavy stainless or cast iron pan.
On 31/07/2021 at 16:10, Lovelyman said:
I mean you don't need one but they are always better on one
Food in "significantly cheaper to cook yourself than to eat in a restaurant" shocker!
But there was a burger van in the parking lot. I broke down and bought. £5 for a cheap meat patty on white roll, soggy bacon, and a withered tomato.
All you amateurs debating whether Burger King or McDonalds is the more shameful and in strides Sketch with his car park rat burger to show you true depravity.
schmojo
On 01/08/2021 at 23:41, Shimmyhill said:
You can't smash a burger on a barbecue grill. Big flat bit of metal every time.
12 hours ago, hmm said:
Well McDonalds is ok and Burger King is disgusting.
You got those the wrong way round.