Shake Shack Mansion House — Restaurant in London

We had been wanting to visit a Shake Shack since hearing about it on a podcast.

So on an August bank holiday Monday, my wife and I visited this branch to see what all the hype was about. The first thing we noticed was that that the chairs seemed to be particularly uncomfortable and the tables were not clean. Nevertheless, we were particularly hungry so we ordered two BBQ ShackMeister burgers, 1 plain fries, an ice tea and one lemonade.

After ordering I noticed we were overcharged for the burgers (£10.75 instead of £7 each). I was a bit confused because there were no burgers listed at £10.75, but when I raised it with the staff they were very friendly and refunded us the difference, however it was a bit of a pain and didn’t make for a great first experience.

The food arrived quickly. The fries were tasty and the lemonade was the real authenticate kind my Canadian wife is used to. The ice tea was also authentic but it was quite warm which didn’t make it very enjoyable. The burgers were tasty but the BBQ sauce was very sparse and they were quite small. In any other circumstance I would be happy to pay a premium as the meat was grass fed and locally sourced, however given the rest of the experience this was another mild disappointment. Also the constant beeping of the buzzers going off all around is got a little annoying.

Overall it was OK but personally I feel there are some improvements that would have made for a much more...

Can't recommend this location. The person who took my order, Krisztin, was completely indifferent. "What's the ShakeSauce"? I asked. She looked at me blankly and said, "It's a burger sauce", so I asked what's in it. "It's a white sauce". OK. It appears to actually be a thousand island sauce, or similar (a mix of ketchup and mayo). As a business owner, I shudder at the idea of someone like this representing my business - just a complete indifference to the customer experience.

The staff here don't really get the concept of gloves: they use the same gloves to touch the food, tap on the dirty POS screen, handle garbage, etc. All without changing the gloves, which wholly defeats the purpose.

I ordered the "Union Shack" dessert, pictured (it was served without the spoon, which I had to ask for). The presentation is a mess, and it tastes like it looks. It's a blend of very cheap ice cream with indeterminate lumps in it. I won't try it again.

The burger was nothing special (I had the Shake Burger) - I love a good burger; this wasn't that. The best part of the burger, by far, is the bun, which is really quite good. The beef is not.

The fries, on the other hand, are exceptional: crinkle cut, with just the perfect combination of outside crispiness and inside softness. Delicious!

If you're really committed to having Shake Shack, then I suggest you try an...

Absolutely abysmal customer service. I ordered the buffalo fries, which the menu says come with a side of ranch. The fries arrived without the sauce so I went to grab it from the till. The lady serving told me the ranch only came with the chicken and not the fries - sending me away.

Before returning to my table, I went to double checked the huge promotional signs on the wall which clearly stated ranch was included. I informed of this, for her to tell me I was wrong. Instead of looking at the menu on the wall of their own restaurant, she proceeded to check with another colleague who also insisted it wasn't included.

Fortunately I was able to flag another staff member on my side of the counter, took them to the menu board and highlighted that it did indeed say it was included.

When the original lady was informed by her colleague that she was wrong she suddenly got angry and rudely said that she didn't care what the board said - before proceeding to aggressive pass me the ranch I was owed.

Now, this is just a sauce so why does it matter. Well the point is that staff were hugely unhelpful, refused to check their own menus instead preferring to call me a liar and that when proven wrong they reacted rudely. Terrible customer service and your staff clearly need better training in...