Shake Shack Virginia Beach — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

I went there this last week and this was my first experience with any Shake Shack in my 30 years of existence. I went there with my wife and daughter, and we were looking forward to it. I'd heard great things about the chain and was in the mood for a burger so we checked it out.

Man, I was disappointed.

Let me be clear. The food tasted great. The fries were hot, the burger had that old school, steak-n-shake flavor to it. The chicken tenders were crispy yet soft. The food was on point.

Everything else left a ton to be desired. First, when we arrived, I was looking for the menu and couldn't find one. One of the employees came up to me and asked if I was paying cash or card, and I thought this an odd first thing to ask. However, as I stated I was paying with a card, he directed me to their touch screens that take card and Apple Pay to order from. Here I finally found the menu and was blown away at how expensive the items were. Burgers didn't come with fries, you had to order separate, and they were $2.99 each. My wife ordered a shake shack burger, which was around $6 and I got a double which was almost $9. Then drinks were separate. Then the chicken tenders were something like 6 or 7 dollars. By the time we ordered LESS food than we typically do (since our daughter loves to eat) we were paying over $30. I can get two and a half times the food for that cost at least at Cook Out.

After we ordered, it took almost half an hour to get the food. Half. An. Hour. For a fast food place. Not only that, but there was hardly any seating area, so my wife and I were standing around waiting for a dirty table to open up (yes, most every table was dirty. Although, to be fair, people were claiming seats so fast no one really had time to clean it. People were literally hovering around tables they thought might leave soon.) There was outside seating available, but honestly as hot as it gets here they should have used that space for inside seating. It was well over 90 degrees as it usually is at 6:30 in the evening during the summer here. So with a young child, sitting outside was a no go. Even without her we wouldn't have sat out there.

So to recap, the food was great (hence the two stars and not one) but how to get the food, the cost of the food, the time it took to get the food, and where to sit all combined for a less than great experience. I'd recommend going somewhere else. This place isn't what it's cracked up to be. Maybe it's better at other locations, but this place just isn't worth the money. Not to mention I'd say about half or more of the employees seemed like they'd rather be somewhere else.

Go to Cook Out. Or even Five Guys, which I never thought I would say, is a cheaper,...

To say the least, I was extremely underwhelmed coming to Shake Shack in Virginia Beach for the first time. I had heard rave reviews about it, so my family and I decided to give it a whirl. For starters, the parking is an issue. The parking lot is extremely small, and there are most definitely not enough spaces for all of the guests to park in. We had to park our pickup truck in a compact car spot on the other end of the lot because there were no other spots available. This will be an issue during the busy summer months and I can’t imagine how it’s going to be during holidays/events like Black Friday. Secondly, I don’t like the fact that the menu is a la carte, and they offer no combos or specials. The line was pretty long, so it took about 15-20 minutes just to make our way up to the front to order. We tried using the kiosk to order but it did not give us an option to add on bacon or other specialties to our burgers, so we waited (as a side note only 2/6 kiosks were functional). Also not sure why there was only a single cashier working. So, we get to the front and place our order. We spent a whopping $53 on 3 burgers, 3 fries, 2 milkshakes, and a fountain drink. $53... they advertise themselves as a “fast food restaurant” however, the service is not very fast and it is most certainly not fast food prices! 35-40 more minutes go by and we finally receive our order. When I took a bite I thought to myself “that’s it?” The burger was decent, but it was certainly not the best burger I’ve had. The crinkle cut fries taste like cafeteria food, and my milkshake was horrid as it was warm and had very little flavor to it. The shack sauce is also very bland. My order was also messed up. I had ordered a single stack burger and added bacon and the shack sauce on the side. Well, my burger comes and there is no bacon added and there is shack sauce doused on even though I had asked for it on the side to see how I liked it. So that was disappointing paying the extra money to add toppings that I never got. To say the least, this place is underwhelming. I’m truly not sure what the hype is about as I left scratching my head. Five Guy’s is WAY better in my opinion, so I think that’s what I will be sticking to from here on out. But for $53, I could’ve gone to Red Robbin and actually had a nice, sit down meal. Please don’t buy in to the hype. This will be my first and last time here at Shake Shack. Disappointed at the least. So if you like long wait times, your order being messed up, limited parking, huge crowds, cold food and subpar service, this place...

Update: the headquarters team was so caring and helpful, they gave me an electronic gift card to try shake shack vb again. The manager personally made sure our order was accurate and when our fries were delivered cold, he promptly ordered more and they were delivered hot and delicious! The manager was very engaging and talked to us for quite a while. Now whenever we go in, we check our food before we leave and make sure everything is right. Plenty of free food by using the app!

The parking lot can be a challenge if Barnes and Noble and Shake Shack are both busy. My daughter was excited they were not using latex gloves on this day. ShakeShack in NYC is favorite when we are in the city and hungry from walking but we had not eaten at the VB location since they were using latex gloves. I am not sure when that changed but we were happy to hear they use vinyl now. Staff was welcoming and helpful plus the restaurant was very clean. The food was underwhelming though. We ordered takeout at the kiosk. Several burgers and 2 fries. The other family members were happy with their burgers. I ordered mine in a lettuce wrap which was wilted and seemed like I was served the outer leaves that usually go in the trash can. I removed them and just ate the burger which was thin and overcooked. The fries, which are over $4 per basket were undercooked and tasted like old frozen processed french fries. Nobody ate them so that was almost $9 in wasted food that ended ip in our compost. The fry sauce was extra thick and heavy on the mayo. We haven’t ruled out going back but we will definitely asked for the fries to be cooked longer, if that is possible...