Five Guys — Restaurant in Corvallis

Too bad I can’t give zero stars.

I have been eating at five guys restaurants since 2011, but never have I had as bad an experience as at this restaurant.

When I heard this location opened, of course I had to go try it out. Upon arrival I found a large line, but with upwards of 20 people working the kitchen I was not deterred. The lobby was packed, almost every table was seated which is concerning given the current pandemic and state restrictions.

I ordered 3 burgers, a milkshake, and a soft drink. When the milkshake was called ready, I walked up the the employee and waiting close to five minutes for him to finish his personal conversation with a coworker before he noticed my presence and asked what I needed.

The milkshake was fine, the service was not.

Moving on to the main course, waiting for the food we heard there were 23 orders ahead of us. That usually would mean about a 20-30 min wait at any other location, but here it was about 60 minutes. At any other location they warn you if the wait is over 20 minutes, but not here, and I had a toddler with me. I would have dined elsewhere knowing this wait time.

After the long wait we finally had our meals. With the lobby so full to the point it could be shut down by violations to state regulations, and the noise level so high you couldn’t hear a train horn across the room, we took our meal home.

When we sat down to eat about 5 minutes later there was the biggest disappointment of all, the burger. Yes, THE BURGER, CHARED SO BLACK YOU COULD SAW WOOD WITH IT.

The meat was so over cooked it wasn’t even edible, think meat cracker. On a scale of rare to well done, this burger was so well done you could have used it as charcoal in a bbq to grill yourself a new burger, which I might as well have. Not just my double bacon cheeseburger, but both of the other burgers too, heck even the bacon was cooked down to a messily potato chip.

The fries were fine but not as good as other locations, the drinks were fine, the burgers were absolutely horrendous, and the service was a 0 out of 10.

I’ve eaten at the location in Salem, Oregon hundreds of times and never had this experience, the management must be truly terrible in Corvallis to let all this come to pass.

I will never again set foot in this restaurant under its current management. Save yourself the headache and avoid it like the plague, head up to Salem and get yourself a proper meal from this company.

If you want to eat a good burger in Corvallis I’d recommend a grocery store freezer section over this, but there are local burger joint that’s put all competitors to shame.

I’m completely baffled in disbelief at my experience, I won’t bother leaving bad reviews unless it’s one for the record books, so take this to heart. I hope corporate reads this and figures this out, it’s a real shame this location has failed...

Trying to be constructive bc they just opened. 1. The online ordering drastically underestimates the wait time. It is obviously set for normal operations and not "just opened/still a local novelty" high demand. 2. There is no sign to direct online orderers. You don't just wait for your name. No, you have to get in the long line for in-person ordering and notify them you are there. Then, they make you food. So, just know it is not ready and waiting for you. As such, there is no benefit to ordering online ahead of time. No signs in the restaurant to tell you that. The order confirmation email says to notify them when you arrive, but it is easy to overlook (also, again, why order ahead?) I do get that this is to protect against slimy fries, but just put up a sign or explain online that it isn't "advance ordering." Your food gets put in the existing line. 3. Waiting in restaurant is not COVID safe. Tons of people and many of them are consuming drinks and milkshakes w masks down. 6ft distancing is really not possible with a ton of people. You can't wait outside bc there is no speaker system (like at In n Out). During my 30 min of waiting, saw many customers cycle in and out from sitting at tables and no one ever wiped them down. This is bc there is technically no indoor dining, but people are using tables and are consuming beverages w/o masks 4. Bc there is no speaker system, employees are masked, and music is so loud (yes, I sound old, but is this an Abercrombie??), you cannot hear the order number. It's like they are whispering it. Get a microphone. There's also no sign to tell you that online orders will use your name. All other orders whispered out are numbers. So you are both straining to hear and you don't know what they will call out, number or name? (They don't tell you) as a result, people crowd the pickup area to hear better, so more lack of covid safety. Food is the food. It's a chain, so they have standards and it is what you'd expect. It's the non-covid safe environment and lack of efficient processes that are the problem. These are fixable. Hopefully they're working on it. 15 employees behind the counter, so hands-on-deck isn't the issue. Good luck, yall! I'm sure you'll smooth out...

Menu and Wait Time: When I went to order, I was surprised by the versatility of the menu. You can have any and all toppings for free, and you can either have a single or double patty burger. What I went with was a double patty, with the toppings of my choice. The wait for the food was pretty long for a fast food place, at what I would guess as being 10 or 15 minutes. For the double patty, it was just above $8, but I can't quite remember what the milkshake and fries cost.

Food: Once the food came, it was better than most fast food places in terms of both burgers and milkshakes. They had a sign that said the burgers were "100% beef", and when I bit into mine, I could taste the amazing difference between normal fast food burgers and five guys' burgers. The only downside to 100% beef that I experienced was that the burgers have trouble staying in one piece. The milkshake was the perfect flavor (in my opinion), and not so hard to drink through a straw that I had to have a strong mouth, but it was still viscous enough to be creamy and enjoyable, which seems rare in most fast food milkshakes, nowadays. However, the fries weren't amazing, just okay, according to my standards (I prefer fries that aren't at all soft, but some of the fries were soft, and many were too salty).

Decor: Five Guys has a red and white theme, with a checker pattern covering most of the floor and counter, and the walls are mostly floor-to-ceiling windows. They have a large amount of press clippings on their walls, from newspaper clippings to magazine covers to quotes from a few notable sources that may or may not have been said. These are posted on EVERY wall, even in...