Smashburger

First time here, ordered SoCal grill chicken, the cilantro in my burger are very old and gross looking. Some of them are yellow and black. Apparently not fresh. Burger tastes alright. Nothing is really good. In’n’out is cheaper, fresher and tastier. Won’t come back

Decent burgers but nothing that stands out to me. The side of fries they give you is pretty minuscule too. I think Mooyah gives these guys a run for their money… same vibe but much more generous portions. And I tend to favor the burgers at Mooyah a little more. With the fries though, it’s no contest — Mooyah piles them on like they do at Five Guys. They’ve gotta stop being so stingy at Smashburger. As far as the burger, mine tasted dried out and I wasn’t too impressed. I think this whole «smash» thing is really a YMMV thing as far as the results go… sometimes they’re good but I think it just depends on who’s cooking. This time it seemed they might have gotten too aggressive on all the smashing… maybe someone was mad, bro.

I tried this place for the first time last night and honestly it was pretty disappointing. Since the phở place next door was closed we decided to give this place a try. I ordered the baja smash burger and it was literally the driest burger I’ve ever tasted. Which is really weird considering it has guac in it. The patty in my burger was so burnt and dry that I didn’t even eat more than half of it. Such a disappointment. Probably will not be coming here again.

I really enjoyed my Avocado burger. The bacon was cooked really well and it was very delicious. The place was empty as well so my boyfriend and I had a nice little lunch. The manager (I assume he was the manager) came out and asked us if we were enjoying our food and I liked that a lot!

First time trying Smash Burger, I was nervous to try I have to admit. I read the Unilocal reviews before of course and a lot of them were bad, but I saw past all that negativity. experience was A+! I had the original smash and a side of fried pickles. that’s the only issues I’m having is with the ordering process and the salty fried pickles but other than that my butterfinger milkshake was on point and so was my burger!

Loved the spinach & goat cheese salad i ordered, but shame on the amount of fries my sister received with her order. That was the one thing that i couldn’t understand.
I still enjoyed the atmosphere and the flavor of their food is really outstanding.

Tonight was my first and last time in this establishment! The burgers were so thin, I wondered why I even bothered to say medium rare, it wouldn’t have made a difference. To have paid $ 6.69 for a burger with NO fries and it was thin, a slice of cheese and a few mushrooms, Carl’s Jr is much better and tastier.
First the gal brought out my burger, then my friend’s, and as we were halfway finished our order of sweet potato fries was brought over. It made no sense how the food was delivered.
My friend had the one with bacon, and she looked at me, and asked, you couldn’t have found a better place to grab dinner this is a lousy burger? Both of us were very disappointed!

I think Nick was the person who helped us. He was very nice. Love the patty and the fresh veggies on The burger. In addition this Irvine location has a student special where you can get a burger fry and drink for around $ 8.
Try their smash fries. They have olive oil and spices on a shoestring fries. * good dipped in ranch
I have yet to have try their shakes, however I have heard that they are very yummy. Hand scooped and Haggen Daz, but slightly pricey.
Tip: if you take the survey at the bottom of your receipt, you get a free large smash fry on your next visit.

Smashburger is another player in the highly competitive burger game. Menus are at the front of the restaurant as well as a large display behind the front registers. I opted for the Truffle Mushroom and Swiss, which consists of truffle mayo, sautéed crimini mushrooms & aged Swiss on an egg bun. Two sizes are available: regular ($ 6.69) and a big size for ($ 7.69). I went with the the big size and ordered sweet potato fries ($ 2.49). For my drink I went with a salted caramel Haagen Dazs shake ($ 4.59).
The shake tasted pretty good and was creamy but not too thick. The sweet potato fries were crispy on the outside soft on the inside just the way I like them. The burger on the other hand was a bit of a disappointment. To me the patty was very bland and wasn’t as juicy as other places. There was nothing special about the patty. The cheese and mushrooms were just ok as well. I did like the egg bun, as it was soft and tasted good.
Any place that has burger in their name has to produce a QUALITY burger and unfortunately the burger here was mediocre at best. There are so many other options out there that taste better and are at a better price point. Service was very good at this establishment and the server and cashier were friendly and checked up on me and my co-​worker.

After visiting Mooyah at the Alton Plaza, I decided to drop by and give this place a shot.
First off, menu is pretty identical in the sense that it’s a «build your burger places» with no «combo #‘s» just «do you want to add fries and a drink for extra?»
I was excited, but was let down. But first lets look at the positives.
The staff was nice, patient, and accomodating. They did their jobs just fine when I was there.
The fries were crispy. I was tempted to try their special fries, but Opted to try the «regular» fries first to see where they stand. I like shoe-​string style fries because they are really crispy. But stated before, they are a bit bland. Even when adding salt, they just tasted like potatoes. Maybe they need to change up what they fry it in… even canola oil has better taste than whatever they are using.
Ok, so the negatives, well, negative… it was all in the burger. It’s hard to have a good burger joint, when your burger is sub-​par. I ordered the Avocado Club, and the bacon and avocado were good, but my veggies didn’t look fresh, and my burger for a «regular» size was quite small, especially in comparison to Mooyah, Fuddruckers etc. The burger was reminiscent of maybe a 1/​3lb-​er somewhere, or a double cheese burger from McDonalds. The flavor was OK, but i had more bread than anything else.
Overall it was bit of a letdown, but since I have a gift card there, I will give them another shot, and try their special fries AND their malt/​milk shakes and see from there. If those are good, I will definitely change my review to 3 stars!

Eh. I read the Unilocal reviews beforehand so I wasn’t expecting much.
I placed a to-​go order on Friday night. I got a truffle mushroom Swiss, an avocado club, and a large portion of sweet potato fries.
My truffle mushroom Swiss burger was actually pretty good but the bun was soggy and buttery. Yes, the «regular» portion was small, but it was enough for me. I took a bite of my hubs avocado club and it was gross, soggy, and no flavor.
The «large» sweet potato fries that I ordered came in a tiny cup. I would not market this as large, as the portion is really small.
I had a buy one entrée get one free coupon, and even if I had another, I wouldn’t go back!

Unilocal 2015 #91
Wow. I’m really really tempted to give this place a one star. But seeing as I wasn’t the one who actually drove here and got the sandwich, I’ll give a star for my poor Doordash driver.
So I had a Doordash account and had some credits to it. I decided to go with a truffle mushroom swiss burger.
Truffle mayo, mushrooms, aged swiss, a burger, between two buns.
Looking at pictures, I was expecting something similar to the Habit or somewhat.
What did I get? Something that looked like came out of the toilet of McDonald’s.
I got melted cheese all over, a mess on the burger. I could taste the couple pieces of mushrooms that were there. And oh yeah, at a price of $ 6 I would expect something… more than the burger that I received.
Don’t come here, it’s merp. A total merp.
Too expensive, too eh. The Habit/​In-​n-​out, heck McDonald’s McChicken are all better than this place

Pretty good burger. I had the Anaheim chili cheddar.
Service was fine.
Fries a bit bland.

I was driving to my second-​ever CMYE (in Westminster) from home and didn’t really have time to stop and eat anywhere, plus I was starving so I decided to pick up something on the drive there and eat in the car.
Being that I was still in Irvine and about to hit the freeway, it came down to limited choices to go, Luna Grille (kinda Luna’d out ATM and not that fast, so no thanks), Rev pizza (never tried it, not really in the mood for pizza either, or Smashburger. Having tried Smashburger at L.A. Live before and thought their chicken sandwich was tasty albeit overpriced when I was in a hurry to chow, I decided to give the Irvine Smash a chance.
Food choices are pretty cool, if you get the basic chicken sandwich or burger with nothing for about $ 8, or one of their fancy creations or build-​your-​own with toppings of your choice for $ 9. Everything’s ala carte, so fries or whatever else you choose for yourself or to share is extra. No «#1 combo please» like Micky Deez.
Being a Monda about 5:30, place was less than half full so I was pretty excited to get in and out. There was one guy with a kid in front of me ordering. one. That said, it took almost 5 minutes to take my order. Then since I was 3^rd in line waiting for my food to go, actually getting the food took a while. Kitchen was slow.
PLUS: Food came out super hot
Sandwich is pretty large and filling. Didn’t need to waste money or calories on unhealthy fries.
Food tasted as expected with perfectly cooked chicken breast patty and the right toppings.
Manager checked to make sure everything was in the bag (I do mean everything, they always forget ketchup or napkins but nope)
MINUS: Ordering took about 5 minutes, Food took about 11 minutes, way too long.
Expensive.
Parking can be an issue, cross your fingers find something in front of Rite Aid and then get out and walk.
Atmosphere, none to speak of. Just a large poorly decorated, cold cavernous space. No Wifi and not even a Verizon data signal in here. My phone went to down 3G and then just nothing. No TV or background music to keep your interest or feel relaxed.
$ 9 for a quick-​serve burger, even in Irvine is way too much. Based on the square footage of this joint, which is even bigger than the Habit on Walnut I’m sure these guys are paying a pretty penny. These guys are gonna get squashed unless they do something fast.
Bottom line: Back to Habit and BurntZilla for me where you can never go wrong unless there are more than 9 high schoolers in front of you.

Damn that’s a fine burger!
And shakes and sweet potato fries!
I’ll be back for more

Smashburger was unfortunately disappointing. Slow and bad value. I’d put it inline with The Habit, but worse.
Long waits to order — only two cashiers and everyone has some long, complicated order.
Got the «big» version of the classic burger. For ~$ 7 it’s definitely not big at all. ¹⁄₃ lb at best and equivalent to eating an In n out double double.
The egg bun is tasty and the beef patty is seasoned well and tasty, just too darn small.
Pass on Smashburger. You’ll leave unsatisfied.

The original Smash Burger is good but I give this place a 3 stars because it is really expensive for a burger joint. I paid $ 11.33 for a large original burger (large burger is a buck extra), small fries and small drink. Wow!
Every other burger joint is cheaper than Smash!
What is disappointing is there are no combos. So you pay full price for the fries and drink. I don’t know any fast food place today that doesn’t offer combo pricing.
This is the first and probably last time I’m eatting here just solely cause of price. I can get the same satisfying burger meal elsewhere.

Since Smash Burger is new to the area and because I love all things moo, I decided to try it. I tried both the truffle mushroom swiss and the spicy jalapeño baja.
The truffle mushroom didn’t really taste like truffle but was really oily due to the truffle oil. I think it’s pretty bad when the best thing you like about your burger is the bread (the bread here is pretty delicious I might add, I think they should rethink burgers and offer baked goods). Skip this burger.
The spicy jalapeño baja was better. Jalapeño was fresh and spicy, avocado was delish and of course bread was delish. But that’s about it. It’s pretty sad when your dining companion comments that you could have had better burger meals at Carls Jr. (Sad, true and cheaper).
Service was friendly, but dining was a bit confusing as there was a trash to bus your table but apparently you don’t have to? The metal trays used to hold your burgers are kinda awkward too. I can’t say that I’ll come back.

Smashburger is yet another mediocre option in the overly populated fast casual Burger game.
I rarely do reviews for fast casual restaurants as the experience is almost identical from location to location but figured since Smashburger is new to SoCal I would bend that rule to give honest feedback on a new Burger choice in the area. That being said, I will try to make it brief.
The service is somewhere between poor and horrific, a case study in entrepreneurial mismanagement. There is no excuse for the service I witnessed.
The menu offers your standard fare of Burgers, Fries, Salad and Malts. The «Smash» piece refers to the way they prepare the patty by flattening it with a searing tool. Other than that, it is pretty much an unexceptional Burger. The Classic Smash consists of said seasoned patty, American cheese, «Smash Sauce», ketchup, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onion and is served on an egg bun. It is perfectly serviceable, almost good. In N Out and The Habit have little to worry about.
The Fries are a shoestring affair and come in a variety of seasonings. The Olive Oil and Rosemary was our table favorite and the Buffalo Season is to be avoided. Because of the thinness of the Fries it is imperative that you eat them quickly as they harden while cooling. Hard Fries do not make good eating.
One pro is that they do offer Craft Beers including Stone products. That is about the only thing Smashburger has on the competition. I imagine this location will have a decent surge of interest from the onset but with the lackluster product and mind boggling service The Irvine Company will be finding new tenants within 5 years time.

2.5 stars
Smashburger is one of the fairly new rash of burger chains that have opened over the past recent years. My experience with Smashburger was similar to the other newer chains like Five Guys and Habit. Just an average burger. Nothing memorable.
I did the create your own burger option ordering an egg bun, cheddar cheese, red onion, lettuce, onions, pickles, mustard and smash sauce with egg and bacon. I also paid one dollar extra to get the «Big» version which had a larger patty. The burger cost $ 8.39. Also, I ordered the special side called the Smashfries which were disappointing costing $ 2.29.
The first thing that I taste and look for to determine the quality of a burger is the beef patty. It should be the star of the show. Such was not the case here. The beef patty had no distinct beef flavor; no juice; and, it was fairly dry. The fried egg was not cooked properly in that the yolk was completely cooked. Not very good execution. The purpose of the egg is to have a runny yolk that when broken runs and seeps into the rest of the burger giving it a more rich and moist texture and flavor. The bacon was dry and overcooked. As you can see from my photo, there was far too much lettuce. I had to remove about half of it. The cheddar cheese that I ordered on the burger tasted like processed american cheese. Needless to say, the burger was just average in flavor and quality. It was fairly disappointing in terms of quality and flavor. The burger was 2.5 stars.
The Smashfries were nothing special. They were dry and tasted processed with no real potato flavor. You pay extra with the Smashfries to get olive oil, rosemary and garlic added. It was disappointing as well because I could not really taste the rosemary or garlic. The fries were 2 stars.
It was not a memorable burger and I would not return to have another.