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Last Update: Feb 6th, 2017

Shake Shack

Critic's Review

One of my AC units was blowing warm air yesterday morning, which is always a fun way to start a day. We have Trane commercial A/C units which have this stupid drain hose in them that gets clogged with dust every few months; and I have to open up the fan section and flush out the hose. My office is on a different unit so I didn't worry about it too much; after a cup of coffee and doing my emails I took it apart only to find the thing bone dry. What happens is that the hose gets clogged with muck and the pan fills with water and trips the condensate overflow shut off. But there was no water this time, so it was something else.

It took me a few hours to figure out that it was the run capacitor for the compressor; too late to order overnight air from Amazon. So it was time for a trip up to Boca Raton; there's a place up there that stocks just about every capacitor you'd need for anything. Just off 95; not a bad trip as long as you go in the morning before the geezers get on the rode.

Airstar Supply

I got there around 11:30, laid down $19 and I was on my way home. I figured it was a good opportunity to check out the new Chicken Sandwich at Shake Shack.

Of course it was pouring like a dickens; I didn't think there would be anyone at Shake Shack at 11:50am, but I was wrong. There was already a short line, I ordered the sandwich plus a large iced tea for the ride home. It took long enough for me to hit the bathroom and to take this photo.

Shake Shack Boca Counter

I got the sandwich and the drink; they do the drinks behind the counter here; no refills, you can't get extra ice and I had forgetton: no lemon. So I wouldn't be drinking the tea until I got home.

I opened the bag when I got to the car.

Shake Shack Chicken Sandwich

A nice looking chicken sandwich.

Shake Shack Chicken Sandwich

I wanted to try it while it was hot, so I took a couple of bites. Wow. This is a good sandwich, for fast food or otherwise. A very light coating, more like a batter than breading; it reminded me of Arthur Treacher's fish back in the day. Nice tender chicken also. This is much better than what I had at Spring Chicken last week. And dare I say it; better than Chick-Fil-A too.

On the minus side is the bun is fast-foodish and shredded lettuce is always a bad idea. the sauce and pickles worked nicely. This is as good a chicken sandwich as there is.

Worthy of note is that the breading got quite hard when the sandwich cooled. So for takeout the chicken might not be a good choice if you're not going to be eating it for more than 15 minutes. It was much better right out of the box than when I got home.

Conclusion

Maybe this Shack isn't as good as the ones in NYC, or maybe there's way too much hype about the place, but I'm not one who things the burgers at Shack Shake are all that great. I like the cheese fries; the coffee shake is uninspiring; but the chicken sandwich is definitely top notch. I prefer self-serve beverages; no lemon and just regular commercial sugar packets lose them a star for service.

Review 2/7/15

Today was another day that I had to stray from my plan; the place I planned to go was open-air, and even though it was 72 degrees, there was a downright cold wind and I didn't want to eat outside. And yes, you northern doubters, when its 72 degrees down here it can be cold. It makes no sense, but it is the truth.

When Shake Shack going public this week ($SHAK), all I've heard all week from the NY based Anchors on CNBC is how great shake shake is. My first visit there didn't convince me. So instead I zipped past 95 on Glades and pulled into Shack Shack.

It was pretty late: 4pm on a Saturday, so I was surprised to see a lot of cars in the lot. Saturday in Boca Raton. There was the obligatory line, mainly because they never have enough cashiers to handle whatever crowd they have. I think they do it on purpose; like a bad club that won't let you in when it's empty so they can have a line.

Shake Shack Boca Line 2/15

I did the shake last time, and the Hot Dog I had was terrible, so I went with a Shake Shack Burger, Cheese Fries and a "regular" Iced Tea. $12.50. Fast food ain't what it used to be. At least there's no tipping. They give you a beeper and you wait. I think that the beeper is the difference between fast casual and fast food; with fast casual they either give you a beeper or call out your name on a loudspeaker (ie PDQ) so you can wait at a table instead of at the counter.

Shake Shack Kitchen

One problem with this location is that the dining room is small; there really aren't many tables. And you get the deal where someone goes and sits in a booth while the rest of the party waits on line, so you have people sitting at tables that aren't eating yet.

Shake Shake Boca Dining Room

Just before my food was ready someone left, so I grabbed the booth. I was too hungry to do take out; I'd planned on eating at 2:30. My beeper went off and my lonely tray was on the counter. Nobody greets you; it's just sitting there.

Shake Shake Burger, Fries and Iced Tea

The diminutive burger dominated the visual. I open it up to see what's going on inside.

Shake Shack Burger Exposed

better tomatoes than I got the last time. I take a bite; a pretty good burger. No onions or pickles here; just lettuce tomatoes and cheese. My hunger contributed to the experience, no doubt.

Shake Shack Burger

I'd have to say that I enjoyed the burger, although a single patty burger at Shake Shack isn't going to give you a lot of beef taste. I usually don't eat fries when I get them; I'll just have a couple to see how they are. The cheese sauce here isn't your typical glob of cheese food; it as a savory flavor; there's some recipe involved in this stuff.

Shake Shack Cheese Fries

The "crinkle cut" fries are crisp yet you can taste the potato; the way real french fries were meant to be. I had to decide if I liked the cheese sauce; I think a regular cheddar sauce would be been just as good. The fries were good while they were hot; you have about 3 minutes to eat them before they start to get limp. Maybe not so good for take-out. I ate most of them; they're very good when hot.

The Iced Tea was a big mistake.

Shake Shack Ice Tea

First, $2.25 (up from $1.95 because the price of colored water is way up) is absurd for the little cup they give you with no refills. Second, there's no lemon; even Chipotle has lemon out. I think it's clear that they're not interested in providing a good value on beverages here; a 15% price increase and they're 2 cheap to give you a lemon or a refill means that I bring a bottle of water next time, if I ever come back.

Conclusion

If our choices where Shake Shack, McDonald's, Burger King, Checkers or Wendy's, Shake Shack would stand alone. But that's not the case. Shake Shack is better than fast food and about the same as copycat BurgerFi, but for the same price you get a lot more good food at 5 guys. A double burger, fries and a shake is $20 here, which is just way too much.

Review 04/26/13

Shake Shack Boca Raton

Shake Shack opened in Boca Raton on Monday, and it was time to give it a try. On a beautiful Friday afternoon, the drive up to Boca is pleasant.

Shake Shack was born in Madison Park in New York City, and the standard there is much higher than in most other places. New Yorkers don't put up with bad food. They move on to something else if they don't like what you're peddling. So I expected this to be a real treat. Looking at the menu; it's clear that BurgerFI got many of their ideas from Shake Shake; the menu is virtually the same. Physically the place is similar as well; BurgerFi has fancier furniture but that's about all that separate the 2 places.

I was hoping to make a quick turnaround, but I didn't anticipate the line. I've been to a lot of early openings, but this was unusual.

Shake shack rear

There was no turning back; I didn't drive up here to just turn around or go somewhere else. So I got on line and waited. They brought out some samples of their strawberry lemonade and chocolate custard.

The back patio is kind of nice, although I'm not sure I'd want to eat there with a bunch of people waiting on line.

Shake Shack Boca Patio

After waiting on line for 20 minutes, you get up close enough to see the sign indicating that there's a separate line for just drink orders. Not that I'd have gone on it, but it would have been nice to know in advance. A few people branched off once they saw the sign.

Shake Shack C-Line Sign

When you get close enough to see the counter, you realize why there is a line. They only have 2 registers. I guess having people wait outside is better for them than ringing people up faster than you can process their orders, but it would have been nice to sit down or be able to go to the bathroom. Once you've placed your order they give you a beeper so if it's going to be a while you don't have to stand in front of the register.

Shake shack counter

Another bad thing about a line is that there are a lot of people saving tables for people who havent even ordered yet. Moms send their kids inside to grab a table, so when you get your food there's nowhere to sit if you don't have someone to send in ahead of time. I was doing take out anyway.

Shake Shack Boca Inside

I'm guessing that this is going to be a hangout for kids; there aren't a lot of burger places in Boca. There were a lot of teenagers in the place. Maybe because it's new. Or maybe because eating french fries and little 4oz burgers is cool.

I grabbed my bag and headed out to the car. I ordered a cheeseburger (the Shack Burger), a Chicago Dog and a Coffee Shake. The coffee shake is made by swirling "100% arabica bean" extract in vanilla ice cream; it's the most expensive shake they have at $5.65.

The shake is small; I drank it on the drive home.

Shake shack coffee shake

I was concerned that they didn't have the wider straws, but this wasn't a thick shake. It wasn't as sweet as most milk shakes; I guess they don't use the normal amount of sugar in their ice cream. They list this at 650 calories but I have to doubt that. My favorite shake in town, the Baskin Robbins Cappuccino Blast, is twice the size, 500 calories, only $5, and better than this.

When I opened the Shack-cago Dog, I was roundly disappointed.

Shake Shack Chicago Dog

This thing just didn't have the bright colors of a well constructed Chicago Dog. Dull tomatoes, the wrong kind of relish, no poppy seed bun and it wasn't built correctly either. It's not supposed to be so mushy. The hot dog was grilled (everything is Flat Top here). I had to reconfigure this and it was edible at best. If you don't know, Shake Shack started out as a hot dog cart. But I don't know why people sell Chicago dogs if they're not going to make them correctly. People who don't know what they are won't order them; and people who do won't like them. It's lose-lose.

The burger didn't look too exciting either. Unlike Burger Fi, they will cook to order, but I just took it medium by default.

Shake Shack Burger

I took a bite out of this and it was just a bland burger. I opened it up to add some salt and ketchup, exposing the bad tomato.

Shake shack bad tomato

Tomatoes like that shouldn't be served. They should be thrown out, particularly when you're charging $5 for a 4oz mini-burger. After 2 bites I decided that the burger wasn't worth the calories.

The tab for all of this was over $15. No bargain.

So it looks like BurgerFi didn't just get the idea of the upscale burger joint from Shake Shack, but also the idea for the bad burgers. This place certainly isn't worth waiting on line for 40 minutes. It's not even worth the drive up to Boca. Very, very disappointing.

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