Second up in our parade of Texas fast-food joints is smashburger. I tried the Classic: normally lettuce,
tomato, onion, cheese, pickles and smash sauce over a single patty, I ordered mine easy on the onions (still
a little scarred from WHATABURGER) and easy on the smash sauce. It was excellent. smashburger's thing is
that their burgers start as meatballs that get smashed onto the grill using weights. The "smash" creates
lovely crispy edges on the patties — and THAT, in my opinion, is the true smash sauce.
I didn't really understand their fries. They looked wet. My wife, who had more than I, mentioned she
could taste some very nice spices on them, suggesting they're tossed in some sort of oil. Other reviews
online confirm the fries are tossed in olive oil with rosemary and garlic (she mentioned detecting the
rosemary and garlic at the restaurant). Guess I'll give them another try later.
Overall, I found smashburger's product superior to WHATABURGER. Comparing the two, the WHATABURGER
product is larger — about the size of a Whopper®. The smashburger was smaller, on par in diameter
to a Big Mac®. I thought the meat had better flavor, plus the sear. The vegetables on the
smashburger were sliced, not diced — true of the onions, anyway. Both brands offer sliced tomatoes.
As for buns, hon, I was impressed by how flat the WHATABURGER buns were — the smashburger buns are
egg buns which also didn't seem particularly bready.
So that's what's up with the smashburger.
UPDATE:
I want to talk for a little bit about smashburger's corporate headquarters.
Last week I visited the local restaurant and ended up with more than I wanted on my burger: a long
black hair, that I pulled partly from my mouth, but mostly unspooled from the sandwich. I set it
on a clean napkin in my tray and promptly took tha tray, including the remainder of my meal, up
to the front and stole a glance at the two women at the grill: Both long-haired hispanic ladies
with no hairnets, although both wore their hair pulled back. The person at the front saw the
problem immedately, and did a few things: First, the two ladies were replaced by a guy wearing a
hat, who got to work on replacing my meal. The second thing I saw was that the lady with the
longer hair visited the restroom. I didn't want to be a jerk or anything, so I didn't look up at
her when she emerged — I didn't want to risk receiving a look like, "Now I've got to wear this
stupid hair net," or, "Because of you, I got in trouble," or whatever. The manager then handed
me a pair of coupons for discounted meals. As it happens, Laurel has the smashburger app and
received or took a survey regarding the visit — so she was honest. Smashburger contacted her,
apologized for the incident, and sent us another pair of coupons — even though she explained
we'd received some already.
Texas law requires "hair restraints," but doesn't specify what they are exactly, although it
does mention that hats may be worn to serve in such a capacity. I checked the local health
department reviews, and found the store received a score of 91 (out of 100, I presume) during
their August evaluation.
The local store did a great job of identifying the problem and working to fix it immediately.
The headquarters did a great job of following up with us — we explained everything, including
the corrective actions we had observed — and ensuring we were compensated. They did a fine job.
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