Five Guys Southbank — Restaurant in Melbourne

Absolutely worth the visit, but your choice to return will be defined by how much you like burgers and how realistic your pricing expectations are.

Yeah, it’s fast food, but it’s high quality fast food. Having the option to pick and choose ingredients is nice, and it’s worth noting that the ‘small’ and ‘large’ burgers are defined by either having two patties or one patty. Also worth noting that a signature trait of Five Guys is fries served in an overflowing cup. I made the mistake of ordering large thinking I would get a normal amount, but the fries in the bottom of the bag were more than enough for me. I’ll also say they’re the best fast food fry I’ve had in recent memory, they’re fresh cut, skin on fries and from my understanding the potato variety used was specifically imported to be grown for Five Guys.

The biggest complaint people make is about the price, but honestly that’s kind of just how much food costs these days, especially from a place like this. I don’t think I’ve paid less than the amount I paid here for a double patty smash burger at any local joint and even your usual burger culprits (Maccas and HJs) are getting close to the $20 mark for a meal. I’d also expect the price to stay steady or drop slightly as more stores open because they’re new to Australia they can’t rely on economies of scale to subsidise the price like they do elsewhere. Also wages, fixed costs, business tax, GST etc etc increase the price in comparison to the US, not to mention they have a lot more in the way of prep and ingredient costs due to high quality items.

Being served in foil is a nice touch too, you can squish the burger down and get consistent bites and unwrap it as you eat, makes it a way more pleasurable and delicious experience in comparison to out of a box. (Seriously who thought putting a sloppy, juicy, poorly constructed burger in a box was a good idea?)

Now, would I return again? Getting there is kind of a hassle if you’re in the CBD and people who drive will complain when they can’t park close by because, ya know, it’s a city, but if you use your legs it isn’t that big of a deal and a generally nice walk along the river. I’m also a massive fan of unpretentious but well made burgers so this suits me perfectly, but if you’re the sort of person who sees all burgers like this as the same you might not agree with me.

It’s also nice having access to unlimited refills and bulk sauce, little touches like that go a long way towards improving the experience.

I think if I’m in the area it’ll be high on my list, but I’m not about to travel there just for a burger given there’s so many places local to me that do a similar kind of thing, there’s a lot of good burger places in Melbourne and it would be a shame to ignore them to go here due to...

In-Depth Review:

Start of Service 5/5 *Greeted very quickly and friendly by the staff, very very good service.

Food 4/5 *Double Beef Bacon Cheese Burger: Soft Buns, crispy bacon, mushrooms, mayo and double beef and cheese. Very similar to Betty's burgers, very solid burger. Nothing out of the extraordinary though, but very solid. You can choose whatever toppings you like for free. *Cajun Fries: Skin on, it was okay, nothing amazing or extra ordinary. For the price it cost, would have expected something more extraordinary. *Milkshake: This milkshake was really hard to slurp, was all clumped up, not ready to drink, it took about 20 minutes for it to be somewhat slurpable, but by the time it did turn into a thickness edible, the straw became all soggy and was not pleasant to drink, I had to request a plastic straw, which they did not have, only to get another paper straw, which sogged up again after a few more slurps of enjoyment. Had to throw out the milkshake as it became a bit of chore to blow. Value 1/5 *Unfortunately the price is way way above average for a decent solid burger in Melbourne. Simply insane, $38 for a Burger, chips and drink.

Atmosphere 5/5 *Great no frills themed five guys restaurant, you'll find it hard to find a seat during lunch and dinner service as it's very full. I ate on the standing table. I do recommend eating on the outside benches if you can bear the Melbourne wind and cold.

End of Service 5/5 *Order called out by number, the guy working and calling out orders was also really friendly and warm as well as welcoming.

Overall 4/5 *If the price of the menu wasn't so expensive, it would have been a 5/5 but fortunately in Melbourne, it's easy to find similar quality burgers for half, even quarter of the price (next...

I'll give a quick summary and more detail afterwards for anyone who wants it.

Wait time was about 5-8 minutes from ordering to receiving. This was peak lunch rush though. Food was costly ($35 for the equivalent of a burger combo, but they don't do combos), but tasted stellar. They absolutely had the right amount of staff working at this time, and their customer service was good.

Ingredients were the freshest I've ever had on a fast food burger, but you definitely pay for that. I got a Little Bacon Cheeseburger for 19 bucks, plus a Strawberry Shake for 9.90, and Little Cajun Fries for somewhere between 5 and 6. Everything tasted excellent, but for this price I think I'd only come here if I wanted a burger OR a shake, and unlikely never in the same purchase, considering how it's priced and where it is, I could go to a sit-down restaurant and get more for price of everything I got.

They were very generous with the fries. They came in a little cup (about half the size of my shake) and then the same volume had basically been thrown on top of that in the bag. The way the server described the fries sizing was that "Little is for one person, regular is for two, and large is for 3 or 4".

Ordering the burger was a little weird but I guess it's part of Five Guys' gimmick; you pick a very basic template and then you ask for your toppings separately. For the bacon cheeseburger, it only comes with bacon and cheese by default, then you add the rest. For me that was tomato, lettuce, pickles, and HP sauce. They arranged these ingredients very well on the burger and it was delicious, but if I just wanted something quick, tasty and easy, I'm not sure how I feel about needing to manually define 70% of the...