Five Guys Trafford Centre Review

Five Guys is a franchise based fast food restaurant chain established in Arlington, Virginia in 1986 by Janie and Jerry Murrell; Jerry and the couple’s sons, Jim, Matt, Chad, and Ben, were the original “Five Guys.

Since the first restaurant, the brand has spread far and wide, with branches right across North America, Canada, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Ireland, the United Kingdom and most recently, France. Manchester has two locations, Ashton-Under-Lyne and the Trafford Centre.

The Trafford Centre branch is located on the lower level of the food court and offers eat in or takeaway food.

The way it works at Five Guys, is you choose the burger and then add as many toppings as you like. We chose a Little Hamburger and a Cheeseburger and added lettuce, tomato, onions, kethcup and mustard with a side each of Five Guys fries and Spicy Cajun Fries. The fries are cooked in peanut oil apparently but I cant say we noticed a particular taste.

The burgers were not very thick but were quite juicy, unlike other fast food restaurants I could name, they were also well seasoned. The salad and bun were fresh and the bun was just the right size, although it looked like it had been thrown in somebody’s back pocket and sat on before it was served to us. The fries were fresh and not too oily; the spicy Cajun fries were indeed quite spicy if not a little powdery.

Cheeseburger

I would suspect the original Five Guys restaurant was something quite special in Arlington but once a restaurant becomes a worldwide chain, standards tend to decline. I would probably return to Five Guys if I was passing and wanted a quick burger fix but it isn’t really anything special, just another fast food joint serving burgers.

I would have categorised Five Guys as a Cheap Eat but at just over £25 for two burgers, two fries and two drinks, it isn’t cheap at all and certainly not value for money.