Om Nom

This is a two for one review of Fatburger and Five Guys Burgers & Fries.

The reason,  these two chains have started to make their way into the Vancouver area and have a good following down in the States. Typically I stay away from fast food restaurants however after having an awesome time at the Fat Burger in Las Vegas I decided to try these two out.

First up, Fatburger.

The Fatburger in Vegas had an awesome vibe, great staff with amazing personality and real good burgers. Five stars all the way.

Unfortunately the one in Burnaby is a different story. Sure the burgers are good and taste the same as the Vegas version but the atmosphere was different.  It felt like an empty shell, the decor seemed too perfectly planned out and the staff did the whole song and dance of yelling out the order but sounded dead inside. Overall, disappointing and over priced.

After that experience I was hesitant to try Five Guys Burgers & Fries. How ever after hearing a lot of good things about the chain from Americans. I decided to hunt down one in Vancouver. With doubt in my mind and the expectation for this Canadian copy to fail to wow me I ventured off to the West Vancouver location.

Let’s just say, Five Guys won me over. The food was exactly as expected, a good sized greasy burger served up with amazing fries and free peanuts. The wait was a little long but worth it.

So, overall, a lesson learned and if In-N-Out ever comes up here I’ll gladly give them a try.

Locations visited:

Fatburger  - 4461 Lougheed Highway, Burnaby, BC‎

Five Guys Burgers & Fries – 2002 Park Royal, West Vancouver, BC

The Gilmore Restaurant in Burnaby is one of those places that has been around for a very long time and probably has seen it’s share of better days in the past.

Mushroom Burger at The Gilmore Restaurant

Run and staffed by the owners it’s the type of restaurant that you can go to for a quick cheap meal and walk away satisfied.

So how could I resist when I walked by and saw that one of the lunch specials was a mushroom burger with fries and soup or salad for $5.25?

The soup, Clam Chowder, was not much to talk about but I wasn’t expecting so. The hamburger however was surprising. Made by hand the patty was quite large, the mushrooms were a nice thick cut and the bun was nicely grilled w/ some butter to make it crunchy.

Other than the specials the menu is littered with additions that have made the cut as time goes one. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, Chinese food and random other goodies make up the menu.

Overall, you can’t go wrong, this place has been around forever so you know they’re doing something right.

The Good:
Cheap prices
Good quality food.

The Bad:
The restaurant is showing it’s age

Gilmore Restaurant
4015 Hastings Street Burnaby BC
(604) 294-1044