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| - All over, people are raving about Five Guys Burgers & Fries. My friend up in Washington says she loves them. On their website they show off everyone singing their praises.
I must not get it.
I've been wanting to try them for quite some time, and learned they now have a spot open on the Strip (not the touristy part everyone knows, but a little further past Mandalay Bay at the Premium Outlets South). As that is on the way to my gym, I decided to roll out early, stop at Five Guys, and work it off at Fight Capital.
Walking in, you feel good about the place. It's kinda diner-y, simple... tables, chairs, and a team of employees hurriedly working on food in the kitchen. Kinda In-N-Out-esque. REALLY In-N-Out-esque. Like, you wonder if you walked into an In-N-Out instead of Five Guys. There was only one person ahead of me in line, and the cashier, Michelle, was quick and pleasant. I ordered a Bacon Burger, which if you leave it that way, is just that: bread, patty (actually two) and bacon. Anything else on it you have to make sure to specify, so I added my standard toppings -- lettuce, tomato, and BBQ sauce. An onion ring might have been a nice touch, but hey, I don't run the place. Didn't see mustard on the list... hmmmm... well, it's probably by the ketchup, because I didn't see that on the list either. I also ordered some Cajun fries and a drink.
So, let's start with some of the good things here. First off, the employees are very efficient. One person barked orders at the other, everyone had their station, very assembly-line style, and I got my food quickly, which was great because I was famished. Secondly, the Coke machine is, without a doubt, very cool. It's one of those new Coke-brand stations with a touch screen. You touch the soda you want, then you choose regular or with flavored syrup, and POOF -- it's Cokeapalooza! I went with a cherry Coke Zero. Wise choice. On my second visit I noticed there was Diet Barq's (root beer with BITE!), but no cherry option, and I was really diggin' on the cherry Coke Zero, so I went back to that.
The Cajun fries were some of the best I've had in a really long time. Zing-y, spicy, good with or without ketchup. Definitely was loving the fries.
Definitely was NOT loving the burger. Sure, it was a nice surprise that the burgers came standard with two patties, but they were kinda dry and lifeless. Apparently standard setting for their burgers is well-done. Any cook or chef will tell you that overcooking ground beef will cook out the juice and flavor of the meat, and that's what happened here. Bacon was overcooked as well. And by "overcooked" I mean "burnt." Fortunately I had sauces to back me up, BBQ sauce and.....
Oh yeah. That's another thing. There's no mustard in the entire restaurant. Let me repeat that: THERE WAS NO VISIBLE MUSTARD IN THE ENTIRE HAMBURGER JOINT. No pump, no packets, nothing. I looked on the Coke machine to see if they had it stashed on their touch-screen. I thought about asking, but that would require the only non-assembly-line employee to leave her cash register. Plus, I thought, I shouldn't have to ask for mustard in a friggin' burger joint.
Final blow: Price. I ordered burgers, fries, and a drink, thinking, meh. $8. Should be okay with that. Oh no no, my friend. Everything is a la carte and you will order and take it up the wallet, my friend. By the time I had finished my order I was $11 in and there was no turning back. it felt as if the place was called "Five Guys" because you'd be paying the paychecks for five guys. Now, I would expect to pay $11, maybe more, at Holsteins or Burger Bar, where I would also not be looking for a "quick bite" and know I would get more (much more) bang for my buck (all eleven of them). This was not $11 quality. Nowhere close. Ironic, as I stared at the sign that said the Washingtonian or some other print media said in 2007 it was the "best bargain" around. Apparently in Washington you make a bazillion dollars an hour there. (Hmm... maybe The Gazillionaire is from Washington...)
So yeah. A mediocre burger with overcooked patties and overcooked price points. And no mustard. The employees saved it from being a one-star review though.
I probably won't be back here anytime in the near future; if I am it will be because someone dragged me there. I'll be the guy with only the Cajun fries, playing with the Coke machine.
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