Five Guys Famous Burgers & Fries

3.5 Stars
Walking around the museums and streets of the Nation’s Capital sure can make you hungry. With that said after leaving the Peterson House, I was hungry. I could of ate at the McDonald’s around the corner from Ford’s Theatre, but my family out voted me 3 to 1. When you explore Washington DC, time isn’t money; time is experiences. The clock was ticking and we had more places to explore. But it was challenging to find a fast food restaurant in the vicinity of the National Mall. It turns out that it was just as challenging finding the Five Guys Burgers that Unilocal listed in National Place.
Searching for Five Guys was a similar experience to finding a speakeasy. To give you an idea of where it is, it is in National Place that is a hotel and mall that takes up a city block. We’d enter through the Marriott entrance off Pennsylvania Avenue. We’d go up the stairs and get lost. There was a Starbuck’s but no Five Guys. So, us three lost guys went to the front desk for assistance. The Marriott employee directed us to the doors. The doors led us outside onto 13^th Street causing us to have to enter through Pennsylvania Avenue, retrace our steps, and ask somebody else. Ultimately we went down another hall, passed through a corridor, up an elevator, then into a mall leading to a food court. Finally, we arrived. If I wasn’t hungry before, now I was hungry with a capital «H». Lesson learned, we were better off entering via the F Street entrance.
I ordered a cheeseburger with fries and a beverage. In Five Guys fashion, there are several choices of complimentary toppings to compliment the burger. I appreciate the complimentary toppings gimmick because it personalizes the burger. Five Guys is beating some of the competition with complimentary toppings. Out of Five Guys fashion, this food court location is missing the complimentary peanuts, Coke Freestyle machine, and upbeat environment. It had the Five Guys taste without its spirit. The cheeseburger satisfied my tastebuds. However, I prefer Shake Shack over Five Guys. It turns out that I prefer their fries over their burger. The fries are really good. Overall the lunch was good.
In hindsight I am glad that my family out voted me 3 to 1 on eating in McDonald’s. Five Guys was worth all that extra time being hungry.

Usually a great alternative to mcds — which is across the street.
Today my little bacon burger had little to no bacon! And it was burned!
Hey!
I paid for bacon!
I want bacon!
Besides the lack of bacon, the service was excellent and I was greeted with a smile, as usual. The workers are always on point.
Whoever was in charge of bacon — take them off the line.

Nestled quietly into the east coast is undeniable, uncompromising, and peanut oiled burger truth. I’ve been to In-​n-​Out burger a few hundred times when I was out west, and when it comes to fast food burgers, these two institutions battle like a freestyle competition next to the 7 – 11 at 3am with somebody playing the beatbox.
Honestly, In-​n-​Out might have a better burger. But Five Guys has those fries! You order a small fry, and then they throw two more small fries on top of your foil wrapped home cooked burger delight. You want to switch it up? Get the grilled cheese, the hot dogs, or some chili. Can’t get that at In-​n-​Out, and even if it is, it isn’t on the menu.
When you need a grease bomb, there really isn’t a better place to go than Five Guys.

Love it best burgers

I like 5 Guys. In fact I was really looking forward to grabbing a bite to eat since the first time I ever had 5 Guys was at this particular location. But the cashier with the Wanda tattoo seemed more interested in flirting with the customer and asking her & her kids the same questions over & over after they said no. Flirting & wasting time.
Oh & I’m guessing that rolling up your sleeves so we can see your armpits is probably against health code so it’s probably a good thing I didn’t eat here.

Located at the huge Eat at National Place food court off the National Mall. We followed the address listed which is a shared address for the JWMarriott hotel and other businesses. Better to go to the corner of 13^th and F St, and take the escalator. Food court is right there. Most direct access into the food court. We ended up going through the hotel lobby to the elevator by the parking garage. Avoid if possible.
Food ordered —
The cheeseburger and a large order of fries and soda dispensed. Everything on the burger included dill pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, mustard, and special sauce.
Cheeseburger contains double patties. It was an excellent burger for a fast food joint. $ 5.89 per burger. Wrapped in aluminum foil. Chomp down and be prepared to get messy. More expensive than InNOut back home, but definitely worth it.
French fries cut from potatoes and not too skinny and not too fat. Piled high in a very tall cup. Fed the three of us.
They just opened a Five Guys in Burlingame, CA of the Bay Area, so I’ll need to try it again once I get home.
The food court itself has some interesting eateries. I think this one surpasses the food court located at the Ronald Reagan building, and you don’t need to show ID to enter like the other one.

I have been to many five guys in several states and I can always count on them to give me consistently tasty burgers. This one is in National Place so it gets overrun by tourists at lunchtime but even if I have to wait few minutes they always get my order right. Plus Five Guys is always a winner in my book because they wrap their burgers in foil so you can eat them without them falling apart in your hands. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you don’t wrap your burgers, you can’t maintain burger integrity, which is essential to make the last bite as good as the first. So good.

I would definitely come here anytime before McDondalds! The burgers are fresh and JUICY! A little overpriced…

Service was great, flavor was OK for Five Guys, location is miserable — if you go for lunch beware the school tour groups!

I eat at Five Guys once or twice a month because it’s convenient, but I don’t get why some people are so psyched about it. First of all, greasy as hell, and I’m just talking about the burger and not the fries which soak through the bag. Second, they put the cheese on right before they take the meat off the grill. Melt the frickin cheese for god’s sake!
On the plus side, it’s a pretty decent value, I like the wide range of toppings, and their grilled cheeses are awesome (maybe because they actually melt the cheese on them).
I’ll be back, but I’ll never be excited about it.

Not sure why the fries and burgers were so much better at the Dupont Circle Five Guys. This location was busy and seemed to have a good turnover but the fries weren’t fresh and the burger patty was kind of cold.

This place has pretty good burgers at the same prices as the usual, inedible fast food burgers. They use real meat without all the fillers, chemicals, and whatever else passes for beef at most fast good places. You have a choice of about 8 – 10 different fresh toppings included in the price of your burger.
The «little burger» is actually normal sized (though thin compared to a restaurant style burger) and the «regular» burger has two patties. The fries are cut fresh from potatoes in the store, not frozen and come in regular or Cajun. I recommend either one and you get a huge order of fries in the individual order.
For a quick, cheap, and pretty good lunch stop by and get a burger and some fries.

This is the only real «fast food» place that I can tolerate. Even though I really have managed to cut out almost all red meat in my diet, I can never resist having a small burger at Five Guys (or a pizza sub at Potbelly’s for that matter) every now and then.
The food at Five Guys is really good. It dances circles around burgers from other major fast food chains. I think Five Guys uses premium quality beef, and it helps that they actually prepare things to order! I like getting my choice of toppings — because even a small burger ends up coming out the size of my fist by the time I’ve added all my garnishes.
It does bother me that there are no combo options. Everything is ala carte, and I mentally balk at having to pay nearly $ 3 for an order of fries. So most of the time I decline unless I see them pulling a fresh batch of those hot, crispy sticks out of the fryer. Then, I step off my soapbox long enough to get me an order — but not before telling the waiter/​ress that the price really is waaaay too high.
As for this location, I like it because it’s close to Metro Center. So whether you work in the area or are out just shopping and passing time, this makes a great place to stop in and grab a quick bite. It’s actually located in the Shops at National Place, so there are plenty of other options in the food court as well. But, seriously, I’m pretty sure anybody who’d choose something else over a Five Guys burger doesn’t even deserve a seat at your table.
In sum, I consider this one of my «Perfect 10» lunch chains — $ 10 or less, ready in 10 minutes or less, and it won’t pack on 10 pounds!
(Actually, on second thought, eating at Five Guys too much would pack on the pounds, so please do it sparingly. But by all means, do it! Well, unless you have a peanut allergy, in which case, please don’t do it. It’s good, but not worth risking your life.)

Well we finially made it to the infamous burger joint. It’s everything it’s cracked up to be. Fairly cheap, everythings fried in Peanut oil, pretty fast and pretty tasty to. Every burger comes with all the xtras for free. Like mushrooms, peppers, onions, etc… free. Free refills on the drinks, and right next to the door on the wat out (both sides) are these big box of peanuts you can grab and eat. Why??? I have no idea what it has to do with burgers, but whatever. As far as finding this place it was a bit difficult. But there are so many «Five GUys» in D. C I dont think you have to come to this location. Oh did I mention the fries. There were three of us, and one small would have been enough for all of us. SERIOUSLY! They give you this brown sack and its stuffed with fries. We ended up tossing alot of potatoes, cause seriously… who can eat THAT MANY SPUDS?! Last thing… I think bacon just comes on the burger. Cause we didnt ask for it, and well… it was there.(Weird.) For those who care the bathroom was clean, and the health dept. rating was pretty good to. Check out my pictures.

I’m not much of a chain reviewer, and I’ll try to stay out of the In-​n-​out v 5 guys debate for now (I’m from CA, so we can go).
One of the cheapest places to get lunch around Metro Center. This Five Guys is actually part of Shops at National Place (the press building is the other portion of the building) where my old office was. First place up the escalator (entrance on F st, between 13^th and 14^th St). Are we hiding this place from the tourists?
In case you haven’t experienced Five Guys. A «normal size» burger here is actually a double, so if you don’t want food coma, go for a small (it’s not small). I personally get the small bacon burger with mushrooms (free!) and caramelized onions (also free!) They are generous with their fries portions here, so you could/​should probably share. Vinegar, ketchup, etc are all available to the left with handy to-​go-​tops. All for about $ 10 for 2 ppl if you share your fries.
My advice: go with a friend on a slow work Friday because the line is long. The portions are bigger than you think, and enjoy!
About National Place: Free wifi, plenty of room to sit, air conditioned (key for summer food options), busy, lots of light and clean.

How can the food be so good with all the health code violations? Dunno… but it’s true. Five Guys is AWESOME time and time again…

This particular Five Guys is in the National Press Building, close to my office. When I feel like being naughty I order a little bacon cheeseburger with sauteed mushrooms and onions. Very tasty. The patty is good quality, albeit thinner than a restaurant style burger. I don’t order fries unless I have a couple of people to share them with. But they’re very good, sort of boardwalk style fries. I really like the service at this 5G, everyone is precise, quick and friendly. Bonus — these burgers cost half the price of the salads I usually get — and they’re way more satisfying.

Coming from the West Coast, I would not say that this place is better than In-​N-​Out, but it is talked about a lot in the same fashion. The taste is good, but different. Less «fresh and crispy» and more «dark and meaty» if that makes any sense at all. I kind of like the choice of toppings that all come free, and that a «regular» is a double and a «little» is a single! The fries are definitely not as good and overrated by the reviews hung on the walls – but I like that you can have them cajun style. Definitely worth trying out, if only to compare to In-​N-​Out.