5 Guys

We have a lot of hamburger restaurants around Vegas. I’ve talked about two of my favorites; The Burger Bar in Mandalay Place is probably first, followed by Bacci Burger for an oriental slant. I have noticed that a number of the big chain places have closed; a Carl’s Junior near my house is no more, as is a Wendy’s near work.

We recently started going to a new chain, one that I hadn’t noticed before – 5 Guys Burgers . Either it wasn’t around or we just flashed by them. The burgers are pretty good, not the small frozen patties like the big chains do, but more fresh hand smashed things. The fries are also good – when you walk in the place there are bags of potatoes along the ordering line, which are washed and sliced fresh with skin, a single order is about four times the size of a Mackie’s large fry. When you order burgers or hot dogs you also select what toppings you want from a dozen options.

There is one near work that the guys go to regularly which is always filled with Air Force guys in khaki, and several reasonably close to our house. They all look the same, the size of two spaces in small strip malls with white and red walls and open seating.


One of the fun things is the soda machines – large refrigerator sized devices with touch screens. You can get hundreds of drink variations with flavorings. I usually get Coke, and you can add vanilla, cherry, orange, lime, raspberry and a few other syrups to the mix. Pretty cool.

The only drawback is the noise – none of the ones I’ve been to put in a drop ceiling, and with all of the hard surfaces it gets really loud when crowded. Don’t bring anyone with peanut allergies as the fries are all cooked in peanut oil and you get free peanuts while waiting – there are boxes of peanuts along the waiting line, you just scoop yourself a tray full and munch. All of the places we’ve been to are very clean, with a lot of employees; there are usually five or six in the open kitchen cooking and prepping away, and a few wandering around sweeping up and wiping tables. Very nice compared to the standard chain fast burger places which have been decreasing staff.

I would recommend them; they are all around the country with over 1500 outlets. Besides burgers and fries you can get hot dogs, cheese sandwiches and veggie burgers. Burgers, fries and drinks for two usually run us around $18, a lot different than Honey Salt, but then the food isn’t the same. I think I’d rather hit 5 Guys five or six times that HS once though.

I like to compete with Frankie G (over there on the right) for restaurant reviews around town. He’s a bartender and usually does after work cheap places on or near the Strip. I assume he gets off around 2am from his shift and hits places then from the way he writes. I don’t see any 5 Guys on the Strip, so it’s more of a locals place to go than a tourist destination.