Five Guys

Pricey sure, but no more so than any other high street burger chain. And once you’ve eaten a burger a five guys you’ll soon realise it is definitely a once in a while option, rather than a regular burger meal.
These bad boys are not gourmet. They are juicy, messy, dripping with condiments, wrapped in foil and bagged up to go — even if you are eating in.
The serving sizes are huge, especially the fries. I order the little burger and little chips and still can’t finish it all off.
The shakes are so thick you’ll have trouble getting it up the straw (my kind of shake) and you can mix and match multiple flavours to create your own winning combo too.
It’s hugely calorific and probably terrible for your arteries and blood pressure, but who really cares when the burgers taste this good!

No. Just no. Poor burgers at a highly inflated price. Tables, floor, seats where all dirty and uncleaned despite not being busy.

I’m not a burger aficionado. I defer to my Unilocal friend Andrew M on all matters burger
Hence the reason why I wasn’t swept up by the hype of the American burger giant war in London with Shake Shack and Five Guys opening branches geographically and temporally close to each other
Recently, I’ve seen Five Guys expanding and a branch opened close to me in Wimbledon. The girlfriend and I were looking for a quick meal last Sunday and so, we popped in to try it out
The USP at Five Guys is the marketer’s tag line of as many ‘free’ toppings as you want. The basic burger is £8 with cheese and bacon (the crispy American version) costing more
I was happy to see a suggested combo of toppings called All the Way, turning the basic burger into something akin to a Big Mac in flavour, I noted. Otherwise, I might been overwhelmed by choice. We went for that with a couple of little twists. It’s fun to be able to watch your burger being created if you’re a bit of a food nerd at the pick up station
The décor is bright and cheerful and you can enjoy unlimited free peanuts while you wait for your food. The soda is sold in a free (yes, it’s that word again!) refill manner and they have a magic machine which dispenses about 100 varieties apparently
The burger was a generous size though the flavour was similar to the aforementioned Big Mac but the beef patty was certainly juicy and better quality. I saw a review on the wall praising their burger buns but it sadly didn’t apply to my bun, which swiftly disintegrated within 2 bites. Eating the burger was a very messy affair and I was grateful for the availability of extra napkins
The skin on fries were a soggy disappointment but I liked the optional Cajun seasoning. You can ask for the seasoning on the side
This place has certainly not converted me to burgers. Patty and Bun remains my favourite in London

Fun burger joint, but very pricey for what you get. £26.50 for a 2 burgers, 2 fries and 2 drinks (toppings are free so STACK UP). After ordering we had at least a 15 minutes for our food (considering this is a McDonald’s style wait-​at-​the-​counter place rather than table service that’s a long time)
Best part of the meal was the drinks machine which has an amazing selection of drinks (at least 6 different flavours of coke and fanta).
All in all a fun meal but Byron prices with McDonald’s service means I probably won’t return.