Gluten-Free: Five Guys Burgers and Fries

I'd heard a lot about Five Guys Burgers and Fries before I had the opportunity to try them on the way home from my partner's mother's wedding rehearsal dinner recently, having watched everyone else chow down on a selection of gluteneous homemade Italian foods at her soon-to-be husband's home. Don't get me wrong -- it was very sweet of them to provide Liberty and I with gluten-free pasta & separate sauce, especially given they ran out to buy a second package on the day when they believed they overcooked the first, but the kid & I were starving. So it was a relief to see a quick & inexpensive restaurant about which I had heard so many good gluten-free things on the "Find Me Gluten Free" app I have on my smartphone (which I highly recommend and will be covered separately in a later post).

We stopped at the Randolph location with only 10 minutes to spare before closing and a napping baby in the car; the staff didn't grumble about my partner's need to run in, ask the gluten-free question, run out to get my order, and run back to place it. Makes sense, though -- with a one-page menu, everything being gluten-free sans the buns & unlimited free toppings it was simple. Even the fries are gluten-free! My partner & I both ordered a gluten-free bacon cheeseburger (which is actually a double), large (obviously) Five Guys style fries & a fountain soda. For Liberty we purchased a "little" cheeseburger (which is actually a single) & her own regular fries; as you'll know from previous posts, my child has quite an appetite.

My partner returned to the car quite quickly, conveniently at about the time Liberty awoke, with two paper bags stuffed full of yummy-smelling American food.


Let's get the bad out of the way first. I didn't expect buns -- though it isn't difficult to source worthwhile gluten-free buns these days, Five Guys -- but I did expect to see burgers wrapped with something. Lettuce is standard for burger joints that advertise themselves to be gluten-free and I was disappointed not to see that here, especially since it resulted in my cheese sticking to my burger's aluminum wrapper. I was also unimpressed with my bacon, which came in a separate tinfoil package & was massively overcooked even for someone who likes bacon crispy like myself.

Mmmm, toppings!  I chose nine of them.

Speaking of separate containers, while having each of my many toppings & condiments in a separate container was cute, it was incredibly unwieldy to maneuver in a vehicle and ended up too complicated to actually place on my burger. That brings us full circle back to the need for some type of gf wrap or bun, the latter of which would allow the consumption of loaded hot dogs and thus would be much appreciated by me.

However, I feel that the good definitely outweighed the bad. Being able to get fries at a restaurant is always delightful anywhere -- but these were delicious thick square-cut fries with skin on & the perfect amount of salt cooked in healthier peanut oil stuffed to overflowing into their Styrofoam cups (with more poured into the bag) from potatoes sourced at a local farm & sliced in-house. In fact, although they normally do pour extra fries into the bag according to my partner who had eaten there before, on this occasion they gave us all the remaining fries they had since we were the last customers of the evening. The burgers were high-quality hand-formed meat that were much heartier than it had seemed on first sight.

 There were a large amount of each topping in those little plastic cups; I did eat most of them with a fork and discovered they were all fresh & mighty tasty, especially the grilled mushrooms. I have to admit to an appreciation of the very full condiment cups for the fries as well, and despite three people who love ketchup eating them, they lasted until the very last fry of all our 3 orders of them. Also, free peanuts!

This is pretty much all they serve, with the ethos of "only a few things, done right."

The prices are seriously excellent, with a bacon cheeseburger coming in at $6.89 and fries costing $2.99 for medium & $4.99 for large. I'd say this about equivalent or slightly higher than Wendy's gluten-free offerings when one actually tries to mix & match them to make a meal. Except we can eat more at Five Guys with additional options, certainty of cross-contamination safety and it tastes way better.

THE FUTURE.

Of course, fast & friendly service is the #1 thing that will either make me a return customer or vow never to step foot on premises again, and Five Guys were stellar in this regard. My partner said the newfangled touchscreen beverage machine with its 125 standard & unusual Coke-branded choices was super-cool. There are also no freezers in any Five Guys restaurant location, just refrigerators, meaning only fresh food of all kinds.

There are 25 stores (plus 4 more soon to open) in Massachusetts with additional chains throughout the United States and Canada; if you're on a gluten-free roadtrip, their "on my route" locator may be useful for you, with the ability to add six locations to your route.  Pedestrians used to walking around aimlessly and increasingly grumpily trying to find gluten-free food will also find "along my route" useful.

Enjoy!