Mooyah

Great burgers that way you want them. Fries are very good too.

A 6^th grader’s opinion, in his order of preference, best first:
1 In-​N-​Out
2 Mooyah
3 Umami
4 Habit
5 Counter
As for myself, I too prefer In-​N-​Out over Mooyah.

Many people know the clean fast food burger joints of California like In n Out and the habit. However, mooyah offers a create your own burger similar to Five guys. The difference here is the price is much lower than Five guys and the toppings, buns and fries are all much more appetizing. I got a combo with a single patty, blue cheese, bbq sauce and onion strings. Not only was the meat juicy, the bun was crisped and spongy within. The fries are freshly cut and seasoned with their own blend.
Most importantly, this place won’t cost you too much compared to the habit and will provide a distinct difference from the franchise powerhouse of In and out. Swing by for lunch as often as you can!

Simplesmente o melhor hambúrguer da região! The best burguer ever!
Tudo muito fresco, a batata é frita n hora, carne saborosa como poucas!
Recomendo!

Not just the best burger in OC. My favorite burger and fries anywhere. The buns are baked fresh; best wheat bun I’ve ever had. The meat is perfect texture and juicy. And the fries are unreal; fresh cut, washed of all the starch, cooked perfectly, perfectly salted. I drive 10 miles from work, 2−3x/week. Looking forward to more opening in OC. Better than In N Out, seriously.

It was a hot day and I was in the mood for something icy cold, so naturally I ordered a fresh strawberry milkshake with a cherry on top. It was refreshing and hit the stop. I noticed when waiting for my beverage that they bake their buns fresh and the burgers look really delicious. That’ll be on my to do list on my next visit!

I really loved my experience here today. I went in and the person greeted me with a smile and took my order. I told him my wife doesn’t like her burger wrapped in foil since it makes it soggy and he said he had an idea. I ordered 2 burgers and half and half fries. As they freshly made the food i waited. Once they called my name i was happily surprised to find out that he put it in a box not wrapped in foil. I brought the burgers home and it was absolutely delicious.
A bit pricey but worth the price. Will be returning for our burger craves!

i didn’t think i’d like this burger joint as much as i did. i compared this place to the habit, but i think the food is way better!
~ ~ S E R V I C E ~ ~
honestly, you can’t complain about the great service that you get here. the cashiers are super welcoming and even after you sit down, some workers go out of their way to provide great service. while we were eating, one of the male workers kept coming by to ask if we needed anything else. even when i was finished eating, the worker even told me to leave my stuff there and that she would take care of it for me. so sweet!
~ ~ F O O D ~ ~
[ b u i l d your o w n burger]
i opted to build my own burger and got the white bun, with swiss cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, friend onion strings, grilled onions, jalapenos, and mooya sauce. i don’t know what it is about the meat of the burger but it was to die for! it actually tasted like you were eating meat and not a frozen meat patty.
[ l a r g e fries]
i definitely shouldn’t have gotten the large order of fries because the order was huge! i don’t know what it is about these fries, but they were the bomb dot com. they are on the saltier side, so if you don’t like too much salt, you might not like these … but who doesn’t like salty fries?! i asked for a side of ranch and it definitely changed my fry game.
i will definitely be coming back, not only for the food, but for the great service!

Decent gourmet burger joint. Got the mooyah burger (mooyah sauce is like a thousand island sauce) and drink and fries = $ 11. Expensive a little.
Fries are good but I prefer the Fat burger steak fries instead. Staff is extremely friendly and burger patty was juicy. Flavor overall was just like an average hamburger joint so nothing really stands out for me here.

These guys have improved their act since the last time that I ate here. I ordered the make your own burger with cheddar cheese with a combo of fries and a soda. The burger patty was cooked very well and to medium rare as I ordered. The bun tasted exceptional this time with a nice, bready, yeasty and fresh flavor. One of the better buns that i have had. This is just a basic burger with the usual fixings like lettuce and tomato. And, it is very good.
The fries were deep fried skin-​on which I love and they were very good. They give you a generous portion of fries.
Would I return? Yes.

This is a tasty burger that comes out quickly. It sort of splits the difference between ‘fast food’ quality and restaurant style.
It’s fairly customizable, lots of types of cheese (american, cheddar, swiss, blue) and toppings, and the patty is fairly tasty. I’d say it’s better than The Habbit and Five guys, but it *is* more money than both. A combo is around $ 12 here opposed to the $ 7 or so at most fast food places.
The only downside is it’s a bit too greasy! While the patty has a lot of flavor, there’s a little too much grease that I ‘drain out’ each time I come here. None the less, it’s one of my regular burger places I head to when I want something quick.

It’s another one of those «gourmet fast-​food burger» places just like Smash Burger et al. In fact the setup of the restaurant, down to the design of the counter and dining area, looked almost exactly like the Smash Burger a mile or so away in Irvine.
The burger came with unlimited toppings which included lettuce tomato, pickles, mushrooms, onions, plus at least a dozen or more other goodies. You can also select a wide variety of sauces like their Mooyah sauce, ketchup, mustard, BBQ sauce, A1, etc. Cheese does cost additional though.
The burger patty was good quality and it was grilled to perfection with a sizzle in the taste and in the aroma. The unlimited topping was also quite generous and the ingredients were fresh.
The bun was advertised as freshly baked in-​house, and it was nice and soft — in fact too soft to hold a burger. The moisture from the toppings and the grease from the burger quickly made the bun soggy and it literally crumbled into pieces. It lacked the firm grip that a burger bun should provide.
The regular fries were good and were served very hot and fresh from the fryer. The sweet potato fries, however, were a bit dry and not as tasty.
It’s another one of those burgers that cost almost twice as much as a Habit Burger or one from In N Out, but are not really that impressive. For approximately the same amount of money, would you like two In N Out burgers or one Mooyah burger?
The answer, to me, is obvious…

This place is a made-​to-​order burger place. One chooses a burger (there’s also a hot dog, but I’m not sure if it’s valid with the coupon since it’s not a burger but it’s under the burger list), and builds it with bread or lettuce and toppings.
There are two easily accessible coupons for this location. One is on the Irvine Company website and is buy one burger and two drinks and get a second burger free, and the other can be found on receipts at the Ralph’s in this plaza, and offers $ 5 off a $ 25 purchase.
Like Five Guys, they have boxes of potatoes in plain sight (as opposed to peanuts). Whether one can just grab one and start chowing down on them is questionable, but I don’t think one eats potatoes raw anyway.
The procedure here is that one orders at the counter and they will deliver it to one’s table. The check is identified by one’s name but one does not receive any sort of identifying information for the table so it sounds like two people with the same name might end up eating each other’s food. (I am under the assumption that we got our food properly, assuming there were no other people with any of our names in the restaurant at the time that ordered the same thing as us.) Luckily, each item is identifiable by a numerical sticker on the place mat the food is delivered in.
The burgers are super tall (although not as tall as the Tokyo Tower burger), and again I had to unhinge my python jaw until it became uncomfortable and we just started eating the components piece by piece again. They tasted good. One will get a toothpick in the middle to hold the burger together with.

I still don’t love their regular fries, but the sweet potato fries are perfect! Their regular fries just have too much seasoning.
Their service is awesome and I love their chalkboard by the drinks. Anyone can draw on it :)

This place is amazing. I love how you can customize your burger so much and that it always tasted amazingly fresh. The service has also never been bad every single time I have been here.
I do find the prices for the add-​ons (avocado, bacon, egg, etc) a little on the pricier side since you can buy a whole avocado for that price but overall its not too bad.
If you’re a fan of both regular fries and sweet potato fries, try ordering it half & half! You get the best of both worlds!

I received a coupon for this new burger place, and decided to check it out with a friend of mine.
It really reminds me of 5 Guys or The Habit… you pick what meat you want, and what toppings and go from there.
The fries were really good… but I wasnt overly impressed with the burger. It actually ended up giving me a stomach ache after eating it… so I probably wont give it another shot. It was an OK burger, but for the price, I will not try again.

I consider my self a burger connoisseur and have been to most regional burger chain restaurants such as In N Out (the best) to The Habit (2^nd best) to Five Guys, Smashburger, Fatburger, Tommy’s, Whataburger, White Castle, etc. I heard Mooyah’s being compared to the best so I had to try them when in the area.
The menu is fairly basic with just customized burgers and a salad as entrees and fries and shakes as their other featured items. I wasn’t super hungry so I only got a cheeseburger and a small Oreo shake, no fries.
The food came out fairly quick, especially since it was dinner time. I was pleasantly surprised at how tasty the burger was. It definitely tasted like it was made with fresh hamburger meat and the bun was also soft and tasty. I added crispy onion strips and that made the burger have an added taste.
The shake was creamy and full of Oreo bits (maybe too many), but was delicious. I actually ate all extra Oreos like it was a separate dessert.
Overall, it was a great first time experience. I’ll get their fries next time and if everything is as good or better than this time then they may move up to a 5 star location.

My review doesn’t reflect on the workers, they’re all doing their jobs perfectly fine and I also won’t complain about the layout of the restaurant because I’ve been familiar with several other venues around this location. I had a great experience going here, it was busy but our orders were made perfectly fine in a timely fashion. The problem is the price of the orders and quality of what you’re actually getting.
The meat is what you’re really paying for, otherwise everything else is nothing but an assembly line of junk. Other than the meat being cooked right, everything around it is basically no better than frozen White Castle burgers. Much like the fries, the burger will get soggy if you don’t eat it right away so you’re better off dining in.
I can’t complain too much about the fries, they’re the same complaints I have about damn near every other fast food place. The drinks should be cheaper, they’re overpriced small foam cups, you’re better off taking a minute walk to the Mc Donald’s across the parking lot and getting a $ 1 drink, but I’d recommend eating your burger and fries within that walk so they don’t become a soggy mess. I decided to take my food home, and while I appreciated all the ketchup packets, the napkins were scattered around like they were tossed in a trashcan.
On a positive note, the workers were polite and the box you get your orders in is a solid ripoff of In-N-Out’s style. Your MooYah Lemonade and Pink Lemonade are actually Country Time Lemonade, which I noticed from an open door under the bottom right of the fountain drinks. This is just another overpriced gimmick food place that charges double the amount than they should, they likely figured a bunch of stoners would remember Kevin Smith films and mistaken it for Mooby’s.

I’m not sure if I found anything special about this place. Service here was impeccable though so I will give them that.
Cookies n’ Cream Shake: Shakes are always good especially with Oreo. The shake was very creamy and milky so this was obviously a plus.
Burger: We were able to customize their burgers which was a plus for my bf. The Mooyah sauce was nothing more than Thousand Island dressing. Maybe I’m missing something but it was whatever. The meat wasn’t very proportional to the bun so I had more bread than meat.
Sweet Potato Fries: Very good portion for the price. It was delicious and fried to perfection.
Not really much to report. The place was just average so I wouldn’t go out of my way to come here but if I’m in the area craving a shake and fries than I would.

As spots open up all over orange county trying to re-​define the fast food burger, it is almost certain that places like McDonalds and Cars Jr. need to redefine themselves, to keep up with the market demand. The truth is McDonalds and Carl’s have that following, and that big marketing team and funds… so it seems like they will never be out of the race.
But for those that want a burger just a step above fast-​fast food? Mooyah has spot in our hearts.
This place is on the level of places like The Habit, or In n Out, or Mick’s Karma, 5 guys, Smashburger, G Burger, The Counter, Eureka and Umami. Even in that list it’s a pretty broad spectrum of high to low, but we can all agree they do a burger better than the places of old fast food.
First off, its a bit on the pricey side… but understand too, that this burger is not the same size or taste as your $ 2 burgers. It is fresh ground meat, and a bun that is reminiscent of Fuddruckers (my favorite). You can add a bunch of veggies *(things like avocado are more)* fresh, grilled, or fried onions… sauces, different types of cheeses from cheddar, american, to bleu… and it all comes with side of fries. Even a small seems to be 2 – 3 medium sized potatoes.
Let’s get one thing straight though. Everyone’s «special sauce» (in this case mooyah sauce, or you may be familiar with In n Out’s Spread) Is just a mayo based sauce, add ketchup, add spices… lol, my Mom has been doing this for «thousand island» type sauce at Fuddruckers since I was born.
This time around my fries were a bit soggy, but if you get them fresh, or I’m sure if you ask, you can get hotter, crispier fries. But in the end, its really hard to get fresh potatoes to crisp up at that size. Just look at In-​n-​out…
Overall, with a drink, it will be around $ 12. Without a drink its about $ 10. Without Fries about $ 8.
Not a bad place, I gotta try their shakes next!
(this place kind of reminds me of Clerks + Dogma) LOL, MOOOOO-​yah!

Mooyah is yet another large chain option in Irvine vying for your burger dollar.
There is definitely no lack of fast food options in the Burger genre here in Orange County but that doesn’t seem to be stopping new franchises from opening stores in Irvine. This year alone we have seen Smashburger, T K Burger and now Mooya opening locations in a 3 mile radius.
How does Mooya compare in the crowded field? Admirably in the flavor department, actually.
The concept is quite simple, you create your own custom Burger (a la Fuddrucker’s) in a fast casual format and your food is cooked fresh to order. I wanted a classic experience so I decided to go with a Cheddar Double Burger with Lettuce, Tomato, Pickles, Mustard and Ketchup. The Burger was prepared within 5 minutes and came served on a Bun that is baked in house. All if the ingredients were unspeakably fresh and the Beef was of high quality. The Pickle Chips were salty and tangy and really added pop. The flavor profile was savory and well balanced considering the few additions I opted for, I was honestly impressed!
So why 3 stars?
Well, with the addition of a soda and side of fresh cut Fries the total came to a staggering $ 12.00. This price point puts Mooya in the Gastropub/​Umami Burger realm and although the Burger was good, okay damn good, I cannot justify putting down twice what I would have at In N Out for the Mooya Double Burger. Basically this is the same complaint I have for 5 Guys: it is just too expensive for a fast casual experience. Another problem I faced was with the Fries. Fresh cut or not, they were soggy, greasy and went largely ignored.
Would I return to Mooya? I doubt it. With In N Out, The Habit & Waygu Chuck (Oh, and Shake Shack in 2016) being readily available for less, I would go that route and have a superior Burger. Otherwise, I would cough up a couple more dollars for Umami Burger, Del Frisco’s or The Cut.