5 Star Burger – Central

The service here was friendly and they had a great selection of craft beers. However, I think the food is way too pricey and not that good.

Our first time here and we loved it! The burgers were amazing (I recommend the «make your own» option) and the chips were crispy and tasty. We ended with shakes, which were thick and delicious. If you like salted caramel, that shake was to die for. We’ll be regulars.

Pretty tasty meal but pricey. The burgue is green chili and meat nirvana. Mom and pop and homegrown grounded places scattered all over the city with comparable or better burgers and prices. In and Out Burger didn’t venture into ABQ for a reason; they researched the competition and moved on to TX.
For me this was good eats but not that memorable to draw me back, but give 5 stars a shot for yourself; you know what they say about opinions…

Definitely worth 5 stars. There are many different burger places in New Mexico but 5star is my personal favorite. The burgers are big and moist. Five star never is disappointing always has great burgers plus more. Great for the whole family

My husband and I had eaten at the Wyoming location once a while ago. I thought the food was okay, but wasn’t impressed enough to want to go out of the way for it again since we don’t live in that part of town, and it was a little on the pricey side for what it was. However, last night, we found ourselves at the Central location as we wanted to get a quick bite to eat before an event we were going to in the area, and our original choice was unexpectedly closed, which left us scrambling. My husband suggested we go here instead, and I wasn’t opposed to giving them another chance, so why not?
First of all, the Central location seems a lot more warm and inviting, which was nice. We were seated promptly, though it took a few minutes longer than we would have liked to be greeted and have our drink order taken, but I chalked it up to them being busy. We ordered the fried green chile as an appetizer, which was pretty good (it was dropped off by someone other than our server). It was a rather small portion, but was only $ 2.50. Now, at any burger place, you can get a regular burger, so I wanted to try a specialty burger. The lamb burger sounded wonderful. The way it was described, it sounded like a combination of a gyro and burger rolled into one. My husband got the burger of the month, a French Onion Dip burger. We both asked for our burgers to be cooked medium well. 5 Star Burgers seems to be following a popular trend among «gourmet» burger restaurants, which is to serve the burger ala carte and require you to order any sides, including fries, separately. I don’t necessarily mind this, if both the burgers and sides are worth it, and when you’re charging $ 10.00+ for a burger by itself, I highly expect it to be worth it. We also ordered a large side of fries to share, as we both wanted them and it made more sense to share a large order for $ 3.00 than get two individual orders for $ 1.75 each.
Our food came out promptly, and again it was dropped off by someone other than our server (the same woman who dropped off our fried green chile), and she asked us if we needed anything else. My husband asked for mustard and I asked for extra tzatziki sauce as there was hardly any on my lamb burger (just a thin layer on the bottom bun), which this same lady also brought out promptly. With our burgers we received a very small basket of fries, which was just barely the amount of a normal sized side for one person instead of a large order to share, and we figured that they had brought us a small order by mistake, but we decided not to say anything since we had also ordered the fried green chile as an appetizer and we didn’t really need more fries. Our waitress appeared a few seconds later to ask if everything looked correct, and we said yes (since we decided not to make a fuss over the small order of fries) but we hadn’t even gotten a bite into our food yet. After we got a chance to eat our food, my husband said his burger was fine, though despite ordering it medium well, it was more on the medium side as it was quite pink in the middle and dripping juices. He doesn’t like to send food back so he ate it anyway (if it were me, I would have sent it back as I’m rather particular about how my meat is cooked). My burger was cooked medium well as requested, but I was somewhat disappointed in it. The lamb had no seasoning to it whatsoever. It was very bland, and even the extra tzatziki sauce didn’t help much. The fries were very underwhelming, to say the least. They weren’t crispy at all, but chewy. It tasted like they had been rewarmed instead of prepared fresh. And again, they had no seasoning to them, not even a hint of salt. I don’t like to over salt my food, so I very rarely add additional salt unless something needs it, and the fries needed it desperately. Eh. Maybe it was a good thing we didn’t get the large order after all. We didn’t see our waitress again until we were both completely done with our meals. We both ate everything on our plates as we were pretty hungry and had somewhere to be, but we were never asked how everything tasted (we were only asked how it looked before we had the chance to taste it). Maybe she assumed because we ate everything we thought it was great, and while it wasn’t completely terrible, it was average at best. I still don’t think it was worth the prices they charge. Oh, and apparently the small basket of fries we received a WAS the large order, as that’s how it appeared on our ticket. I’d hate to see the small order. Very misleading. Unfortunately, there are too many other great burger places in town to make me want to run back to 5 Star Burgers any time soon.

I’ve had their regular burgers and they’re so-​so, but I decided to try a vegetarian burger and it was absolutely horrible, mushy, and WAY too much salt, they also over-​cooked the fried egg, it was crispy and rubbery (at the same time, kudos); The sweet potato fries are what this place has going for it, their past rave reviews don’t hold up to the current lack of quality. Go to B2B instead.

3 ½ stars. Finally, businesses are opening up on West Central, near Old Town! This welcome addition to the Garcia’s and Vinaigrette zone has an under-​construction feel, as a new restaurant is currently being built next door to 5 Star Burgers. 5 Star has an excellent happy hour, nice staff and good food. They do need to start giving tables bottles of ketchup because you will have to keep asking for it (they give you a tiny cup of it if you ask) and they need to give larger portions of fries. You can swap out a veggie burger on any of the burgers, which is awesome! Also, they should add the options of a veggie slider to the happy hour menu. I have been here 3 times and really liked my food. Once the ketchup and fries scenario is fixed, people will like this place even more.

Ate a late lunch today at around 2. The burgers we had were very good, but the service of this five star location is seriously lacking. Our waitress was not friendly, had an attitude about serving us, and kept slapping her little order taking book closed right in my ear in a really rude and unnerving way. I did not appreciate that at all! She was rude and didn’t really even deserve the tip I gave her. When will people realize that when they treat the customers good they will get a good tip in return??? Duh!
Also, there was no toilet paper in the bathroom. Lovely.

More like 3 STAR BURGER! BOOM! Ha ha… wait hang on (one, two, three, four, five… damn, five people already beat me to that pun. Oh Unilocalers you’re just so damn clever!!). So what you should do is take a flask of ketchup because they give you a skimpy little ramakinito of it and it’s degrading to keep asking for more ketchup. «I swear it’s my kids they don’t eat food. It’s all just ketchup!» Speaking of kids, the kids’ burgers are tiny sliders with just a 1.73 inch patty and a dry bun! My daughter was like, WTF?! Where’s the fu_​_​ing beef?!!
They forgot a topping on my burger which is no big deal. What is a big deal is when the waitress doesn’t stop by within 2.5 minutes to make sure everything is ok. Yep, the expediter dropped the plates and left me no green chile. NO GREEN CHILE!!! That’s the worst! New Mexicans can’t even taste food without chile! The burger was alright. It is definitely a solid three stars. (2 being Wendy’s and 4 being Holy Cow.) No, increasing the price does not make it a better burger. The fries were pretentious. Come on make ‘em hot and pile them on. I know what aioli means, it’s fancy for «mayo.» I’m not impressed! (but can I get some fancy ketchup please???) The buns aren’t bad. I’m a bun man. I’ve been picking on B2B’s buns for years. 5 star buns are good. The service was always late. I typically asked the other wait staff to tell my waitress what I wanted. I’m excited that they’re here though, and will probably support them. That corner of Central is taking off! It needs it.

Let me get this out of the way. Yes, you do want to get the sweet potato fries with the maple cream dipping sauce. In fact, you could get just those and be happy, but that’s not really the whole point of this place, right?
The burgers are substantial and properly seasoned, meat ground to the right texture (not so fine as to be paste, not so big as to end up with crumbly patties) and with the right fat content (not too dry, not so greasy that you have to wipe your lips after every bite). The toppings are fresh, and the buns are appropriately soft without falling apart under the weight of the fillings. My favorite was the bison burger: add mushrooms to the included grilled onions and it’s the total package. However, while the kitchen ostensibly offers different burger temps, all of our party of four ended up with medium-​well. Hence, dropping off a star.
Service was attentive and helpful — when the boyfriend accidentally ordered an alcohol-​free beer, it was swapped out without any hassle. Definitely a good place for a casual bite.

I actually chose this place by word of mouth. I was extremely disappointed.
The hostess looked at me unsmiling, and almost seemed annoyed when we walked in on a Saturday evening. There were maybe five other tables occupied in the entire restaurant. She sat us at our table, dropped the menus and turned away. Literally no eye contact or smile or… CUSTOMER SERVICE. Fine.
The waiter was equally as disinterested in making our dining experience pleasant. Very abrupt despite the empty floor.
I ordered the 5 star burger with a side of cole slaw ($ 2.50 extra for the side). My dinner mate had the BOM (burger of the month); open-​faced with stroganoff sauce, fresh parsley, and onion rings with a side of sweet potato fries ($ 3.00 extra). We both ordered a Marble IPA which turned out to be the highlight of the meal.
My burger was truly nothing more impressive than Blake’s Lotaburger– at about 3x the cost. My friend described his BOM as «adequate», which is not what I expect when dining at a place called 5 star burger; Especially when they use an entire menu page to display awards and outstanding critical reviews.

First time here and I have nothing bad to say at all. Greeting was friendly and energetic! waitress was very helpful in letting us know what was most favored and enjoyed. Food was beyond good, absolutely loved the green chile mayo it was fantastic!!!
We will definitely be going back to

I was super excited when I saw this location open up in the Old Town area and even more excited when I saw there was a patio… because who doesn’t love eating burgers on a good patio? Now, I’ve dined at the Wyoming location and thought the food was pretty decent, but nothing out of the ordinary.
This time around, however, was something else. I’m not sure if it was the red meat cravings I had been having for a week, or the perfectly priced happy hour ($ 2.50 tap beers you guys, come on), but this may have been the best burger I’ve had all year. I’m serious, it definitely falls in the top 3 best burgers I’ve ever had. I ordered the 5 Star burger; and let me tell you, this burger was optimally cooked and paired ever so perfectly with gorgonzola and crisp bacon, that it literally melted in your mouth. The gorgonzola with bacon added that perfect kick that many blue cheese burgers quest for, without being quite so overpowering.
…Okay but really, now that your mouth is watering, go check this place out. And try to go at happy hour because $ 2.50 beers and seriously cheap appetizers are the way to go.

I love the five star burger by Academy!
This was the first time that we tried the new location. We were seated quickly and the staff were nice. However the burger wasn’t as good as I remembered it, and it was over-​cooked.
The restroom had a diaper changing station, so it’s very baby/​toddler friendly.

So, I figured out an update from my last review. The sauce for the green beans was actually Chipotle Mayo, and not ranch. No wonder I had a hard time figuring out the way they did that. I had to get the green beans again and I adored them just as much as the first time! I got some sliders this time — American and Green Chile and Cheddar and BBQ. Classic and delicious. Still a fan for sure!

I’ve now been 3 times and love it. Big local restaurant supporter here. I can walk to it from home! Not a big beer drinker but how fun to have a beer and a burger so close by. I’m anxious to try other items on the menu.

Well well well… It took me forever to get over here but after my second visit, I’m pretty impressed. The 2 burgers I’ve tried are really good and very big. The local beer selection is great and this seems like a great spot to hang out during the day. The patio is great after 4:30. The sun goes over the building and creates a nice shade. I’ve had good service both times and I like the seating set up here. I’ve been next door at draft station a few times and had their burgers over there but they serve more of a selection of food at 5. The 2 way bar is pretty cool too. This should be a good place to take a date but don’t get a burger that’s too messy. At least on your first date. So to say the least … 5 star gets 5 ‘s in my book :)

The name here is misleading. These are at best, 3 star burgers.
I ordered the 5 Star Burger– gouda, bacon, on a brioche bun. Sounded great. Melty gouda, bacon, and beef. What could go wrong?
First of all, the cheese. You say gouda in reference to a burger, and I think of a melty, smoky deliciousness. What I received: a burger topped with gouda crumbles and crumbled bacon. No melty. Not even smoky. No deliciousness. Sad face.
Onion rings. I don’t expect much other than you know… Rings of onion, battered and fried crispy. These onion rings were really small rings, and very greasy. I didn’t even eat half of them.
As a whole, I’m not a fan. I can get a better burger elsewhere for a better price. If you come here, you’re look at $ 10 for the burger and an additional $ 3-​$ 4 for fries/​onion rings. Not worth the price or slow service here.

Mediocre burger. This should be the new name. At the tables there are signs saying best burger in Albuquerque. I would like to know who decided this.
I got the bison burger on a brioche bun with grilled onions and side of fries. That’s $ 12 burger with an additional $ 3 fries. What I received was not a $ 15 meal. My burger was over cooked and unseasoned. The fries nothing to talk about.
I usually give places at least two tries but I’ll pass on mediocre burger I mean 5star burgers. Far better burgers at numerous other places in town that are priced much better.

I have to say, this is one of he few places in ABQ you can actually get a burger cooked to the correct temperature. They had very good service which is also a rarity. Happy Hour everyday from 4−6pm with good options for drinks and snacks. The new location on Central is well decorated and feels fancy for a burger place. I have my figures crossed the service and quality continue.