Five Guys UK Fries Review: Potatoes, Not Fries

The Fries Blog team continues our UK tour this week. Our highest ranking fries that we have ever reviewed is Five Guys. And of course, when we saw Five Guys in London, we had to try it out. It seems like Five Guys now has over 150 locations in the UK and is growing fast. So, are these worthy of the top spot or do they disappoint their American siblings? Although we had our hopes high, we recognize that Five Guys Australia did not fare well. In addition, fries from McDonald's UK were lacking salt and grease, falling to banality. Let's review Five Guys UK fries today.

Five Guys near Trafalgar Square in London, next to Charing Cross Station.

Texture (5/10)

The fries were solid and crispy, having the same potato skin that is seen on the US version. The skin gave a decent but average crunch, perhaps a bit chewy in places. The fries in the US definitely have some type of crunchy batter covering the exterior but the UK variant didn't seem to have it. The fries was also quite dry, so although the sticks had a decent crisp and crunch, each bite was increasingly boring and unsatisfactory. The crisp gave no meaning to the fry, as the texture was desolate and plain. We couldn't help but start making parallels to In-N-Out Burger fries, which we typically describe as chewing cardboard. Not as bad as In-N-Out, but was definitely pointing in that style.

Natural cut fries with plenty of skin. The sticks were really dry, starting to feel a bit like chewing on cardboard.

Flavor (3/10)

The fries were super bland. We were basically eating a fried, chopped potato, with minimal moisture and virtually no salt. Despite the hallmark of Five Guys fries being double-fried with peanut oil, we felt no grease, making the fries desolate without character. This is quite similar to how McDonald's fries in the UK fared - bland, no salt, and grease. Recall that Five Guys US was able to score 7 on flavor with a healthy dose of salt and peanut oil, married to quality potatoes. Well, in the UK, there is not much to say about the flavor, because there is nothing to taste except the potato itself. Fortunately, we believe at least the potatoes were of high quality.

Shape (5/10)

The fries held good structure, and were generally equally sized. Although they had good consistency, the fries were nowhere near the length of the fries from their siblings in the US, where many sticks were actually longer than our hands. Compared to that, those in the UK were short and thick, reminding us of human fingers. We do appreciate that the shorter pieces are mostly the natural cut edges along the surface of the potato seen by the skin covering them. However, due to its lack of moisture, the sticks are often crinkled as if tigtened with shrink wrap, making their shape not visually pleasing.

The sticks were straight and quite consistent, especially given they are natural cut. The surface is not smoth due to the lack of moisture.

Presentation (9/10)

The fries were served in the signature tall white cup, with plenty more in the brown bag. Just like the US, they intentionally dump more fries in the bag, rather then relying on a few sticks spilling over. This is the only aspect of these fries that is exactly like the top scoring Five Guys in the US. Because the fries were shorter, the presentation was not as impressive and jaw-dropping as the US but this is perhaps the best they could have done given the local potato sizes. Again, we were super happy to see the traditional Five Guys presentation being preserved and respected.

Just like the US, a tall cup with plenty of extra in the bag.

Experience (3/10)

The fries were about £8 ($11), which is an extremely high price for fries. This came in as a shock because although we were expecting high prices in Five Guys than others, McDonald's UK came in actually cheaper than their US versions. So we thought we would be paying about £5. At least at the high price, they do give quite a bit more quantity with the bag fries. However, so does the US. Again, we were scratching our heads a bit on the pricing structure. Also, the entire store was overtly trying to be "American", not that Five Guys is not an American chain, but almost coming across as too much, making the entire interior feel unnatural. We understand perhaps their positioning is to give UK customers an authentic American burger experience. But again, posters and news articles from the US plastered all over the store doesn't quite help with that mission.

Five Guys UK is trying too hard to be "authentic". It is beyond awkard how much they try to show that they are American.

Texture	5
Flavor	3
Shape	5
Presentation	9
Experience	3
Overall	5.0 / 10

Conclusion

Unforunately, we have to report that Five Guys UK fries were nowhere near as good as our #1 ranking fries. These potatoes lacked so much grease and sodium, not to mention that there was no flavor nor seasoning at all. The only thing that put a smile on our faces is their presentation exactly mirror why the US versions were great, but other than that, these fries cannot be considered as the same brand. We left disappointed, perhaps because of our high expectations, but also we believed Five Guys would have made more effort to allow UK customers to taste the goodness of America's best fries.