The Great Burger Taste-Off of 2008: Five Guys

So people love burgers. We know this. And lately, it seems that lots of burger joints are popping up all over the place. So I've been doing this whole food bloggin' thing for a year now. Perhaps it's time for me to do some kind of taste-off. And to make it easy, let's start with the burger.

I've been wanting to go to Five Guys for awhile. I've known about the downtown location for awhile, but never made it out. Since I live in the burbs, locations in Bala Cynwyd and Broomall were easier to get to. Last weekend after going to the gym, I thought what better way to ruin all that hard work than to get a greasy ass burger and fries. I hit up the Bala Cynwyd location on City Ave.




I read on another blog that they don't let you take pictures of the burgers there. So I avoided it. I don't need the humiliation of being chased out a burger joint by spatula wielding teenagers.

The system here is pretty simple. You get a burger or a cheeseburger, with bacon or without, and then pick whatever toppings you want. All toppings are free, which is a great touch. The regular burgers have 2 patties, the little burgers have 1. Then you can get fries. And drinks, if you so desire. I went with the little cheeseburger with fried onions, lettuce, and tomato. I'm a pretty simple gal. And I got small fries. And then I waited. A lot. Too much. If you only serve burgers and fries, you'd think you'd have plenty handy to dish out. But I did not feel this was a fast food place at all. I was wondering if they were slaughtering cows out back. Sheesh.

Another HUGE issue I had is that the floors were greasy. They have signs all over the place saying they only cook with peanut oil. What they don't say, is that they spilled the peanut oil all over the damn floor. And it's linoleum. Linoleum and peanut oil don't mix. It was freaking DANGEROUS! Look Five Guys, it's not gonna matter how good your damn burgers are if your patrons are falling on oily slippery floors and cracking their heads open. You need to fix that. Pronto.

Ok, so as far as the food goes, I liked the burger very much. The patties are small, which is not a big deal. I like eating a burger when I can actually fit it in my mouth. And they cook the patties well only. The fried onions were the best part. Not much to say really otherwise about the burger, other than it tasted good. The cheese wasn't melted at all, which was a bummer. It would have been even better if it had. The fries weren't too exciting. Nothing to write home about. They were boardwalk fries type of fries. I enjoyed the burger much more than the fries. We'll have to see how the competition stacks up. Stay tuned for more taste-off contenders!