Five Guys is a small chain, the best type of business if you ask me. They are obviously still in tune with their clientele and actually know the demographics of areas where their stores open. I went with my girlfriend, being the classy guy I am, and smoothly ordered for the both of us: two double cheeseburgers.

A double cheeseburger is one of three menu choices, the others being a “regular cheeseburger” and “small burgers”, which I’m guessing are like the bite size “sliders” restaurants are using to give people the illusion they’re eating less. The burger consisted of: bun, two fairly generous patties, American cheese, ketchup, pickles, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, lettuce and tomato. It was awesome. The meat is clearly fresh, along with the vegetables. The onions and mushrooms are not already-grilled-but-let-me-heat-them-up-again. They’re actually better than In n Out vegetables, and start off crisp and uncooked. The hamburger bun was toasted and somehow, even though it was stacked high, the whole thing scored an A+ for not falling apart like other burgers.

I also ordered a large fries, which were home-style with all the expected lovely seasoning caking each beautiful spud slice. The employee prepping my food put it all in a bag and, with a touch I especially liked, poured in some extra fries randomly, which created an overflowing effect.

The decor was simple: basically awards saying how great the place is. Five Guys also stacks its potato shipments (50 lb bags) all around the seating area, which is a little strange but serves as a reminder of how fresh everything is.

The biggest downside, and what puts them just a notch below In-N-Out is… no shakes. Seriously? I assumed there was a secret menu or something — which they also don’t have… boo. You cannot tout yourself as a great burger chain without shakes. It was fountain drink territory, which we all know is a rip off because that’s just water and syrup. Hell, I have water and maple syrup at home.