Shake Shack Buckhead — Restaurant in Atlanta

"If your reviews are looking like essays, start a blog. I can't read your life story on my phone before ordering from the menu."

[Time & Date of visit]: Sunday night @ 8:45 - 1/18/15

[Location/Ambiance]: The restaurant sits in a upcoming high end shopping plaza. Like most review's the only parking available is the parking deck if you don't luck out on curb parking - A la "Atlantic Station". I think the hype train is still rolling strong with this place. This is a "fast food" kind of setting. Though they provide you with electronic buzzers when your order is ready.

We arrived with maybe 7-8 people in front of us in line...outside...in the cold. Brr. Timing the wait of when we stepped in line to actual being in front of the cashier to place our orders was at 9:01. So a 16 min wait.

The main dining room is squished at best to describe. The upstairs patio roof top has either the elevator or the stairs to use to go up. The rooftop is shared with a gastro pub and is actually closer to street side. If you take the stairs, immediately turn left and go all the way down and you'll see the tables and chairs for Shake Shack patrons. Upstairs has a self serve station in front of the elevator with napkins, plastic utensils, and salt & pepper packets - everything but ketchup.

[Service]: Most of the employees are behind the counter; either taking orders or on the cook line. Sometimes, but rarely, did one employee come in and organize the line as some people have no understanding that there are people waiting and are in front of them. With the number of cooks, the food actually only took 5 mins to be done. Pretty quick.

[Food Highlights]:

Shake Stack - I normally don't order mushroom burgers, but hey why not. The crisp-fried portobello was pretty interesting. If anything, it looks like a fritter. It's pretty thick and adds some height to the burger. DO NOT CRUSH IT like I did trying to setup the burger for easier bites. The melted cheese sauce inside leaked out and made a portion of my burger soggy. Just take bites of it when possible. Is it a good burger - yes. Is it a good burger for the cost they charge - HELL NO. You're paying for the location, I firmly believe.

Crinkle Cut Fries - These are like most crinkle cut fries, but they appear smaller then the large sizes that can be bought at the grocery store. Consistently cooked until crispy on the edges. I think that these are pretty good and the seasoning was balanced for the portion. Though these would be less then a small size at McDonald's. Wonder how much they would charge to super size? Are they good fries - yes. Are they worth the cost per the portion they charge - HELL NO.

Shake - Strawberry - The size of the cup that this comes in is pretty much a kids size or a small at other fast food franchises. I didn't find anything special about the shake in particular. Nothing fancy like Flip Burgers Smores shake. It tasted on par with Chik-Fi-La's. It's ok. Meh. At least not overly sweet. But nor am I dying for another one. - Not worth it. At least not the strawberry flavor.

[Total Bill w/ Tip & Tax]: $20 and some change.

{Summary}: It's actually less expensive to get a pre-fix burger with toppings that has bacon in it VS adding bacon. Weird huh? My friend who ordered a shack-meister, cheese fries and a shake ended up paying $2 less than me. I welcome such a franchise for the east coast as some say this is the East's version of In-N-Out. Funny, I've been to Cali and remember not paying this much for a combo meal "animal style". I really wish they chose a location that wasn't so trendy as we're just paying for their location and the rent. It's a good "fast food" burger and fries but that's it. Honestly, for the cost, I can just go to Bocado and get full service w/ free valet. Let's hope if they make it, the second location isn't so uppity for what they sell and the price...

Update: December 4th, 2015 I just returned her last night after a rather large failed event and I'm pleased to say I have updated this restaurant from a 2 to a 5! WOW! Was the burger completely different then the first time! Holy Juicy! For a quick-fix burger this was pretty delicious. Actually my mouth is watering right now just thinking of it. I mean the Shack Sauce was excellent, the burger was just enough to be filled up on and not too messy! The buns are incredible. Who doesn't like a nice set of buns? And the Crinkle Fries were on point. Basically, now I see why everyone is obsessed with Shake Shack now: the food is freaking awesome. A little on the pricier side for a burger, but it's definitely a nice treat! The cheese on the burger was melted perfection. Seriously how do they melt cheese like that? I need to know! And so much flavor! Never too much salty taste. It was the perfect balance of salt, sweet and perfection. I will be coming back!

Old: November 2015 My fiance and I just tried this place tonight and I was really excited because I had heard such good things about it from people who have had it elsewhere. So first of all this place gets two stars only because of it's location and it's atmosphere (really cool rooftop area). So the food, where to begin.. After waiting in line for 15 minutes (totally understandable it just opened up) we got to order from the very friendly staff at the registers who were kind enough to hand out menus to us while we waited in line. I got the shack Burger and my fiance got the smoke shack. We shared Crinkle fries. I got a creamsicle float and he got a concrete. Go big or go home right?

Basically, I would say this place's food is more or less the taste factor of Steak N Shake but with a much heftier price tag and a cooler, hipster ambiance. The thin patties of burger meat were juicy, but just lacking. The cheese, was a cheese sauce that had questionable origins. The biggest disappointment was that the crinkle fries tasted like they were from a box. There are so many better places in ATL to get a burger (burgerfi for one) and at a better price or at least with grass fed beef and hand cut french fries. I will have to say the custard was nice and creamy. The creamsicle float was a HUMONGOUS (definitely not Bloomberg approved) size, no way one person should drink that whole thing by themself. But it was okay.

Would I come back? Probably not for the food but for a drink on the roof top patio. Just not my cup of burger,...

A-OK.

Finally got the chance to try Shake Shack and wasn't very impressed. This one is located in The Shops at Buckhead, and it is nice inside. It even has a rooftop area.

They don't have any "combos", everything is sold separately, but their menu is very simple. They offer Burgers, Chicken Sandwiches, and Hot Dogs. You can pair those with fries, cheese fries, or bacon cheese fries. They have shakes, wine, and beer which is pretty cool for a burger joint.

I ordered the Shack Stack which is a cheeseburger topped with a crispy fried portobello mushroom ('Shroom Burger) filled with melted muenster, and cheddar cheese. I also ordered cheese fries.

The burger was okay. It sounded very good to me and I was starving, but when I actually got it, it was a bit disappointed. They cheese fries were super yummy.

As we all know, parking can be really tricky in Atlanta. There's plenty of parking in their garage, and complimentary 3 hour self parking is provided with validation by most of the businesses you visit.

Valet is also available, and they offer "Flash Valet" which will allow you to text them, and tell them where you want your car to be delivered close to you. Nice.

ESPAÑOL

A-OK

Finalmente tuve la oportunidad de probar Shake Shack y no me impresionó mucho. Este se encuentra en The Shops at Buckhead, y es agradable por dentro. Incluso tiene un área en la azotea.

No tienen ningún "combos", todo se vende por separado, pero su menú es muy simple. Ofrecen hamburguesas, sándwiches de pollo y perritos calientes. Puede emparejarlos con papas fritas, papas fritas con queso o papas con tocino. Tienen batidos, vino y cerveza, que es bastante bueno para una hamburguesería.

Pedí el Shack Stack, que es una hamburguesa con queso y un champiñón portobello frito crujiente ('Shroom Burger') relleno de muenster derretido y queso cheddar. También pedí papas fritas con queso.

La hamburguesa estaba bien. Me sonó muy bien y me estaba muriendo de hambre, pero cuando lo conseguí, me decepcionó un poco. Las papas fritas con queso eran súper deliciosas.

Como todos sabemos, el estacionamiento puede ser realmente complicado en Atlanta. Hay un amplio estacionamiento en su garaje, y la mayoría de los negocios que visita le brindan validación de 3 horas de estacionamiento sin cargo.

Valet también está disponible, y ofrecen "Flash Valet" que le permitirá enviarles mensajes de texto y decirles dónde desea que se entregue su automóvil cerca de...