Best fast food burger?

In N Out Burger or Five Guys

  • In N Out

    Votes: 23 54.8%

  • Five Guys

    Votes: 19 45.2%
  • Total voters
    42
  • Poll closed .
SCCutler said:
I have always loved Whataburger, and a good Whataburger is a real treat. In addition, Whataburger has a much broader array of options for preparing your burger. When I lived in SoCal, always missed Whataburger (the nearest one was in Arizona then - don't know about now).

All that said, since In-n-Out has opened here in Dallas, it has become my one and only fast food option. First off, their stores are always clean as a whistle, their service snappy and friendly - they treat their people well, and the folks return the favor in their service and attitude. Only fresh meat and fresh-cut fries (I love love love In-n-Out fries). They do what they do and do it well.

I still like me a Whataburger with cheese, add jalapenos and bacon, though.
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In-n-Out hires the right people, carefully trains them to do their job, and indoctrinates them with the company's customer-oriented culture.

Here's an example of the culture. I was in Fort Worth just after In-n-Out opened there. I ordered a Double-Double 'animal style', and thought it tasted more 'pickly' than I remembered. I asked the girl at the counter how many pickles there were supposed to be. She said three or four--enough to cover the bottom bun. I guess it was just me. That night, I sent In-n-Out a comment about it via their website. The next day someone from In-n-Out headquarters call me to discuss it.
 
kkoran said:
In-n-Out hires the right people, carefully trains them to do their job, and indoctrinates them with the company's customer-oriented culture.
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And they pay well. All this plus the fact that they are so highly rated is pretty amazing when you consider their burger prices are one of the lowest if not the lowest of all the places discussed in this thread.
 
Nobody has brought up White Castle...

When I lived in Baltimore, I was blocks away from the headquarters of the "Little Tavern" chain. "Famous for Coffee and Hamburgers." "Buy 'em by the bag." If you bought six, they'd just split the sheet of rolls (square like White Castle though it ends there) and drop the patties on top. Pretty disgusting little fat blobs. I swear they also had pork in them
 
simtech said:
Not one in Columbus now, but curious where it was if you remember??.
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It was right off of Hwy 82 in East Columbus, I think there was a park across the road or in the vicinity. Seemed like it was fronting a shopping center or strip center.
 
kkoran said:
I think the problem with 5 Guys is that they wrap their burgers in foil-lined paper. The bun, meat, and other ingredients steam together into mushy glob.
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That's part of it, I think the foil is unnecessary, but also the patties are disappointingly small for the cost. They aren't much bigger than Inn & Out patties. At Inn & Out, I factor in the small patties and get two doubles. At the Five Guys, I assumed that a single, which was more expensive than Inn & Out's double, would be proportionately sized. I was wrong. I ordered two singles. I really needed two doubles.

Taste wise, to me they were mediocre. Not bad, I've had worse, but if I had paid a quarter of the cost I would have been a lot happier, as I felt I had just ordered two burgers fresh off the food warmer at the AM PM mini mart.
 
flyingron said:
Nobody has brought up White Castle...
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That's 'cause the thread is BEST burgers. :D Likewise, no one has brought up Steak-n-Shake (best burger at 3am) or Tommyburger (best when you want to offend your dining partners).

flyingron said:
When I lived in Baltimore, I was blocks away from the headquarters of the "Little Tavern" chain. [...] Pretty disgusting little fat blobs.
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LTDBs! (Little Tavern Death Balls)

Nauga,
and any port in a storm
 
flyingron said:
Nobody has brought up White Castle...
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I only had it once. I was a poor student at the time, it was 2 AM and I was drunk and hungry. My standards were low... Even so I never went back again.
 
I used to like Wendy's when I was a kid. Their burgers were big and meaty. Nowadays the quality seemed to go downhill and I don't like them very much. And it's not because I got bigger. When I was a kid, a Whopper tasted the same now as it did back then. Same with a Big Mac. Wendy's? They shrunk.

Dammit, all this burger talk is making me hungry, and the lunch meeting is at a Mexican place.
 
Sac Arrow said:
I used to like Wendy's when I was a kid. Their burgers were big and meaty. Nowadays the quality seemed to go downhill and I don't like them very much. And it's not because I got bigger. When I was a kid, a Whopper tasted the same now as it did back then. Same with a Big Mac. Wendy's? They shrunk.

Dammit, all this burger talk is making me hungry, and the lunch meeting is at a Mexican place.
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Be sure to post pictures in the appropriate food thread.
 
kkoran said:
Please don't take this personally, but: barf. I've gone to Dicks a couple of times since moving to the Seattle area. The first time, I wasn't impressed, and the second time I thought the burger was disgusting. There was actually more sauce than meat. I work with some UW grads who admit the love of Dicks is probably related to drunken burger runs than the quality or taste of the food.
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Nothing personal, between dicks and ivvars bar, it's where you can tell if someone is a Seattle transplant or a native ;)

But you really can't say you didn't like dicks fries and shakes
 
When I was a kid, we would go to the local A&W and get a bacon burger with a cold mug of root beer. If I remember right the cost was less than a buck.

White Castle......... the worst ever. Can it even be called food?
 
flyingron said:
Nobody has brought up White Castle...

When I lived in Baltimore, I was blocks away from the headquarters of the "Little Tavern" chain. "Famous for Coffee and Hamburgers." "Buy 'em by the bag." If you bought six, they'd just split the sheet of rolls (square like White Castle though it ends there) and drop the patties on top. Pretty disgusting little fat blobs. I swear they also had pork in them
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Closest thing to White Castle where I'm at is Krystal. Same little square blob "burgers", I've always thought it's the bottom of the barrel.
 
Same here. I like Burgers, not burgers.
 
I'm surprised Bryan didn't post this yet here...

3973507445_372f9bd131.jpg

burgerinacan.jpg
 
vontresc said:
I'm surprised Bryan didn't post this yet here...

3973507445_372f9bd131.jpg

burgerinacan.jpg
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Damn! :D

Looks pretty awful but to be honest it doesn't look as bad as I would have thought for being in a can.
 
Would you guys consider Five Guys fast food? I would. Best burgers I've had, but I have a hard time paying that much for them. I might eat there once a year.
 
bflynn said:
Would you guys consider Five Guys fast food? I would. Best burgers I've had, but I have a hard time paying that much for them. I might eat there once a year.
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Let me put it this way. I wouldn't call a place that wraps your burgers in foil and stuffs them in brown paper bags even if you're eating there a sit-down restaurant.

To me it's AM PM quality at prime steakhouse prices.
 
bflynn said:
Would you guys consider Five Guys fast food? I would. Best burgers I've had, but I have a hard time paying that much for them. I might eat there once a year.
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What Sac said, if it's not a sit down restaurant where I'm being waited on, I consider it fast food...even if it takes them 20 minutes to serve it.

In N Out Burger is one place that makes the food look as good as the advertisements. Presentation is big and In N Out does it well.
 
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Sac Arrow said:
. When I was a kid, a Whopper tasted the same now as it did back then. Same with a Big Mac. Wendy's? They shrunk.
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Quarter pounder w/cheese was my childhood favorite if I had to eat McD's, and it sure seems the quarter pounder is much smaller than it used to be. Yeah, yeah, it weighs a quarter pound, but that's before they cook all the fat away. But then again, a 1/2 gallon of ice cream back then was really a 1/2 gallon. Then they went to 1.75qts and now most are 1.5qts. Yeah, stuff shrinks as the price goes up.
 
Mason said:
Whoppers are smaller than they were in the 60s.
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Actually, they are pretty much exactly the same size they were in the 60s. For a few years in the 80's they were indeed larger, but not by much (4.2 oz rather than 4 oz). There were also changes in the roll over the years, but the only substantial change now vs. the 60s is that there are sesame seeds on the bun.
 
Best burger ever is at Spud's Roadhouse which is the only building in Pimba Australia. I had one after a long day on the range. Toasted bun, two patties, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and bacon and a fried egg (with just a touch of yolk uncooked).
 
flhrci said:
Not sure where the closest "Five" would be here in Ohio then. Never have had either. Sooooooo......Rally's maybe? LOL

David
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Several here around Dayton. I like them a lot but my home made burgers are the tops

Cheers
 
Funny. I've learned (mostly through conversations with my wife) that discussions about the best burgers rarely are about just the burger. With my wife it is a combination of burgers and fries that makes the best place. She's incapable of separating the two, even though she can shoot down a place for bad fries or bad burgers individually. I'm seeing some of that here with the In N Out love. I agree with almost all you are saying about them (cleanliness of the stores, good fries, good training and good people). But burger to burger it's Whataburger all the way. Closest I've had in the fast food realm was World Burger in Ft. Smith, AR. Not sure they are around anymore.

Speaking of burgers, do any of you live in areas that go in "runs" so to speak. One of the latest runs around here has been a rash specialty burger joints opening up (also seem to be in the middle of specialty taco places). It makes for some spectacular burgers, but it still seems strange to me to have so many places that only sell various burgers.
 
There used to be a chain called the Peppermi
Frogs97 said:
Funny. I've learned (mostly through conversations with my wife) that discussions about the best burgers rarely are about just the burger. With my wife it is a combination of burgers and fries that makes the best place. She's incapable of separating the two, even though she can shoot down a place for bad fries or bad burgers individually. I'm seeing some of that here with the In N Out love. I agree with almost all you are saying about them (cleanliness of the stores, good fries, good training and good people). But burger to burger it's Whataburger all the way. Closest I've had in the fast food realm was World Burger in Ft. Smith, AR. Not sure they are around anymore.

Speaking of burgers, do any of you live in areas that go in "runs" so to speak. One of the latest runs around here has been a rash specialty burger joints opening up (also seem to be in the middle of specialty taco places). It makes for some spectacular burgers, but it still seems strange to me to have so many places that only sell various burgers.
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I've heard the same thing. Women tend to look at the "total package" vs. a specific menu item in a restaurant or a meal. But I'm the same way as you, if I'm focused on a burger, I'm focused on a burger.
 
Ryanb said:
In N Out is west coast, Five Guys is typically an east coast deal.
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We get em all in the middle except Whataburger so far and a very limited number of White Castles.

gkainz said:
well crap! Nearest Whataburger to me ... 449.6 miles
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Time for a fly out? ;)

I'm partial to any cheeseburger I can get my hands on. I don't care who's except I agree with Greg, Smashburger isn't a burger, it's just grill scrapings crap served as if it is something special.
 
In N Out by far...couple of local joints around here that are really good, but nothing compares to In N Out for me...sucks they won't open any here...


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In-n-Out is as overrated as the rest of California. After 37 years here, I am quite confident in saying that. 5 Guys is, so far, the only fast food burger I like.
 
I've tried In-N-Out Burgers a couple of times. They are okay, but I'm also in the Five Guys is better camp which is good since one opened up nearby a few month back.


This space intentionally left blank for future sarcasm.
 
Well, after reading this thread I decided to go to the In-N-Out burger in Dallas off 75.

Meh, not impressed at all. My last Whataburger was better, as was the last Smashburger I had. I'll try a Five Guys next.
 
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