This branch of Five Guys on Queens Square is one of two branches Five Guys have in the city, from…read morethe outside you can see it looks both bigger and better than the other branch on the top floor of the Liverpool One nearby,
Having wanted to revisit Five Guys for a while after a good experience in Bradford and a not so good experience in Manchester, I thought this branch of Five Guys would be a good shout - and I'm glad I did.
The service here was fantastic, to the point where I feel extra and special praise has to go to Gary for making my visit even more special, he made sure I was okay, helping with tables and even bringing my food over to me and providing me with a new bag and cutterly to take home my leftovers (the portion sizes here are huge!), he also helped offer recommendations and we began to chat a little, overall service was excellent. When ordering, I was also presented with a little piece of card to show what I could eat, and it seemed to include everything other than an HP sauce and of course the burger bun.
The overall feel of the store was good, it had traditional Five Guys decor with the signs and bags of potatoes on the shop floor, but inside it did seem much nicer than the Manchester Arndale and Bradford branches I've previously visited.
I ordered a Cheeseburger in a bowl, having disliked the lettuce wrap option as it seemed like it would be messy and make the burger cold, and the regular option with a bun wouldn't be suitable for me, the bowl did seem a little squashed and messy with a low of toppings, however, like all the cups/cutterly etc it was aimed towards takeout.
The extras I ordered were:
ketchup, lettuce, tomatoes, gherkins, grilled onions and grilled mushrooms, in my opinion, it was slightly messy but still most of it was good quality, other than the lettuce I found to be a little watery and the mushrooms a little slimy.
My overall burger quality was good, although it could have been slightly presented better to avoid the cheese being slightly uneven, the portion size as mentioned was good with two thinner burgers rather than one big thick one, which some burger joints such as GBK use, I prefer the Five Guys approach.
The fries also were great, despite ordering a small portion my bag was overflowing with fries, the cajun spices also added a nice flavour to it to make them even better, rather than the traditional seasoning used.
The Coca-Cola Freestyle machine also is a pretty awesome, niche feature combining some of the most common Coca-Cola drinks from Coke (including all low sugar models) to Sprite to Fuze Tea, with my favourite fizzy drink being Sprite Zero, I combined this with vanilla to have an enjoyable beverage, I then combined vanilla with the fuze tea and also had a nice drink - for one cup it comes with free refills and with the quality of drinks on offer and the selection meaning you virtually can't get these drinks in any other stores or places, it is well worth buying a drink, and that comes from someone who generally prefers dining with tap water.
Prices were slightly higher than you'd expect at Mcdonald's, and on par for a standard burger, my food came to around £11 but for the quality you don't mind paying those prices, this place is more of a fast-food restaurant than a casual or regular dining restaurant, although it does have quite a lot of seating due to the size of the store being large, slightly similar to what one would expect in an American diner, with tall tables, bar style tables and red booths.
Five Guys also delivers via Deliveroo, however I find this service to be a tad overpriced compared to the general in-store experience, although out of all the restaurants on the site from Nandos to Pizza Express, I feel one of the few places actually suited to Deliveroo is Five Guys, so it is a good service to offer here, although the only time I'd ever think of using it would be when I'm staying in a hotel in Liverpool, not being from the area, and even then I'd be reluctant due to the delivery charge even to go such a short distance, for example they'd even charge the £2.50 or so delivery fee to go a short distance, although I admit this is not something Five Guys have control over with this being set by Deliveroo but it is still worth making note of.
Overall, I am impressed with Five Guys, although it remains a real shame that unlike some "restaurants" which specialise in burgers including Handmade Burger Co and Gourmet Burger Kitchen, the latter actually has a branch in Liverpool's city centre in the One, the burger quality remains better and the same can be said about the service and the overall feel of this place, so despite flaws mentioned, the quality of food and service and the portion sizes (you probably get as many chips here as a large somewhere else) a four-star rating is surely warranted for Five Guys at Queens Square in Liverpool.
