WOW! I had no idea I could create such a stir without exposing any bodyparts.

Let me be clear my brothers and sisters - I was not in any way shape or form insinuating or accusing anyone of stealing or lifting from the reviews on this forum. I was merely patting my amateur-foodie self on the back for picking up exatly the same sentiments as a writer whose profession is in the nuances of food.

Keving Pang - welcome to the forum. I see how you could've misread the post. No big deal, my man. Integrity is important and i salute your defense of yours.

Now make room in the group hug for me.

And Santander. . this ones for you -

I'll add my experience and the opinions of the three girls who lived with me. Yes.

I should preface further comments by saying that the very (very) nice woman at the counter comped us four drinks. That's keeping your customers happy!

Still, I would say nice things about this place. I've been to In n' Out Burger a few times, like it a lot, and appreciate much its mystique. Of course I get the "off-menu," animal style burger. I found my first experience at Five Guys as good, if not slightly better, if not reaching the pinnacle of flat top burger, the Camilia Grill in New Orleans (let me also add that I'm a burger slut generally, but have a big soft spot for flat top burgers). I strongly prefer the fries here over In n' Outs, which I've never been hugely impressed with (which is not saying In n' Out's are bad), so on that alone, I would give the nod to Five Guys. Excellent fries in Oak Park.

A burger place, however, should stand on its burger. Maybe it's the several days of activities and the habits of the crew, but this burger had a nice greasy flavor of one who's flat top has been around the block. Maybe the first timers did not benefit of this oily build-up. Add on the peppers, the dressings, the gooey cheese, and how the hell could I tell you if the burger had enough salt. It just hit the spot.

For the sake of science, we ordered a bacon cheese dog. Those around that value crispness should like this for sure. Good hot dogs usually snap. This one crinkled when bit. Let me backtrack a second. In Austin last week, I had a couple of fine lunches at Jim Mann's BBQ. When you order brisket, Jim asks, "lean or with flavor". This hot dog benefited from what Jim would call the flavor, coming from, I believe, burger grease.

Marion Street Cheese Market has me enthralled when I want clean, local, healthy food; now I've got a place for dirty, greasy, bad for me food in the Village.

I had the Bacon Cheeseburger yesterday. It was excellent. Next time, I will not get any Ketchup and Mayo but only Lettuce, Tomato, Pickle, Onion, Grilled Onion and Jalepeno. The crunchy bacon went real well with the rest of the burger. The cajun fries are tasty, darn good, but I need cheese fries to make it the ultimate gut buster meal. Unfortunately for my taste buds they don't serve cheese fries but I guess that's good for my ever growing waistline. I give this place an A. It is definetely a competitor to In N Out.

I just got back from my first visit. Wow, the place was jumping. Stood in line for about 5 minutes to place my order, but only waited about 10 minutes for the food to come. I ordered the bacon cheeseburger and the wife had a plain (nothing on it) cheeseburger. On mine, I only had lettuce. It was really a good burger. You could really tell the meat was fresh, as was the lettuce. The bacon, well, as others have said, very crisp. But unlike most chains, there was lots of bacon. Lots of bacon! And there was enough lettuce so that it didn't end up as just a soggy green thing. Like I said, a really good burger.

The fries were actually a little disappointing. I suppose if you were comparing to McDonalds or Burger King, they were great. But I can think of a number of places locally that do it better. And while the portion size is nice, that brings me to my main complaint. It's not cheap. 2 burgers, 2 regular fries and 2 large drinks was $22. That just seems like a lot for place you stand in line to place your order, get your own drinks and get your food in a bag.

Don't get me wrong, I left full. The food was enjoyable. But $22 is a lot for lunch of burgers and fries for 2.

I just got back from Five Guys as well. Timed the trip perfectly from my work in Addison. I work on Lake St, so I simply drove east until I hit it. Like midas said, it was pretty crowded, but I only waited 1 minute to order, and maybe 5 minutes for the food (2:10pm). I ordered a (double) bacon burger (no cheese) which was killer. This was my 3rd visit to a Five Guys (first two last month in Wisconsin) and all 3 times everything was fresh, hot, and delicious. I'm a big fan now! Looking forward to a location closer to my home. The Oak Park location is by far the smallest I've been to of the three. Should've been at least the same size as Madison, WI.

midas wrote:I just got back from my first visit. Wow, the place was jumping. Stood in line for about 5 minutes to place my order, but only waited about 10 minutes for the food to come. I ordered the bacon cheeseburger and the wife had a plain (nothing on it) cheeseburger. On mine, I only had lettuce. It was really a good burger. You could really tell the meat was fresh, as was the lettuce. The bacon, well, as others have said, very crisp. But unlike most chains, there was lots of bacon. Lots of bacon! And there was enough lettuce so that it didn't end up as just a soggy green thing. Like I said, a really good burger.

The fries were actually a little disappointing. I suppose if you were comparing to McDonalds or Burger King, they were great. But I can think of a number of places locally that do it better. And while the portion size is nice, that brings me to my main complaint. It's not cheap. 2 burgers, 2 regular fries and 2 large drinks was $22. That just seems like a lot for place you stand in line to place your order, get your own drinks and get your food in a bag.

Don't get me wrong, I left full. The food was enjoyable. But $22 is a lot for lunch of burgers and fries for 2.

$5 for a nice double cheeseburger is by no means out of line and matter of a fact pretty cheap! Considering that a some of the toppings that you usually have to pay extra for (Mushrooms, jalapenos) are included. I have paid $10 and up at places like Kumas and steakhouses (worth it too!).

A lot of restaurants make a lot of money on potatoes and soft drinks. Costs them a nickle and they charge $2.00.

I'll often go without and get another burger. Side of water please.

The place was packed tonight, with a nice turnaround between ordering, waiting, and sitting. I was worried our party of eight (with four kids) wouldn't get to sit together, but we did. The food was great, of course, with the fries on par with (or better than) Mr. D's, Smokin' M's and Gene and Judes, the holy local trinity of fries done right. Burgers were good, too, especially considering Oak Park and the immediate vicinity is so lacking in them.

Anyway, as someone familiar with Five Guys from Virginia and also familiar with In n Out from CA, I'm glad it's Five Guys here and not the latter. Maybe it's just a matter of taste, but every time I've ever eaten at the fabled In n Out, I've always left wondering if I stopped in the right West Coast burger chain. This place, on the other, offers just what I've always wanted from a burger place, with the added advantage of being just down the street.

Panther in the Den wrote:$5 for a nice double cheeseburger is by no means out of line and matter of a fact pretty cheap! Considering that a some of the toppings that you usually have to pay extra for (Mushrooms, jalapenos) are included. I have paid $10 and up at places like Kumas and steakhouses (worth it too!).

I've paid more for burgers too. Some better, some not. But it was the whole package price that got to me. And I'm truly a minimalist when it comes to burgers so the free add-ons don't enter into my price to value ratio. But I can't argue that it does to others.

It's funny though, your mention of Kumas and steakhouses addresses to one of my points that I now see as wrong. It just feels more justified to spend that much at a sit-down restaurant rather than a place like this. The reality is, if there was a waitstaff, it would have cost more when I add in a tip.

Still, it just seemed overpriced to me.

midas wrote:

Panther in the Den wrote:$5 for a nice double cheeseburger is by no means out of line and matter of a fact pretty cheap! Considering that a some of the toppings that you usually have to pay extra for (Mushrooms, jalapenos) are included. I have paid $10 and up at places like Kumas and steakhouses (worth it too!).

I've paid more for burgers too. Some better, some not. But it was the whole package price that got to me. And I'm truly a minimalist when it comes to burgers so the free add-ons don't enter into my price to value ratio. But I can't argue that it does to others.

It's funny though, your mention of Kumas and steakhouses addresses to one of my points that I now see as wrong. It just feels more justified to spend that much at a sit-down restaurant rather than a place like this. The reality is, if there was a waitstaff, it would have cost more when I add in a tip.

Still, it just seemed overpriced to me.

Where is your goto place afor a good $5 (or less) double cheeseburger?

Panther in the Den wrote:

midas wrote:Where is your goto place afor a good $5 (or less) double cheeseburger?

It's not the burger price alone, it's the whole package. Again, it's a good burger, no complaints. But I'd still choose Paradise Pup or Poochie's for a lot less money. But my food dollars don't only compare to other burger places. In the end, it's only a burger. For the same money I'd much rather go to Honey 1 and get a tip/link combo or head to Burt's and split a medium pizza and an order of onion rings with my wife.

midas wrote:The fries were actually a little disappointing. I suppose if you were comparing to McDonalds or Burger King, they were great. But I can think of a number of places locally that do it better. And while the portion size is nice, that brings me to my main complaint. It's not cheap. 2 burgers, 2 regular fries and 2 large drinks was $22. That just seems like a lot for place you stand in line to place your order, get your own drinks and get your food in a bag.

Don't get me wrong, I left full. The food was enjoyable. But $22 is a lot for lunch of burgers and fries for 2.

Maybe Madison, WI is cheaper BUT I had the standard burger (2 patties without cheese) fries and a beverage and my bill was $7.50. Certainly that is more than than the dollar menu at Wendy's or the Tuesday night special at Finn McCools BUT the burger was a hell of an improvement over the $3 "butter" burger at Culver's

This is a joke, right? Went here last Saturday after a movie at 9pm. We were the only ones in line(I guess people are fast learners). After screwing up our order...we got two bacon cheeseburgers with no bacon(how is that even possible?) they wrapped some bacon in foil and handed it to me. Put said bacon on rapidly cooling burgers and waded into the slop. Now realised that my burger was missing the onions I asked for. Not wanting to have a bunch of raw onions dumped into my hands or something I refrained from further complaining. The burger itself is ok, the bun is terrible, it can't hold up to having much in the way of various condiments on it without falling apart. The condiment choices are good assuming they actually put them on your burger. The fries are good but someone in an earlier post said that they were cajun fries which they are not. Cajun fries should have cajun spices on them, these did not. But then they could have just missed when applying said spices since they clearly couldn't put ordered items on the burgers. I'm guessing that with all the hype on the walls that this is what passes for THE BURGER on the right coast, if so, I really feel sorry for them.

DO NOT GO TO FIVE GUYS.

If in Oak Park, head over to Goldys in Forest Park and get a truly delicious burger, cooked the way you want it and they have never forgotten the bacon or onoins.

Hoppy,
Did you voice your displeasure to the employess or manager on duty?

This is a newly opened place, and while I'm not making excuses for them, they are probably still dealing with the kinks in the operation that come with that. Again, it's no excuse to mess up orders, but they need to know about the mistakes.

If you don't say anything, how can the issues get fixed?

i recommend people go and try it. some order screw ups are not detterent enough not to try it. the taste is still there, like i said, very good burgers and fries, maybe a bit pricey as someone mentioned up thread, but if you skip drinks then you should be ok, if not, the price won't kill most of us.

I went on Saturday, around 5:30. Neither my wife nor I got the right toppings on our burgers. Nor did the woman sitting next to us. I was wondering if they had some joker making the burgers that was intentionally screwing them up. Otherwise they were fine..nice meatly flavor. Fries good but not amazing. I would not make a journey to visit this place. Hell, I live 5 minutes away and probably won't be back anytime soon.

On a side-note I was at an In-N-Out on Thursday. I'd have to give the nod to In-N-Out on both the burgers and fries.

No, I did not speak to management. This is a chain, and as such they have been doing this for a while and should be able to get it right. Besides, it was the manager who handed me my forgotten bacon. If she can't figure out that that was a mistake then they've got even bigger problems.

Sounds like maybe the corporate trainers have gone home.

Please bear in mind that this branch of 5 Guys has been open less than a week. I can't imagine this level of E-assassination for one mistaken order for most places. Remember that, while 5 Guys is a franchise, they have local owners and do their best. I have been eating their food for nearly 5 years in multiple locations and it is almost always good. If you have ever been involved with an opening of any sort, you would know it can take months to get all the kinks worked out. This location is turning out on the spot food nearly every time in a fraction of that time. Give then a bit of slack...

Well said. I don't know why the opening of this place should earn so much attention, but I don't think a few failures early on should, either. Try it in a couple of months, let us know.

i went yesterday, toppings were correct, everything was good. for a place that is known for burgers they really weren't that great, the meat was medium/well done and didn't have a whole lot of flavor and was pretty dry. the fries were okay, a little soggy, but had good potato flavor. i'll give it another try - it seemed a lot more fresh and better than your big chain fast food joints but not cheap and it didn't wow me in any way.

Mike G wrote:Well said. I don't know why the opening of this place should earn so much attention,

I guess the fact that their burgers don't come as frozen disks off the semi is noteworthy enough. Any diner in town OUGHT to be able to make a decent burger.

I found it more humorous than irritating that out of the three burgers surveyed, none had the right toppings!

in response, we ordered 3 entirely different burgers and they all were done correctly

Mike G wrote:Well said. I don't know why the opening of this place should earn so much attention, but I don't think a few failures early on should, either. Try it in a couple of months, let us know.

Like Jews who love pork, I believe that Oak Parkers, are disproportionately represented on this site. Look at all the talk on the decent but not wholly special Don Alfredo carnitas place (although why more talk on Dunk Donuts baffles me).

Vital Information wrote:

Mike G wrote:Well said. I don't know why the opening of this place should earn so much attention, but I don't think a few failures early on should, either. Try it in a couple of months, let us know.

Like Jews who love pork, I believe that Oak Parkers, are disproportionately represented on this site. Look at all the talk on the decent but not wholly special Don Alfredo carnitas place (although why more talk on Dunk Donuts baffles me).

This place is definitely getting a surprising amount of attention from people on the board. Having lunch there today, I ran into borborigmy and babyray, and I got looks from several people suggesting that they might be LTHers or lurkers. I think the popularity of Five Guys is testimony to the local need for good burgers.

Today, I had a bacon burger, with raw and grilled onions and jalapenos. It was kind of dry, but I think the key to getting the bun to hold together is to go with toppings that are less moist.

Mike G wrote:Like Jews who love pork, I believe that Oak Parkers, are disproportionately represented on this site. Look at all the talk on the decent but not wholly special Don Alfredo carnitas place (although why more talk on Dunk Donuts baffles me).

Anyplace with a demographic surplus of education, disposable income for dining and photography, time, chins, and keyboard dexterity is going to be disproportionately represented on this site.

In Oak Park's defense, we have no GNRs (though several nearby), no good burger places, no standing roundtable for dining exploration, and many people who comment on the area are from other suburbs. Restaurants "associated" with the Oak Park dining scene (like Don Alfredo, in Melrose Park) are overwhelmingly not in Oak Park.

But I like your comment formula of:

[residents of x neighborhood] are disproportionately represented on this site. Look at all the talk about [patronizing ultimate judgement on][name of board favorite in the area].

Hours of posting fun!

Well, to be fair. Any place that has a thread started a full month before they open is going to get a lot of scrutiny.

midas wrote:Well, to be fair. Any place that has a thread started a full month before they open is going to get a lot of scrutiny.

You are talking about a regional chain where there are a number of locations within a relatively short drive of Chicago.

Personally, I stumbled onto the Madison location when I was looking for a quick place to eat.

Let me restate: I ordered two bacon cheeseburgers that had no bacon. How hard is this? Can the people working there read an order? I really don't care if they've been open six months or six minutes, get it right. It's not like they have 6o things on the menu. Lastly, if your going to hype a place for a month before it opens then any criticism is deserved.

this...

hoppy2468 wrote: I ordered two bacon cheeseburgers that had no bacon.

...might be explained by the fact that they did not understand the Oak Park prevalance of

Vital Information wrote:Jews who love pork

jmc wrote:i went yesterday, toppings were correct, everything was good. for a place that is known for burgers they really weren't that great, the meat was medium/well done and didn't have a whole lot of flavor and was pretty dry.

I agree that dry is not desirable in a hamburger, but I wouldn't expect this style of fast-food burger, especially with 1/4 pound patties, to be cooked to anything below medium well.