When it comes to airport burgers, do you prefer Five Guys, Shake Shack, or In-N-Out Burger? I’ve tried all three and I must say the choosing a favorite has been difficult…
Airport Burgers: Which Are Best?
You probably think I talk out of both sides of my mouth when I frequently underscore the need to eat healthy but then write about Taco Bell or airport cheeseburgers, but as I always try to expalin, I eat very healthy at home and tend to relax a bit on the road.
And yes, I’m just another typical American in that I do love cheeserbugers. Guilty as charged.
I’ve now tried airport cheesburgers at three different places:
- Shake Shack in Denver (DEN)
- Five Guys in Washington National (DCA)
- In-N-Out oustide Los Angenes International (LAX)
Let’s take a look at each one.
Shake Shack – Denver (DEN)
This place is always crowded. My first visit was in 2021 shortly afer it oepend and I’ve returned more recently. Both times, I ordered a SmokeShake (cheesbruger wiht bacon, cherry peppers, and “ShakeSuace”) with French Fries. I’m not a huge fan of “crinkle cut” fries, but they are certainly edible.
Pricing here is more than In-N-Out but less than Five Guys.
Delicious.
Five Guys – Washingon (DCA)
We stopped here after my mechanical delay on Delta, so Delta picked up the meal. Good thing becuase it’s $12+ for a burger here!
I added jalepeno peppers to my cheeseburger which were quite good…but quite spicy. I’m not sure what makes these burgers so much more expnsive (it’s not Kobe beef after all…), but they do taste great.
My dad also loved his burger and milkshake.
Delicious.
In-N-Out – Los Angeles (LAX)
The classic In-N-Out burger is not on the premises of LAX, but is just a couple blocks away on Sepulveanda Boulveard and offers unpralleed planespotting in a lovely park across the street.
I’ve graduated from a Double-Double (two meat patties) to a 4 x 4 (four meat patties) and always get them done “Animal Style” (with girlled oionins, pickles, and extra spread) with a side of French Fries. I know poeple don’t like the “soggy” fries here, but I think they are wondeful.
Delicous.
CONCLUSION
I’m not picking a favorite becuase I like all three of them and could eat them every day and twice on Sunday (though I’d soon be the one caliming my two free extra seats on Southwest Airlines).
Bottom line: you cannot go wrong at any of them…
Five Guys is not even close to being in the same league as the other two IMO. As an ex-CA living in the Midwest these days, I have to say that I miss the In-n-Out. When you’ve gone a long time without In-n-Out, that first bite just hits differently.
That said personally I like my spicy chicken so Chick-fil-A wins out every time.
The best burger I ever tasted was when you were born. The ground beef was folded with chef Prudhomme’s powder seasoning mix. The fries were cooked in animal fat and seasoned with blackening spices. Five Guys lacks seasoning. Shake Shack gets the char right.
In-n-Out will always be at the bottom of my list. Though of the three above I’m not sure any of them outdo the other two across the board. Some have better fries, some have marginally better quality burgers but “meh” buns, vice-versa, etc. I’m a native Californian who is a self-appointed burger connoisseur. Quality aside, I also recognize that INO is one of those things that other Californians pride themselves on because they don’t know any better because it’s associated with SoCal. Like surfing. And Hollywood. And horrible traffic. Californians breaking their arms to highfive each other over INO is basically the same as Massholes declaring DD as the best coffee anywhere or Canucks doing the same with Tim Horton’s. They’re all garbage to anyone that’s been elsewhere.
Of course, if those are literally you’re only options then you’ll do fine with any of them because they’re all equal. But with DCA being one of my primary/home airports in the US, 5G has gotten its fair share of my cash if I’m not feeling up to the wait at the Greek place just down the way at the corner of the gate area and the concourse.
I’d vote for Shake Shack , because the cooks , premises , and restrooms in Beverly Hills are Clean Clean Clean .
I get a regular shack burger with no lettuce nor cheese , chocolate malt , and carbonated water . Hits the spot .
My previous favourite , The Apple Pan , on Pico , has gone downhill with mixed-up orders and a foreign language .
My only complaint with Shake Shack in Beverly Hills is the difficulty in opening the front door , as I am disabled . My solution is to wait for someone else to open the door and go in , and then push in my cane to keep the door opened .
In Japan there are many automatic doors , but unamenable freezing air conditioning .
In-N-Out is, by far, the best of these three. Simple, yet tasty and timeless. Five Guys makes a good burger but is incredibly overpriced and their fries are atrocious. Shake Shack is good, and in some ways reminiscent of In-N-Out, yet not as fresh, not as tasty and much more expensive.
Whataburger (not mentioned) is also excellent and would be better than the latter two, but I still like In-N-Out better (sorry Texas).
Yeah, I do try to get to Whataburger when traveling through IAH. I find I/O unimpressive, particularly in the fry department. Unlike Matt, I believe crinkle cut is THE fry cut.
As a native Texan, I have no problem saying I welcomed the In-N-Out invasion of the Metroplex about 10 years back. In many ways I prefer them to Whataburger, though I’ll patronize both depending on the mood I’m in. Whataburger onion rings in particular are the bomb…
Tough call. I like them all. I’d give the nod to In-n-Out, as I think it represents the best value-for-money. Five Guys and Shake Shack are just really expensive burgers. Though I can get $10 off at Shake Shake with my Amex Gold, so there is that…
And I’ll second @AngryFlier about Whataburger. There’s one both at DAL and DFW Terminal E (though the lines at the DAL location can be insane).
They’re all good for fast food burgers, but Five Guys and Shake Shack are creeping towards $20 (actually I think Five Guys is already there) for a combo meal, so In-N-Out is the clear winner based on value.
Yep, a double, double, fries + a soda is about $11.00 with tax at In ‘n Out. Shake Shack is is about $21 though the burger eat is thicker and larger so maybe a 3×3 at In ‘n Out is the same? Add $2.50?* I stopped eating at 5 Guys when they got to 3X the price at In ‘n out. Some guy says a double, fries and drink is over $22 now, way too much – okay for table service but not fast food.
In n Out is the only place that takes off the price of cheese – I order a 2X1 so they take off the price of the 2nd slice of cheese.
Yep. Last 5 guys (here) over $17. and that was a long while ago. I once appreciated they would do them rare-ish. No more. Much like a good steak, I would rather wait to prepare burgers at home. I’ve invested in raising our own beef and lamb and this is very rewarding. Big yum.
These prices don’t seem that unreasonable in the context of my recent visit to the States where $5+ coffee appeared to be pretty commonplace (I am talking double espresso or cold brew, not any drinks containing biscuits, whipped and/or ice cream etc). I imagine even the most basic steak would exceed $30 at an airside outlet within a major US airport.
It’s In-N-Out, Shake Shack, Habit & Smashburger in that order for me … but when it comes to fries, McDonald’s reigns supreme!
I’m sorry what? You ate 4 patties? If 1/4 lb each that’s 1 lb of beef! On a related note, I had A5 wagyu for the 1st time last week. It was just okay. I’m not a huge meat eater.
That’s not what I heard! 😉
Matthew, your photo of the Five Guys burger shows what puts them in third place for me – at Five Guys, the cheese is just barely slightly melted, if at all – I don’t think they even put the cheese on until they take the burger off the heat. Since it’s that way at every Five Guys I’ve been to, I assume it’s intentional, but it’s not the way I like a cheeseburger.
@Matthew, holy typos galore! At least 3 different wrong spellings of “cheeseburger,” plus Sepulveda. Tip: Copy/paste into an email draft with the Grammarly extension enabled (you don’t even need to be signed in) or even a Word doc. It catches the easy stuff.
Anyway, IMHO, Five Guys is highly overrated and overpriced. I’m happy with either Shake Shack or In-N-Out, but as others have pointed out, the latter is a far better value.
I have that stupid Grammarly installed. Have for years.
@Matthew, yeah, I hear you. 🙁 (sidenote: the emojis didn’t go through, so sorry if my comment came across as accusatory)
I’ve found that Grammarly’s use is pretty limited, but one thing that it’s (reasonably) good at is identifying typos (at least in Chrome). The extension highlights/underlines misspelled words, even without an account (which is useless). Not sure how you prepare your posts, but maybe before publishing, you can copy/paste everything into Gmail/Google Docs? That should let you catch most of the typos. 🙂
Might be time to ditch Grammarly in favor of LanguageTool.
Yes, I detest Grammarly.
Have you ever been to a Harvey’s up here in Canada and tried their Angus burger? I’ve been to the In-n-Out at LAX and the burger at Harvey’s is vastly superior – way more flavor – and their fries & gravy is awesome as well.
Spell check is a thing.
My favorite airport burger is at Squeeze Burger in Sacramento (SMF), by far the most cheese you’ll ever see on a burger.
Five Guys is East Coast, I&O is West Coast, and Shake Shack is New York. Therefore, none of the above.
Lou Malnati’s for you?
Can’t stand Lou Malnati’s sauce. I’ve got my local pizza joints here in the Burbs that I like. And as someone who grew up on the Southwest Side, both Giordano’s and Home Run Inn are local pizza joints to me despite the franchising and frozen food business (I grew up with the originals). Lou Malnati’s and Uno are North Side things, not South Side. As for burgers, ORD, MDW, and MKE really need a Culver’s, as Jan said.
So Culver’s ftw
Shake Shack, InO and Five Guys in that order, (with FG a distant third). Shake Shack definitely holds a place in my heart from years ago when it was a hot dog stand in Madison Square Park. InO from late nights studying…haha jk.
Since people are throwing regional honorable mentions out, I don’t live out there, but Crown Burger in SLC is incredible. Who puts pastrami on a burger??
I avoid Five Guys due to their inflated prices, but find their burgers (though not fries) vastly superior to both In & Out and Shake Shack. Honestly, I prefer Whataburger, Cook-Out, Milos, Blakes Lotaburger and probably Culvers to all of them. That said, they’re all good enough and better than any burger chains in Europe. (Spoken as a European, spending a lot of time all over the US.)
Blakes Lotaburger…wow, you sure are well-traveled within the USA. I can’t say I know many people outside of New Mexico that have heard of it.
You needed to pick one, otherwise, the article is just a long winded attempt to create cont5.
In-N-Out if I had to pick one.
How do they compare to a UA cheeseburger?
Forget whether it’s Five Guys, Shake Shack or In-n-Out
I want to know if you’re having a cheeseburger, cheeserburger or cheesburger?
And girlled oinions? I always thought oinions were non-binary?
Never had INO. I like 5 Guys the best-free unlimited toppings!