So I went to this burger joint because a coworker told me it would win the award for best burger north of In & Out...um, more like best mediocre impersonation of a great burger chain. Upon driving up and walking into 5 Guys, I was struck with a case of the disbelief giggles when I saw the red, black, and white color scheme along with the special potatoes in bags and the employees in red hats and t-shirts...deja vu for any exiled Californian. But I thought to myself, I've heard some good reviews of this place, and there are tons of people here, much like In & Out, so I tried to keep an open mind.
I was excited to see a 'small burger' option, so I ordered that with 'everything.' Their version of 'everything' is lettuce, tomato, pickles, mustard, ketchup, mayo, grilled onions and mushrooms. I was excited, because usually grilled mushrooms and onions are something you pay extra for, but here, they are standard...I would soon understand why. My husband ordered a regular cheeseburger along with some fries to share and a couple of drinks.
While we waited for our food, we snacked on some free peanuts that were offered around the dining room, which I thought was a fun, if not sort of out of place touch. The wait wasn't too long until we were diving into our burgers.
First off, and the most disappointing part, was the boring, soggy bun. It was one of those pale, nondescript sesame seed buns that was way too soft to hold a hot greasy burger that had three condiments and a ration of fresh veggies and not fall apart. My bun was instantly soggy, since it wasn't toasted or griddled, and was way too soft to stand up to all of the fillings. The burger itself was quite tasty. Moist, cooked nicely, if a little well, and slightly greasy like a good fast food burger should be. I liked the fresh veggies and the combo of ketchup, mayo and mustard is always a welcome addition for me, but the so called 'grilled mushrooms and onions' were definitely not well cooked and added no flavor. The onions were not even close to caramelized and the mushrooms were little slimy bits of veggie flesh that just fell out.
Now one thing that could be deceiving about the sizes of the burgers is that the small size is actually just a regular sized burger with one patty. The regular sized burgers have the same sized bun as the small ones, but offer two patties of beef, and 3 shock-inducing slices of American cheese for the cheeseburger that would make any lactose-intolerant person like myself go into dairy shock.
The fires were slightly thicker cut fries cut fresh from Idaho potatoes and were cooked nicely. The only downfall was that they were so heavily seasoned that even I was getting a little throat-burn from all of the salt (and people...I LOVE SALT).
All in all, it was a decent fast food burger and fries...far better than the likes of any of burgerville or mac d's...but, of course not up to the level of perfection that one would expect from a place so well-reviewed. But if you think about it, the only two locations in the Portland area are in Beaverton and West Linn. Most people in these neighborhoods are not native Californians and therefore have no idea how a fast food burger could be better than that. But that's ok. Nobody's perfect. read more