Sunday, December 22, 2013

A visit to Smashburger

I've tried most of the chain based 'gourmet' style hamburger restaurants that have come to Tucson in the last couple of years, but I hadn't given Smashburger a shot until today.

I've eaten at In-N-Out Burger, Freddy's Steakburgers, Culver's, Five Guys, and now Smashburger.  Out of those five, I'd rate In-N-Out the best, Smashburger second, then Culver's, Freddy's, and Five Guys (in that order).

I do wonder what happened where two burgers, two fries, and two sodas jumped to over $20.  And, none of the restaurants I mentioned are significantly better than the big chains like McDonald's, Burger King, or Wendy's.  Maybe they use gold plated cows.

I ordered a bacon cheeseburger at Smashburger and Anthony had a mushroom burger.  They have several varieties of fries -- regular shoestring French fries (which is what we both ordered), Smashfries with olive oil, sweet potato fries, and also fried onion sticks.  They serve the burgers on egg buns (that was pretty good) and if you eat in the dining room they serve the drinks (self-serve) in hard plastic cups and offer actual silverware.

We ate at the Grant and Swan location.  Smashburger has opened a second location at Broadway and Alvernon, and are apparently working on a third location.

Smashburger at Grant and Swan
They are in the west half of the old Buddy's Grill location

Waiting in line to order at Smashburger

The menu dispenser at Smashburger
I managed to control my excitement

Here's Anthony wearing a scarf and waiting for our food

My bacon cheeseburger at Smashburger with French fries
I don't care for pickles, that's Anthony's paw stealing mine with his fork

Anthony's fries and burger at Smashburger

If you're on a budget, eating at Smashburger isn't for you.
Our two burgers, fries and drinks were over $20.