Okay, so I tried out Five Guys, and I just wanted to compare them with the three other "gourmet" burger places around here: WW Cousins, Red Robin, and Steak N Shake.
Quality of Burger Patty
WW Cousins: 1st
Red Robin: 1st
Five Guys: 2nd
Steak N Shake: 3rd
Five Guys, while an excellent burger, doesn't top the thick meaty burger from WWC or RR. When you order your burger and they ask "Pink or no pink" (or "Medium or well done"), that means you're going to get a good patty. Five Guys' patty seem to share a similarity to SnS's patty, but it seems to be a tad better. SnS is 3rd, but very close to Five Guys.
WWC and RR also have good chicken sandwiches, compared to FG's burger only selection. But, this is a burger faceoff, so I digress.
Selection of Toppings/Burger Types
WW Cousins: 1st
Red Robin: 2nd
Five Guys: 3rd
Steak N Shake: 4th
WW Cousins wins this hands-down. You have a HUGE bar of toppings that you can put on your burger yourself, much larger than the selection with Five Guys, which you merely order as part of your meal and they put on for you. Red Robin doesn't have a topping selection per say, but the selection of different burgers makes up for it, carrying ingredients that not even WWC has. (Besides, sometimes you want to just get a selection of toppings that some chefs have picked, and not do it yourself.) SnS also has a selection of some burgers, but it's not a huge change from the original burger.
Quality of Fries
WW Cousins: 1st
Red Robin: 1st
Five Guys: 2nd
Steak N Shake: 3rd
Both WWC and RR feature high-quality steak fries. Five Guys has a standard fry with some cooked-in seasoning, like Rally's but not as pronounced. They also have a "cajun seasoning", which is really just seasoned salt, something that WWC and RR already has at your table. SnS's serves these thin shoestring fry bullshit, which only redeeming quality is that it works with cheese sauce.
Price and Atmosphere
WW Cousins: 1st
Red Robin: 1st
Steak N Shake: 2nd
Five Guys: 3rd
WWC and RR have a good priced burger, with the atmosphere of a sit down restaurant, which they are. (Red Robin has the best looking place with a waitress, but you also have to tip that waitress, so it adds a little to the price.) SnS is also a sit-down restaurant with a "greesy spoon" feel (even if it's a lot cleaner than than, say, Waffle House). You can also sometimes get some better deals than WWC or RR, despite the waitress tipping. (Hey, you can always hit the drive through.)
Five Guys, on the other hand, is somewhat disappointing. The place is made out to be fast food, but it is neither fast nor cheap. A meal is on ther order of $15 for two people, which I can get from the other places. (No tip, but still.) It took about 20-25 minutes for our meal. And all of this from a "no frills" quality setup. (Meals in paper bags, bags of potatoes line the place, very basic tables, etc.)
That's not to say that WWC, RR, or SnS provide a burger any faster or cheaper. (Actually, WWC is pretty damn fast with a same priced burger.) But, these places don't have a fast food feel to them either, so Five Guys has the worse of both worlds.
Overall
WW Cousins: 1st
Red Robin: 2nd
Five Guys: 3rd
Steak N Shake: 4th
Overall, WWC wins out. It's faster than anybody else, one of the cheapest, has the best burger (or chicken) with any topping you want, and has the best fries. Red Robin is a good second, with a high-quality selection of burgers, a great atmosphere, and also has the best fries.
Don't get me wrong. Five Guys is a excellent burger. However, when this place first cropped up, people were claiming that this place could kick everybody's ass. These stories are greatly exaggerated. The top dogs are not going anywhere, and there's some damn good reasons why.
Quality of Burger Patty
WW Cousins: 1st
Red Robin: 1st
Five Guys: 2nd
Steak N Shake: 3rd
Five Guys, while an excellent burger, doesn't top the thick meaty burger from WWC or RR. When you order your burger and they ask "Pink or no pink" (or "Medium or well done"), that means you're going to get a good patty. Five Guys' patty seem to share a similarity to SnS's patty, but it seems to be a tad better. SnS is 3rd, but very close to Five Guys.
WWC and RR also have good chicken sandwiches, compared to FG's burger only selection. But, this is a burger faceoff, so I digress.
Selection of Toppings/Burger Types
WW Cousins: 1st
Red Robin: 2nd
Five Guys: 3rd
Steak N Shake: 4th
WW Cousins wins this hands-down. You have a HUGE bar of toppings that you can put on your burger yourself, much larger than the selection with Five Guys, which you merely order as part of your meal and they put on for you. Red Robin doesn't have a topping selection per say, but the selection of different burgers makes up for it, carrying ingredients that not even WWC has. (Besides, sometimes you want to just get a selection of toppings that some chefs have picked, and not do it yourself.) SnS also has a selection of some burgers, but it's not a huge change from the original burger.
Quality of Fries
WW Cousins: 1st
Red Robin: 1st
Five Guys: 2nd
Steak N Shake: 3rd
Both WWC and RR feature high-quality steak fries. Five Guys has a standard fry with some cooked-in seasoning, like Rally's but not as pronounced. They also have a "cajun seasoning", which is really just seasoned salt, something that WWC and RR already has at your table. SnS's serves these thin shoestring fry bullshit, which only redeeming quality is that it works with cheese sauce.
Price and Atmosphere
WW Cousins: 1st
Red Robin: 1st
Steak N Shake: 2nd
Five Guys: 3rd
WWC and RR have a good priced burger, with the atmosphere of a sit down restaurant, which they are. (Red Robin has the best looking place with a waitress, but you also have to tip that waitress, so it adds a little to the price.) SnS is also a sit-down restaurant with a "greesy spoon" feel (even if it's a lot cleaner than than, say, Waffle House). You can also sometimes get some better deals than WWC or RR, despite the waitress tipping. (Hey, you can always hit the drive through.)
Five Guys, on the other hand, is somewhat disappointing. The place is made out to be fast food, but it is neither fast nor cheap. A meal is on ther order of $15 for two people, which I can get from the other places. (No tip, but still.) It took about 20-25 minutes for our meal. And all of this from a "no frills" quality setup. (Meals in paper bags, bags of potatoes line the place, very basic tables, etc.)
That's not to say that WWC, RR, or SnS provide a burger any faster or cheaper. (Actually, WWC is pretty damn fast with a same priced burger.) But, these places don't have a fast food feel to them either, so Five Guys has the worse of both worlds.
Overall
WW Cousins: 1st
Red Robin: 2nd
Five Guys: 3rd
Steak N Shake: 4th
Overall, WWC wins out. It's faster than anybody else, one of the cheapest, has the best burger (or chicken) with any topping you want, and has the best fries. Red Robin is a good second, with a high-quality selection of burgers, a great atmosphere, and also has the best fries.
Don't get me wrong. Five Guys is a excellent burger. However, when this place first cropped up, people were claiming that this place could kick everybody's ass. These stories are greatly exaggerated. The top dogs are not going anywhere, and there's some damn good reasons why.
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Robert: But I DON'T.
Rosalina: You sure that's right?
Robert: I was going to HAVE told you they'd come?
Rosalina: No.
Robert: The subjunctive?
Rosalina: That's not the subjunctive.
Robert: I don't think the syntax has been invented yet.
Rosalina: It would have had to have had been.
Robert: Had to have...had...been? That can't be right.
Robert: But I DON'T.
Rosalina: You sure that's right?
Robert: I was going to HAVE told you they'd come?
Rosalina: No.
Robert: The subjunctive?
Rosalina: That's not the subjunctive.
Robert: I don't think the syntax has been invented yet.
Rosalina: It would have had to have had been.
Robert: Had to have...had...been? That can't be right.
