It was fairly busy for a Sunday evening when we arrived, but the staff were doing a good job of keeping everywhere looking tidy and hygienic. We queued for an acceptable amount of time, kept amused by reading the many reviews they have rather arrogantly pasted all over the walls. The menu is purposefully basic, choose a burger alone or with cheese or bacon or cheese and bacon (also some veggie options I didn’t explore). You can then have it with their suggested toppings or a combination of anything displayed on the board that you like – everything comes included! I went for a cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, gherkin, mayo and bbq sauce, with a regular fries to share. I was very happy at this point but my friend was decidedly unimpressed that they had no bacon for his bacon cheeseburger. I was inclined to be forgiving but after a lengthy discussion we decided that it’s probably not OK to have run out of one of your four core ingredients: bread, meat, cheese, bacon.

 

The first, and possibly the most original, thing I liked about the burger was the fact it was wrapped in foil. As a messy eater this meant that at no point through the eating process was I worried about dropping anything or covering myself in bbq sauce. The beef burgers themselves (two 1 cm ish thick burgers, stacked) were excellent. I think that thick burgers often cook unevenly and then dry out at the edges, so these were absolutely perfect – really well cooked and juicy. The toppings were great too, perfect amount of sauce and not shy with the gherkins. Next, the fries! Five Guys claim to hand cut them everyday and fry them in peanut oil. The result is a surprisingly regular cut fry, skins on and deliciously crispy. However someone (who may have been biased due to a lack of bacon) thought they were a bit heavy and cloying, and after getting through half a regular portion I began to agree. Also worth a mention are Five Guy’s awesome drinks machines which are guaranteed to bring out your inner child, they’re touch screen with enough choice to keep you going back for the free re-fills.

 

Five Guy’s food gets the absolute thumbs up from me, but one sticking point is the price. Ranging from £6.75 for a plain beef burger to over £8 for cheese and bacon (if they have it) the burgers are on the pricy side for a counter-service restaurant. Add on regular fries and a drink and that’s just shy of £15 in one order. Now I wouldn’t be adverse to paying that in a sit down restaurant, but then you would lose the foil wrapped ‘’how-to-eat-a-burger-for-dummies’’ and drinks machine fun that made Five Guys an interesting experience. So I’m suggesting that you would probably have to decide whether to go back or not for yourself, but that Five Guys is definitely worth the first trip.

 

By James, Restaurants of Leeds Share this story