Oreto

While not as expensive overall as Five Guys, The Habit tends to be a little pricier than average though I can't speak for their burgers. Their chicken or fish sandwiches with the fried green beans are my go-to choices.

I guess that I'll click on the article because the McDonald's result might be based on their quarter pounder which now uses fresh beef in many restaurants for that burger (Wendy's twitter account gave them hell for it) and it definitely helps the taste.

IMO this list is a top 8 and the rest are also-rans. I'd respect Five Guys and their premium pricing more if their burgers had a premium taste sans cheese. Or even better if they offered real cheese options instead of the shelf stable variety at present. That would go with their customization theme quite well, I think.

Jaimito Cartero

Non!

UK sourced potatoes didn’t seem as good as the Idaho ones I’m used to. Burger seemed about the same.

I’ve had all of the top 17, except no Dicks for me.

Haven’t heard of Dicks, Burgerville, Elevation or Freddy’s.

I ate lots of Whataburger in the late 80’s to 90’s. At the time, I thought their burgers were better than other readily available drive thru places. They also had a great chicken sandwich.

I went to one recently after at least 5 years of abstaining, and ordered my previous favorites, and was totally disappointed. Perhaps I’m much pickier now, or perhaps they just suck.

I find myself heading to Chick-fil-a most often, as their drive thru is quite speedy, and the food is good. There’s a In-n-out and Habit within spitting distance. Plus McDonalds, Burger King, and 5 Guys within a mile. 5 Guys is the only one I’ll drive out of my way for.

corky

That looks interesting...might be worth a field trip.

DSI

In-n-out, shake shack, five guys. Unfortunately I can’t get in-n-out that much, but these are the only chain places I’ll get a burger other than a bar or restaurant, or local burger joint. Had a great happy hour special last night: $12 for a burger and a pint of good craft beer—the same price as five guys!

javabytes

You have to subscribe to the theory that the Maillard reaction is the source of delicious beef flavor. Thin patties, lots of crust. People who prefer thick burgers tend not to like Culver's.

Flyloha

I've been to most of the Top 50 Burgers in LA and this one is right up there if not at the top. Definitely worth it IMHO.

BamaVol

I would say the same is true of Steak n Shake. It also helps to like shoestring fries.

RatherBeOnATrain

That's kind of how I view the burger universe too.
I fully agree with BamaVol's description of Cookout, though Wikipedia says they now have 211 locations. They started in NC and recently opened a few locations around Atlanta -- before they arrived here, we would patronize them when we were in SC and NC. They directly compete against the big fast food places (BK, McD's, Taco Bell) and are usually sited near or next to the big chains. Similar pricing and similar locations as the national chains, but usually much better food IMHO.

Cookout is not as consistent as McD's --who is?-- and they can get overrun during special events. Don't try to eat at a rural one on a Friday night after the local high school's football game ends! Like Chik-fil-a, they do push their faith with details like small bible quotes on wrappings, but they are not as blatant about it as Chik-fil-a -- Cookout is open on Sundays.
In Atlanta, CookOut is the chain where we go for $4 burgers. For the closer to $10 burger, we head to Farmburger -- they're about the same price as Five Guys, but so much better!

Oreto

With only 11 locations, it'll be difficult for me to align my schedule but if their beef is any good, the finished product may indeed warrant a try. Love the cheese options which is what I said Five Guys lacked. Also, the pimento cheese fries sound interesting.

Thanks for the heads up!

VivoPerLei

I went to Five Guys yesterday and was thinking to myself that I would have sprung for a more substantial bun if available. Great burger but the bun was a bit soggy.

OTD

After moving from Southern California to South Florida, I missed the flame-broiled, big-seeded-bun, thousand-island-dressing coated burgers you get at any dive burger place in the LA area (like at Farmer Boys, for locals who have those). I couldn't even explain to co-workers what the burger was like--they just didn't get it. Finally a Habit opened by me. That's the closest thing to the LA dive burger you can get in South Florida.

And In-n-Out rules.

pseudoswede

Yup. If given a choice, I will choose Steak 'n Shake burgers over Culver's any day of the week.

GadgetFreak

I like In-N-Out a lot and would probably put then at #1. However, I would put both Shake-Shack and Smashburger ahead of Five-Guys. To see Wendy’s, Jack In the Box and Burger King ahead of Shake Shack and Smashbuger is crazy to me.

braslvr

YES!!!!!!!^^^

Jim's Burger, Galaxy Hamburgers, et al. Any of the mostly Greek owned burger joints in the greater LA area. You know you found a good one if a) they serve breakfast plates, b) they serve some Mexican food, c) they have pastrami, and d) they have fried chicken. If you download the menu from http://www.galaxyhamburgers.com/ ,you will see the perfect example. The burgers from most any of these places are the best in the world IMO, and better than In-N-Out, which is as close as you will find in a chain.

work2fly

I don't look to Chowhound as a reliable authority on much of anything anymore.

It used to be a fantastic resource - you could get good tips on where to go, pretty much anywhere. It seems the last website revision, a few years back, drove many regular contributors away??