As an American living in Germany the last 10 years, I missed the rise of Five Guys, and never managed to try it on my visits home. Well, today I passed this in Berlin and forced my wife to try it with me.
For 20+ € for the both of us, I was expecting something great. I saw them toasting the buns and flipping the patties -- it looked all good to me.
We were asked if "dine in or takeout". We were dining in, but like everyone else at the tables, the orders were wrapped and bagged. So... why ask if we are dining in?
Anyway, what we unwrapped were shriveled and soggy buns with the consistency of rained on cardboard. If this process of squishing the burger into silver paper has been a constant feature of Five Guys during its rise to fame, then the world has indeed gone mad.
The beef patties weren't hot at all and ended up room temperature by the last bite. Despite that we sat down to eat right away, and I inhale my meals like an elephant.
The fries drooped as I held them, oversaturated with oil and devoid of crisp. They couldn't rightly be called fries. More like cooked potatoes. I could have done that myself in a pot of boiling water at home.
The free refills on Coca Cola are nice, but for 3,40€, how much Cola must I drink for that to become a deal? The fruit flavors that you can add to any of the Coca Cola products taste strongly of artificial sweetener. Aspartame? But the standard Cola tasted better than what I've gotten out of bottles.
I'll give them an extra star for the service. The manager was apologetic for the order taking long to fulfill. And the music was great.
All in all, my burger was atrocious at a premium price. Never again. read more