Have had In-And-Out and 5 Guys but no Shake Shack yet although I hope to try them the next time I'm in DC. In-And-Out seems more consistently good from location to location, but occasionally I've had burgers at 5 Guys that I thought were better.

In the end, with chains, consistency is really the key. About 10 years ago, I was driving from Florida to Virginia and stopped at a Hardee's in South Carolina for lunch. This location was apparently one of the initial stores rolling out the Thickburger concept, and I swear to you that it was the best burger I've ever had, outside of certain upscale restaurants that include burgers on the menu.

I couldn't wait until the local Hardee's started doing Thickburgers, but it was about a year before they hit my area. And the burger I got was nothing close to the concept I'd had in South Carolina. Some of that might be due to the decision to use cheaper ingredients than I'd had earlier, but the truth is, the elements were there but weren't done as carefully as they had been done the first time I had the product. And I've never had a Thickburger at any other location that was all that good either although I've had some that were better than the second one I had.

Plain and simple, it's execution. 5 Guys has been facing this issue since their original expansion from DC. Shake Shack will get there eventually if expansion continues. In-And-Out seems to do a good job of enforcing uniformity in their product, but consistency as well as our individual tastes probably lead to widely varying opinions about the quality of these burgers.