Review – Smashburger, San Jose

Smashburger is the latest trendy fast casual burger joint serving a more “upscale”  burger. The differentiation from an In n’ Out or Five Guys is the cooking process. They roll up the burger in a ball and “sear” the outside before flattening during the cooking process, resulting (at least according to its marketing), a juicier burger. The also offer better buns and toppings than a McD’s, Burger King, or Carl’s Jr (e.g. arugula instead of iceberg lettuce, sauteed mushrooms, fancier buns).  Smashburger also tweaks their menu within each region, and being in California, the one we went to offers avacado, “truffle mayo”, and ciabatta buns as options.  Sides include shoestring fries, with “Smash Fries” which are flavored with some rosemary, sweet potato fries, onion strings, and flash fried carrot sticks and green beans.  Milkshakes come in the standard chocolate and vanilla, but also come in flavors like oreo cookie and nutter butter.

Food is made fresh to order, and if you are dining in, runners bring the food to you when it’s ready. Despite arriving a bit later in the evening on a weekday, there was still a fairly long line to order and all the seating in the store was taken. Since this is the first store in the area, I suspect furvor will die down as time passes and as other locations open up (similar to when Chick Fil-A first arrived in the Bay Area).

Theresa and I ordered the Bay Burger and the Truffle Mushroom Swiss burger, with a side a Smash Fries and a Nutter Butter shake.

Bay Burger

Truffle Mushroom Swiss

Smash Fries

 The burgers were very juicy, as advertised, making additional sauces or condiments unnecessary. Buns were nicely toasted and the ingredients worked well together. The Smash Fries were surprisingly good, with the hint of rosemary, and not overly greasy or dry. The shake was made with Haagen Daaz ice cream and was on par with other shakes at fast casual burger joints (like Red Robin) and better than Five Guys or other fast food joints.

If you are a burger person, Smashburger should be on your list to try and perhaps put in your regular rotation. The market for “upscale burger” seems to be getting more and more crowded, but I would rate Smashburger in the upper tier, mainly because the ingredients and cooking methods make a tasty juicy burger.