Mixed Feelings about Shake Shack

I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed the Shake Shack experience last Thursday night. The burger was fantastic, the fries and milkshake were delicious, and the the fellowship even better!

Despite my overall satisfaction with our trip to Shack Shake, one simply cannot completely look passed two of our ranking categories, those being value and quality of the burger build.  Together these categories make up 35 of the 100 possible points in a ranking. This is where Shake Shack will hurt itself because we all agreed that the food was very overpriced for the portion sizes we received. The burger patty itself was also very small, though very tasty.

The Ranking

Aesthetics of the building: 4/5
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff: 5/5
Fries: 6/10
Quality of Burger Patty itself: 36/40
Quality of Burger Build: 15/30
Value: 1/5

The Burger Total: 51/70

Total: 71/100

Where was the taste?… My Beer Works Ranking

In my expert opinion, I believe the Boston Beer Works ranking given by our dear friend Denis, was drastically overrated. So since I missed the challenge last Thursday night, I decided to venture over to Fenway myself. To put it nicely, I left disappointed.

I do agree that the size of the burger was somewhat extraordinary, however, it was the quality of the burger that I found to be lacking. It just didn’t have enough flavor. That being said, the spicy fries that I finished before even eating half of my burger, were delicious and seasoned to perfection. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed going to Beer Works. The service was great, the atmosphere solid, but when our friend Chris Lynch asked me if I would ever go back there and order a burger… my answer was…. no.

The rating:

Aesthetics of the building: 4/5
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff: 5/5
Fries: 10/10
Quality of Burger Patty itself: 20/40
Quality of Burger Build: 25/30
Value: 4/5

The Burger Total: 45/70

Total: 72/100

Taste in the Works

For the third stop on our righteous quest for deliciousness as part of our duty to all of humanity to find the best burger in Boston, we went to Boston Beer Works across from Fenway Park. The restaurant is sit-in with waiters. The atmosphere was very exquisite and it definitely felt like you were in a fancy environment, which added greatly to our dining experience, but didn’t exactly feel like a “burger place”. The burger menu wasn’t very extensive, but it was sufficient. The prices ranged from $9.50 for the simplest burger to $15 for the double-patty whammy called the Downtown Burger, which our very own Benjamin H. Castro indulged in. Fries were included with the price. The other four of us (Denis, Louis, Chris, and PJ) each got the Charlestown Burger, which had cheese and bacon. It took a little time to get our burgers once we ordered, but it was well worth the wait. The burgers, at least my burger, was fantastic. The patty was an extraordinary size, which sat well with me. The patty-to-bun ratio was very favorable and the bun itself was of a great texture – soft with some firmness, but not soggy. There was a perfect amount of bacon and the cheese was melted to a great consistency. I was able to actually enjoy my burger over some time instead of scarfing it down. It was a very enjoyable meal overall.

Positives: atmosphere, waiting staff, size of burger, quality of burger, quality of fries, sports on the TV

Negatives: wait time, price

The rating:

Aesthetics of the building: 3/5
Atmosphere: 3/5
Staff: 4/5
Fries: 7/10
Quality of Burger Patty itself: 38/40
Quality of Burger Build: 28/30
Value: 4/5

The Burger Total: 66/70

Total: 87/100

We may have found our top burger so far, but there are still plenty of other places to go.

Just the beginning….

Men of the Burger Challenge, it is even more clear to me now that our quest has only just begun… I found the following article on the front page of Boston.com.  Yet another sign that our journey will be one for the ages.  God Bless.

Boston’s 25 Best Burgers

http://boston.com/ae/restaurants/2012/07/20/boston-best-burgers/1iHkgP3ONuwRnQf4K8Z4gI/story.html