Mr Review Addict and I headed to London this weekend. We had heard about Shake Shack coming to the UK and opening a restaurant in Covent Garden and we were both extremely keen to try this place. Even more so when I read this review on Creamy Steaks blog.
Anyway Mr Review Addict and I are huge burger fans and the best ones that we have tried have been in the USA. I can't pick a favorite between The Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridien in NYC or Cheeseburger in Vegas. I don't know if it's the excitement of being on holiday, the beef or what, but burgers always seem to taste better across the pond.
Shack Shake being an American chain seems to have caused a bit of excitement amongst UK burger lovers and I have heard reports of ridiculous queues to order food. Luckily for us, almost a month after it opened, the line this saturday lunchtime was actually pretty short and only just came out of the door.
The service was good and the staff were way more cheery that what you would find in your average McDonalds. The ordering process was very simple and they were more than happy to cook my burger well done...don't judge me, I just think that burgers taste better this way (according to the menu burgers are cooked medium unless you ask otherwise).
Once we ordered, we were given a ticket at asked to wait for our food at a side window. Mr Review Addict sent me to find a seat which to be honest was a bit of a free for all but I don't think that was the fault of Shake Shack, more the ditherers who just sort of stood in the way rather than going to sit down. I did managed to get a seat pretty quickly however and hubby was only a few minutes later with the food.
We both ordered single Shack Burgers (£5 each), shared a Cheese Fries and I had a regular Diet Coke (£2.50) and Mr Review Addict went for a Chocolate Milkshake (£4.50).
I loved that the burgers were so nicely presented, not like the Burger King that I had recently which I swear had been thrown at the box; these burgers actually looked quite pretty! The bun was pretty good as it was light and fluffy and not too sweet and the meat was thin, in a patty style but tasty! I enjoyed the Shack Sauce that it came with which is a bit like you get in a Big Mac and the lettuce and tomato was good too, no sogginess here! It wasn't a greasy burger but it was quite salty so perhaps I should have ordered a large Diet Coke!
The fries were excellent, nice and crispy and I loved the cheese sauce. I wish we had more cheese sauce in the UK, I swear it goes with EVERYTHING!
Verdict It's a tough one to judge for me, I guess it depends on what you are looking for in a Burger. I've tried a lot of better burgers, even in the UK but these are mostly from a sit down restaurant and more expensive than Shake Shack. But if you compare Shake Shack to the likes of Burger King and McDonalds then on quality it wins hands down but then it is more expensive. For me Shake Shack sits somewhere in the middle, and you know what, it does the middle well!