Carl's Jr.

[Dinner]

Even if it was just a problem at that one restaurant (with the over cooked burgers and mushy fries), and even if one orders light sauce, then problems still remain. For instance, they wrap them all in tin foil so that the bun gets soggy and because the bun is so filled with air holes it squishes down to the thickness of a tortilla and doesn't hold up well. Also I found the burger crumbly as the patty fell apart. It seems like using paper wrappers, a better bun, and figuring out how to keep the patty together in one piece would vastly improve their burger.

Carl's is good for fast food and, yes, they also pride themselves on messy burgers but 5 guys is advertising gourmet burgers which are supposed to be a step above fast food and which cost almost twice as much. So I kind of expect better from them but they failed to deliver. I will try other locations but so far I've gone three times and left disappointed each time. Personally, I like the local (to SoCal) chain Burger Lounge much better than 5 guys as their buns hold up much better, are obviously not cheap as 5 guys are, plus not only are they fresh & never frozen but they only sell grass fed beef which I can order cooked any way I want. I usually get mine medium rare and I do feel a company which won't give you a medium rare burger knows they're selling low quality CAFO beef where as one which will serve it medium rare KNOWS they're selling higher quality beef from local suppliers which is very fresh.

http://www.burgerlounge.com/

[snoopy369]

That really doesn't mesh with my experience... I'll give you the bun could be more substantial, but a lot of people like thin buns (myself included) and are willing to just eat it right away or deal with a little sogginess. Properly cooked burger won't be exuding massive grease anyway (it should be inside!) unless it's squished down, which they aren't. If the burger is dry then it's crumbly - mine are never dry so not crumbly. Never falls apart for me except into my mouth as I eat it

[Tuberski]

Carl's Jr. tastes exactly like Burger King.

Also, the only place I ever got food poisoning.

ACK!

[MRT144]

My experience with Five Guys was in DC. It was good, but not a very good value for fast food. Lack of shakes was a huge minus though.

[MRT144]

Pressing a burger down after initial sear is a mistake but smashing them when you throw em on the griddle in the raw form. that's good searing right there.

[regexcellent]

Burger King is the ****. $5 for a hamburger and fries. Sign me up. My weekly budget for food varies between $30-$40 so I can't be spending $10 on a ****ing hamburger.

[Supr49er]

I have not been to a 5 Guys yet.
But for fast food burgers I like In-N-Out and The Habit.

[Dinner]

In the defence of five guys the three times I went there were all with in one month of that location opening so their staff were all new at their jobs and maybe they just hadn't gotten everything zeroed in yet or something. The mushy fries were caused by the fry cook throwing way to many fries into the frier at once thus lowering the temperature of the oil though I also noticed their potatoes looked like they had too much water in them (the guy was hand cutting them with the press and potato juice was running every where) and that likely also contributed to the mushiness. I've heard of some places deliberately letting the cut fries sit in a vinegar-water solution to draw out excess water then letting them sit exposed to the air for an hour or so just so they dry out a bit before they put them into the frier. Then when they put them into the frier they do it in small batches so the temperature of the oil isn't brought down.

[Dinner]

I have not been to a 5 Guys yet.
But for fast food burgers I like In-N-Out and The Habit.

The Habit (then known as Hamburger Habit but they've changed their name since then) was our go to place for burgers in college especially as we lived just down the street from their original location in Goleta which still is open.

It looks like after decades of only being on the central coast The Habit is finally expanding out into other parts of the state. I understand they had to change their name when they started expanding though because some other company in L.A. was already called Hamburger Habit thus the name change to The Habit.

[DaShi]

The best burger I ever had was at a restaurant that served primarily British food. Since there was nothing else to eat, I ordered the burger and was pleasantly surprised.

[PLATO]

Vic & Bills in Knoxville. Greek Deli, but made one helluva VolBurger.

[Dinner]

Burger King is the ****. $5 for a hamburger and fries. Sign me up. My weekly budget for food varies between $30-$40 so I can't be spending $10 on a ****ing hamburger.

It's not an amazing burger or taco by any means but "Jack's Big Deal" for $2.99 at Jack in the Box gives you a burger, fries, taco, and a large coke. I see a lot of college kids ordering that when I stop in at Jack in the Box. If you go in on "Taco Tuesdays" and you've printed out their coupon for two free tacos then they'll throw in an additional two tacos at no additional charge.

http://www.theimpulsivebuy.com/wordpress/2009/07/23/review-jack-in-the-box-299-big-deal/

[Dinner]

Vic & Bills in Knoxville. Greek Deli, but made one helluva VolBurger.

Is a VolBurger made with ground up vole meat?

[The Mad Monk]

but 5 guys is advertising gourmet burgers which are supposed to be a step above fast food

I've seen you write that before, but I haven't seen it myself. Where do you get gourmet from?

[The Mad Monk]

Despite Hardees being owned by Carl's Jr their menus are more than a bit different. For instance, Carl's signiture burger is the Six Dollar Burger while Hardee's has the Thickburger. They're rather different.

http://fast-food-nutrition.findthebe...le-Thickburger

Hardee's has the Six Dollar Thickburger, but there's no Carl's Jr branding anywhere near it.