Who has the better burger and fries? In-N-Out™ or Five Guys™?
Inquiring minds need to know!
At least that’s what my co-worker, Tom, was wondering this week. They recently opened up a Five Guys™ restaurant in our neighborhood, and we’d heard it was good. But how did it compare to the already established In-N-Out™ burger?
Tom and I decided to find out.
First, we selected comparable items. We decided to get a Hamburger with onions from In-N-Out™ and a Little Hamburger from Five Guys™ (apparently the regular Hamburger at Five Guys™ has two patties.). We also got an order of french fries from each restaurant.
Second, we had to coordinate the timing. We wanted the burgers and fries to be as fresh as possible, but we still wanted to compare them with side by side testing. We set a date, figured out our strategy (which involved a drop-off, synchronized ordering, and zipping down the road as fast as possible), and then got down to tasting the burgers.
We had some basic criteria. Our first concern was for taste. Does it taste good? How is the proportion? How is it cooked? etc. Actually, flavor was our only real criteria. Because if it doesn’t taste good, who cares about how many calories it has or how much it costs?
In-N-Out™ on the left, Five Guys™ on the right
The Calories:
In-N-Out™ Hamburger (w/ Onion) – 390 calories
In-N-Out™ Fries – 395 calories
Five Guys™ Little Hamburger – 480 calories (w/ mayo, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, & ketchup) + <100 calories
Five Guys™ Fries – 620 calories
The Prices:
At In-N-Out™, Tom ordered the #3 and got the Hamburger, Fries, and a drink for $5.30.
At Five Guys™, I ordered the Little Hamburger and Regular fries for $6.98. A regular drink on the menu is $1.89 + tax.
Now, the breakdown:
Tom’s Review –
The In-N-Out™ versus Five Guys™ burger and fries reviews were fun. In-N-Out™ provided the better burger and fries of the two from my perspective. The Five Guys™ fries were soggy and greasy – very disappointing given the bags of Idaho potatoes lining the entrance. The In-N-Out™ burger was slightly better because it had better meat texture and far superior onions. Dollar value also tips the decision in favor of In-N-Out™. If I were to return to Five Guys™, I would definitely skip the fries and order the standard burger (two meat patties) versus the single patty “little hamburger.” Five Guys™ has many things to complement the burgers – such as all manner of toppings and complimentary salted peanuts – but if fries are important those attractions pale quickly.
My Review –
Five Guys™ Burger – A decent burger. The lettuce was nice and crispy. The bun was a little dry and it wasn’t toasted. They used chopped onions. I could barely taste them.
In-N-Out™ Burger – A good burger. I really enjoy their special sauce. The bun was soft. Plenty of lettuce, tomatoes, and onions! That, plus the lower calories makes it my “go to” fast food burger.
Hollow Fry
Five Guys™ Fries – It’s kind of sad. I really wanted to like Five Guys fries. I kept trying another one, just in case it might get better with the next fry. But it never did. They were greasy and hollow on the inside.
In-N-Out™ Fries – Good potato flavor. Fresh. Not quite crisp enough, but we noticed the texture and flavor didn’t change even after they cooled down.
All in all, I’d say the Five Guys™ burger was decent, but the fries were just bad. That, plus the calories and price, gave In-N-Out™ a sure win.
Final Scoring (1-5)
Tom:
Five Guys™ Burger – 3, Fries – 2
In-N-Out™ Burger – 4, Fries – 4
Erin:
Five Guys™ Burger – 3, Fries – 2
In-N-Out™ Burger – 4, Fries – 4
My next step? Taking up the burger challenge myself. Hopefully in the next couple weeks I’ll be designing an awesomely flavored burger and sharing the recipe with you!
Have a question about the recipe? A suggestion to make it even better?
Comments are welcome!
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I agree with your rankings in general in comparing these two burgers… However, I think it was a little skewed in favor of In and Out burger to win because the burger portion of the competition was based off of the kind of burger that In and Out does best! Five guys Basic burger is a two patty burger and that is the burger they do best. Plus, the real selling point at 5 Guys is the wide array of free toping choices that you can lavish on your burger- jalapenos, mushrooms, fried onions, a variety of cheeses… I agree that In and Out fries are better than 5 Guys, but I also think you got a bad batch. I don’t remember them being amazing, but I also don’t remember having any that were hollow! All in all, I think that both places are good but for different reasons.
Thanks for your review! It was fun to think about!!
Emrie, thanks for your thoughts. We debated just getting the standard “hamburger” from each restaurant, but a couple factors came into it. First, I’m trying to lose 15 lbs in 12 weeks. Which means calories is a factor. The regular Hamburger at Five Guys is 700 calories without any condiments. That’s just meat and bun. Add that to the order of fries (620 calories) and you’ve already got over 1300 calories! That’s practically all my calories for the day.
Also, I’m lactose intolerant, so we couldn’t take advantage of the cheese options.
Honestly, I don’t really like to get hung up on stuff like calories. My main priority is tasty food. But if I can find a delicious burger that is also relatively healthy for me, that’s what I’m going to choose.
Also, I don’t remember ever having a bad batch of fries from In-N-Out, so I’m wondering what Five Guys is doing serving bad fries?
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They just opend a five guys in pocatello, a few months ago. we went to the grand opening and it was really good and the frys were good. but that was the last time we went. there are other hamberger joints i would rather spend the money on that give you a better burger. in and out is a better burger for the money.