Five Guys — Restaurant in Sarasota

One of the worst restaurants in Sarasota. I am not usually one for fast food but I know enough to say unequivocally that I would prefer Checkers and McDonald's in a pinch. A Checkers burger is around $2, made to order and served hot. None of this is true for the Five Guys (the location on Fruitville Rd.) burgers I and two friends ordered for carryout. Our bill for two orders of fries, two milkshakes and three burgers, one was a little burger at that, was $47 and change! I called on the phone to specify how I wanted the burgers cooked and that we wanted the french fries crispy. We were told in no uncertain terms that no customization was ever done but that we would like the food as it was prepared. Emphatically not so! We did not refuse to eat the fries; we couldn't eat them! They were a tangled mess of cold, raw potatoes. As for the burgers, they were cold and greasy. The bun was just a regular fast food hamburger bun. When my friend who has been a restauranteur for almost 40 years went to see a manager to complain, the manager refused to refund our money but offered to make another order. My friend said no because we had eaten an hour and a half earlier and had wanted acceptable fries with our meal. The condiments and items like lettuce and tomato on the burgers were incorrect and again, the manager, all of about 20 years old, refused to compensate us as we requested, much less apologize. We didn't want any more food! We had hated it! Why would we want more? The worst part is everyone not only justified the inedible food and the unwillingness to acknowledge and follow customer preferences when preparing it but seemed shocked and indignant that we would have the audacity to remark on the employees' poor attitude and absolute refusal to address and remedy our dissatisfaction. We had to make an extra trip to find a manager and even that was unsuccessful.

There is, however, one bright spot in this abysmal experience. My coffee milkshake was excellent. You could actually savor the flavor, it wasn't bitter or overly strong though. The shake was not merely coffee-colored. I would run in to grab a shake if I were on the road but although they are good, they are insanely expensive. Needless to say, I am never going back and will absolutely not recommend the...

Edit- I need to amend my earlier review, the young gentlman I earlier skewered as an unfit leader proved me wrong.

Somebody probably spoke to him and pointed him in a better direction. His customer service approach has improved greatly!

It's a sign of a good leader to know when they are wrong, take coaching and be willing to take a new approach. If I had to guess somebody pointed him in the original direction he was going and he was just trying to do a good job with that direction. Old review- Great team of workers except for what seemed to be the manager. He was wearing black and the others red. He was rude to many of the customers even hassled a little kid when he went to collect daddy's order without a ticket. He was also mean to his coworkers, the guy has issues and should not be in charge of anything. Otherwise the food was awesome and the...

With any franchise, you can rely on pretty consistent quality for the food, and this 5 Guys location on Fruitville Rd. in Sarasota is on point.

More importantly, in my opinion, is the service quality, and the crew working the lunch rush today was crushing it. They were churning out burgers and fries with expert efficiency. All the burgers in my order for me and my coworkers had exactly the toppings requested, and I didn't have to wait more than 7 minutes for a pretty big order while the place was busy with in-house and online orders.

Still, the best part of this experience was my cashier. She was just so bright and pleasant that it actually made my day just a little better. Encountering friendly people out in the world is always good, and I appreciate her upbeat way of greeting, assisting, and sending customers on their way. 5 stars for her...