Five Guys Review

Five Guys has some cred behind it. Obama goes to Five Guys. If it's good enough for the President of the United States, surely it could be good enough for the former student council co-president of Riverview High School.

Located in Deerfoot Meadows, practically next-door to their biggest competiton, Five Guys is the latest in premium burger joints to hit Calgary. By premium burger joints I mean it is very similar to South St. Burger Company, where they charge a premium and tell you that you are getting quality that you don't get at other places (McDonald's, Wendy's, etc...).

The place was packed. Almost lined up out the door. Don't expect to walk in and out of this place in 5 minutes. Obviously they're french fries are hand cut on site because you are greeted by about 40 huge bags of potatoes stacked just insde the front door. While you wait in line, you can help yourself to free peanuts. The place is big and the kitchen is an open concept. Everything happens right in front of your eyes. It looks like you would expect a burger place to look like, but they could definitely improve on the atmosphere. It is loud. There is no music playing, and they girl who calls out the orders, literally shouts at the top of her lungs, which became annoying.

On to the food. I ordered a cheese burger, fries and drink. When I opened it up, I thought they mistakenly gave me a double burger but that is just how they serve it. I ordered it "All the way," which is just a fancy way for saying "the works." The burger was huge, and sloppy. It wouldn't be something you would want to take with you and eat in your car. It was very good - definitely better than your standard fast food burger. I read in other reviews that two people could share one order of fries. They weren't joking. The portion of fries were massive. Impossible (for me) to finish, but they were so good that you would want to try to.

The meal came to just over $13. Almost twice as much as you would spend at your typical fast food place. Was it worth it? Yes. You get a ton of food. I ate lunch at 1:00 pm, and only had a little snack at 7:00 pm that night because I was still full from lunch.

Five Guys is worth checking out. 8/10

South St. Burger Company Review - Cross Iron Mills

As a regular listener of the Fan 960 sports radio station here in Calgary, and a guy who genuinely likes to shop, having a place voted the "Best Burger in Calgary" inside a brand new outlet mall seemed like an easy choice. I have been to Cross Iron Mills before and every time I walked past South St. Burger Company  I said "I'll go next time." Since the last time I had been here, the listeners of the Fan 960 voted it the best burger in the city which cemented the "I'll go next time," line, in stone. This place has been open for just about a year so maybe people like a new kid in town when it comes to burgers.


I was there at 5:00pm on a Saturday. The mall was packed and so was South Street. I kept it simple and ordered the hamburger combo and paid extra for cheese. South St serves New York Fries as their side. Kind of a nice touch. The beef is not frozen and is cooked to order. This seems to be getting trendy as Wendy's advertises this.

 It kind of works cafeteria style. You order and pay, then slide your tray down the line where you have a choice between a white and a whole wheat bun. Then they dress the bun while the burger cooks with your choice of their toppings.


Given how busy it was, it didn't take too long for the burger to be ready. I went with a whole wheat bun, blue cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, ketchup, mustard and relish.

 The burger was really good. The bun was awesome. It was definitely the best part of the burger. Probably the best burger bun I ever had. It was very soft and tasty. All in all, in my opinion, this is definitely not the best burger I ever had in Calgary, but having said that, for a place that is kind of like a fast food joint, it buries any of their competition. I can see myself grabbing a burger here every time I at that mall and it is definitely worth checking out, but it's not the best burger in Calgary. Burger (with cheese), fries and a drink came to $10.50.