Restaurant Review: high five for American burger import?

There’s no mistaking the US influence, with slick diner styling and orderly queues — not to mention staff dishing up warm welcomes with an enthusiasm us Scots are hard pushed for midweek.

A friend joined me on the latest burger adventure and we settled on a doubler of a burger with cheese, bacon, jalapenos and onion, a hot dog with ketchup, mustard and more spicy peppers, and cajun fries to share.

The Five Guys way is to present you with a list of toppings to add to burgers or dogs for free — but it’s easy to see why, as one staff member said, Glasgow punters have been taking theirs plain; it’s choice overload, and you find yourself rhyming extras off for the sake of it.

Still, what came made-to-order was a decent smashed patty burger complemented by smoky bacon and oozy cheese. The same went for our dog; a classic frank given a spicy kick by fresh, bright green jalepeno peppers.

Cajun fries were tasty, although spice-wary burger hunters, be warned — these are heavily seasoned and perhaps not for the faint-hearted.

Back then to the issue of choice — and perhaps one of the best novelties to this chain. I had high hopes for a fabled drinks dispenser offering weird and wonderful flavour combinations, and Five Guys didn’t disappoint; from raspberry Coke to Sprite with a hint of peach, diners young and old are bound to spend gleeful minutes in front of that big ice bucket choosing their next free refill.

Portions are definitely more the merrier at Five Guys, which makes up for the cost outweighing the usual fast food joint, and fans will no doubt continue to flock for a dose of Americana for as long as the burger craze (which shows little sign of dying off in Glasgow just yet) keeps up.

Rating: 7/10

Five Guys

Silverburn Shopping Centre

Pollok

G53 6QR

Tel: 0141 880 8904