Archive for 'Five Guys'

New Five Guys Has Day 2 Growing Pains?

Yesterday, a new Five Guys opened on 48th btw. 5+6th and despite it being a mobscene the reports were pretty positive service wise. Today, not so much. From Lunch’er “Masto”: I’ve never seen a place go downhill so fast. Because I wasn’t very hungry yesterday and only had a hot dog, I decided to go back for the proper burger and fries today. The lines were ridiculous and they somehow managed to lose my order in the assembly line. While I waited and waited and then waited for them to re-make it, it seemed like half the people there were in the same boat. They kept grabbing the customers’ receipts to go back and start over. Occasionally they even screwed that up and had to try a third time. I guess everybody who went yesterday told their coworkers and they just pushed it over a critical limit of competence today. Or everyone just quit. It’s stressful enough to stand in the midst of that chaos and screaming while waiting for food, I can’t imagine what it’s like to work there.” Give it time. I’m sure they’ll settle in to a fairly standard 15 minute wait time.

Five Guys 48th Opening on Tuesday: Speaking of all the Midtown burger craziness, it looks like we're getting our 3rd Five Guys next week. From the owner: "Barring any unforeseen delays, we expect to be opening next Tuesday at 36 West 48th Street."

Rare Bar & Grill Called Best Burger in Midtown East

The blog Law & Food took it upon themselves to try every burger in Midtown East recently and came to these tough to argue with (?) conclusions:  Black Shack (on Lex btw. 37+38th) is meh, Sarge’s (on 3rd btw. 36+37th) is better for deli food, Five Guys (on 3rd btw. 43+44th) does its job but isn’t as good as Blarney Stone (on 3rd btw. 45+46th).  And the winner is… Rare Bar & Grill (on 38th and Lex), even though admittedly it’s a splurge, and Blarney would be their choice for a day to day burger.  Noticeably absent is the burger at P.J. Clarke’s (on 55th and 3rd), but according to AHT (our Mayor of all things hamburger) it’s not that good anymore.

Related:
2009 Readers’ Poll: Best Fast Food Hamburger

Five Guys To Open 3 More Locations Midtown & Downtown By August

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The signs have gone up for the new Five Guys (on 48th btw. 5+6th) that we told you about back in December. It will be their biggest location in NYC to date, and will hopefully open in June. (Just in time for a gigantic Five Guys vs. Bill’s Bar & Burger face off!) There are also plans for two more Five Guys Midtown Lunch locations this year. One on 34th and 8th (next to the movie theater) which will open in June/July and one for our Downtown lunchers on Fulton Street (nr. Dutch St.) with a July/August opening date.

Related:
I Still Think Five Guys is Awesome, But I’ll Try Not to Compare it to In N Out Burger

Two More Five Guys Coming Soon: Hot off opening their new location on 3rd Ave. btw. 43+44th comes this news... Five Guys has plans to open two more Midtown locations in the first half of next year, and one of them will be on 48th btw. 5+6th.

I Still Think Five Guys is Awesome, But I’ll Try Not to Compare it to In N Out Burger

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The calm before the storm

It’s been awhile since I’ve eaten at Five Guys, so I decided to use yesterday’s grand opening on 3rd Ave. (btw. 43+44th) as an *ahem* excuse opportunity to retry the place I called “NYC’s closest thing to In N Out Burger” two years ago.  At the time Fresh N Fast hadn’t opened yet, and most people agreed that Blue 9 Burger had gotten really bad.  But since then I’ve learned some important lessons about hamburger writing in this city.  First, don’t compare any burger to the Shake Shack.  The minute you do, you are essentially insuring that a certain group of people will never like the place.  Because to those people, Shake Shack is the reigning champ.  The perfect berger.  And how can you improve on perfection?  Don’t believe the backlash is automatic… ask Steve Hanson.

And #2.  Don’t compare any burger to In N Out. This city is dying for their own branch of the west coast chain, and nothing short of the real deal with satisfy.  But I still stand by my original statement, and my lunch yesterday confirmed my feelings.

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New Five Guys Powers Through First Real Lunch Service

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Clearly Five Guys has learned a few lessons since their debacle of a grand opening on 55th btw. 5+6th a few years ago. Their newest location (on 3rd btw. 43+44th) had their first lunch rush today and passed with flying colors. Despite a line that stretched all the way back to the door for almost 2 hours, the wait times capped at about 25 minutes, with only about a 7 minute wait time between the time you ordered, and the time you got your food.

The unique set up certainly helped, and you get to watch your burger being assembled while you wait (the well oiled machine is quite a site to behold.) It’s refreshing to see a place that clearly thought about how they were going to handle the crush of Midtown Lunchers on opening day… and it’s a good thing because I doubt the line is going to die down anytime soon.

Five Guys 3rd Ave. is Finally Open

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After months and months of anticipation, Midtown East finally has its own Five Guys! On Saturday, as promised, the Five Guys on 3rd Ave btw. 43+44th opened to the public, and Lunch’er Christopher was there to check it out. He reported that it wasn’t that crowded, but as you can see they had a *ton* of employees working the line. “The staff outnumbered the patrons 2 to 1.” I doubt that ratio will hold up today- but it’s good to hear they’ve got a big staff. They’re going to need them today… (Early adopters, feel free to send in reports from the scene.)

Related:
Five Guys is NYC’s Closest Thing to In N Out Burger

Five Guys 3rd Ave. Update: A lot of new places like to open around a holiday, because it will be slow and they can work out the kinks... so I was hoping today might be the day for the new Five Guys (on 3rd btw 43+44th.) Nope. According to an employee of the 55th St. location, they're hoping to open Dec. 5th.

Naya Express & New Five Guys Less Than One Month Away

Five Guys
Photo uploaded to the ML Flickr Pool by lifeaskew

East side Midtown Lunchers are inching closer and closer to two new spots, both on 3rd Ave. btw. 43+44th Street. The owner of Naya Mezze & Grill (the fancy Lebanese restaurant on 2nd Ave.) checks in to say that he hopes to have Naya Express, his fast food Lebanese offshoot, open by the end of the month.  As for their next door neighbors Five Guys, an employee at the 55th Street location says it’s two weeks away.

Related:
Five Guys is Coming to 3rd Avenue
3rd Ave. Golden Krust to Become Lebanese NAYA Express