Restaurants / Reviews
Five Guys
It’s big, brash, bold and so loud you need to shout to make yourself heard over the music.
On a wave of hype, Five Guys has arrived in Bristol. Replacing what used to be Cafe Rouge in Cabot Circus, Five Guys has crash landed into the city to a waiting public who have already been queuing out of the door to see what this rapidly growing American import is all about.
The menu is simple: burgers, hotdogs, sandwiches and fries. Toppings are free, there are enough free peanuts kept in boxes piled up around the room to feed an army, and fizzy drinks are bottomless, with Budweiser and Brooklyn Lager also available.
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You order your food, balk at the price compared to more well-established fast food joints (a cheeseburger costs £8, regular fries £4) and then wait for your order number to be shouted after the food is prepared by a battalion of staff in their red and white t-shirts.
Wrapped in silver foil within a brown paper bag, it’s clear to see why Five Guys has become such a favourite. My double burger was presented within a surprisingly thin bun but the prime beef was juicy and the fries phenomenal, among the best I’ve tasted.
Not so well-received was the veggie sandwich (£3.75) which my partner described as a bizarre mixture of steamed and stir fried vegetables that was “utterly tasteless”.
Five Guys already has its own hagiography since it was was founded in 1986 when Jerry and Janie Murrell offered advice to their four sons: “Start a business or go to college”. The business route won and the family opened their first burger joint in Arlington, Virginia.
There are now more than 1,000 locations nationwide – with reviews on the wall in the Bristol restaurant everywhere from The Gulf Coast Times to the London Evening Standard – and more than 1,500 units in development.
The cult of the burger continues in Bristol. Five Guys sits between a fast food joint and the latest high-end burger restaurants, but with prices nearer the latter than the former, it’s the other restaurants in Cabot Circus that may take a hit while McDonald’s a few hundred yards away will barely notice a thing from this brash upstart.
Five Guys, SU46, Cabot Circus, Bristol, BS1 3BX
0117 925 6979
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