Smashburger — Restaurant in Medford

This has become my go-to burger joint in the Boston area, pulling ahead of Tasty Burger in Harvard Square as well as the Five Guys chain, Shake Shack, and Fuddrucker's. Why? Because really, EVERYTHING they have is good, and unlike the others (except for SS), you can actually buy (gasp!) a beer or cider to go with your food. No, they're not really good craft beers, but at least there are 2-3 non-Bud/Coors alternatives, and the Angry Orchard cider is a safe bet too...best of all, it comes in a chilled mug! Prices are shockingly reasonable, especially if you go with their plain "Classic" burgers instead of the specialty/themed burgers. If on a budget you can even ask for a decent sized paper cut to get ice water instead of buying a refillable fountain drink.

Now about the burgers: they aren't the biggest (that would be Fuddrucker's, which costs more since you're also paying for the toppings bar) but the meat is perfectly cooked---well done on the outside but still nice and pink on the inside. Many of these burger places that don't ask how you want it cooked, tend to generally overcook leaving you with a sadly bland piece of meat (looking at you, Five Guys!). The specialty burgers come with different kinds of quality buns, not the bottom-of-the-barrel Wonder Bread type plain white buns (ahem, Tasty Burger!).

I'm usually a low-carb eater who avoids ordering fries or onion rings, but Smashburger's fried carbs menu is too damn good not to order whenever I come in: the potatoes and sweet potatoes are fresh not frozen, and hand cut in just the right size, and seasoned perfectly with rosemary and garlic rather than just bathed in salt as you often find at other places.

My only small gripe was their shakes, which are made with Haagen Daaz, which is premium supermarket ice cream that often beats out at ice cream parlour ice creams. Well, in a shake you can't really taste its extra goodness, so it's kind of a waste for the hefty five bucks they charge you, plus it's a rather small serving. I'd rather have cheaper ice cream at a cheaper price and in a larger serving...something that Fuddruckers seems to do best.

The bigger gripe is that they're only open until 10pm, but it's understandable given that they are in a sleepy residential area not right next to college campus like Tasty Burger is.

Oh, and last thing: despite the modest prices, this location has a surprisingly upscale/decent ambiance! I mean, nice wooden tables and gentle non-white-glaring lights, which means you can relax and enjoy your food instead of feeling like you just want to gobble it down and GTFO like the other places (Fuddruckers and Shake Shack are the only exceptions). Plus it's quiet and calm, unlike Tasty Burger. I daresay that if they opened up a location near Harvard, they would easily put both Tasty Burger and Shake Shack out of business in no time at all.

Service was excellent, btw---nice cashier, and they also bring the food out to your table instead of giving you a flashing/beeping coaster that makes you come to the counter to pick it up yourself.

This place really deserves to be much more...

When I entered the restaurant, it was pretty empty. I was happily greeted by the general manager, Yefrey, who was really friendly and provided great customer service. I appreciated the fact that he hooked me up with some coupons on the way out to use for any future visits. I also was appreciative of the young lady who politely offered to take my food tray. However, I remember as I waited for my food, looking over and noticing some ways down from me a dollop of ketchup on the counter and wondering why it had not been cleaned up. Other than that, the place was pretty clean. So as for my food, my burger that I ordered (Swiss burger with mushrooms and grilled onions) was OK but I felt like it could’ve been tastier. My Smash fries were not what I expected. They were the right amount of salt, just the way I like them, but they were swimming in a pool of rosemary oil, which was very unappealing and obviously very unhealthy. The oily factor turned me off and I’ve never seen fries presented that way ever. My chocolate chip cookie dough milkshake was another disappointment. First off, receiving it took some time. I didn’t get it til towards the tail end of my meal, which didn’t make any sense to me because it wasn’t like the restaurant was busy at all. I was told that it was on its way to me when I first received my order but it took quite some time. I didn’t receive my shake until l was leaving. Then again, I figured it would be a nice dessert to end my meal. However, to my dismay, I had basically ordered a vanilla milkshake with cookie dough chunks at the bottom of the cup. I was hoping that the chunks were broken up into small itty bitty bits along with small chocolate chunks that I could enjoy sucking up through my straw so I could really taste and enjoy the cookie dough flavor. Unfortunately, that was not the case at all. The chunks were too big to suck up the straw and there were no chocolate chunks. It was just such a bummer because I remember getting excited when I saw the advertisement for it by the menu and sharing my excitement with Yefrey. Chocolate chip cookie dough is my favorite ice cream and well, sadly, this shake just did not execute for me. What a waste of calories!...

Smashburger, I encourage this store to review the camera footage of the staff starting around 8:50p on the 26th. Everything I say here will be backed up by the footage on those cameras. When I arrived there were 7 people in front of me in line, it took 14 minutes just to place an order. However, it took a further 22 minutes to receive my food. That's insane. Almost 40 minutes for a fast food order. There was one cashier, one staff refilling drinks and closing the service counter, 4 people in the kitchen, and some guy who would go into the kitchen and expo area, then back to the dining room and put his head on a table. This last guy did this multiple times. Other customers were taking notice of the excessive long wait times for the food, despite burgers and fries pilling up in the expo window. I kept a stopwatch timer on my phone during the ordeal and took a screenshot once my name was called for my food. I'll be happy to provide the screenshots of the receipt, timer, and the seemingly 1/3 order of haystack onions I received. Smashburger has been my go-to burger place for a long time, especially because of the amazing brussels sprouts. However after the events this evening, I am no longer going to come back to the company. I really love your products, but the service times tonight for a non busy/off-peak order, as well as the underwhelming portions of the side, I can't afford to spend nearly $30 for a burger and side and 45 minutes at a fast food establishment any longer. As stated before, I'd be happy to provide my screenshots, and I strongly recommend the management team at store #1708 review the camera footage from the service...