Smashburger

Critic's Review

I guess smashing the burgers didn't appeal to South Floridians; the 3rd Smashburger to open down here has closed; Only Pembroke Pines remains. This was a CG burger joint before this; not sure why Smashburger thought the same idea in the same location would do much better.

Review 6/6/15

Smashburger Fort Lauderdale

I had a $2 coupon in the car and felt like a salad, so I went in to try the Smashburger Cobb. Normally $7.99, you can't go wrong for $5.99. The place was dead empty at 3pm on Saturday. I got right up to the counter and ordered the salad and a large iced tea.

Smashburger FTL interior

They have 3 kinds of tea, without the stupid flavors like some places have. I tried a bit of each and they were all good.

Smashburger Iced Tea Station

They also have fresh lemons out. The large is only 20 cents more, but there's no point to getting the huge cup if you're eating in. You can go back for refills.

Smashburger Iced Tea

They have the fast casual concept here where you get a number and put it on the table. I'm not crazy about it. At least they don't pester you for a tip here. Music is kind of loud: Oily Murs, "Fools Gold" and HAIM play in the emptyish dining room.

The salad comes out in a few minutes served in the identical bowl that I got at Burger 21, I was surprised by the size of the chicken, and also the fried egg; I missed that on the menu. The fried egg is sort of seared into the chicken, and then sliced.

Smashburger Cobb Salad

The point of a Cobb is how it's served; with all of the ingredients arranged in rows. They don't bother with that here. Finely chopped tomatoes and hardly any blue cheese, and I greatly prefer a hard boiled egg to the fried egg, particularly when they overcook the egg.

Smashburger Cobb Salad

They only have buttermilk dressing for this; I prefer to double down on the blue cheese. Any way you slice it, it's a good deal for the regular price of $7.99.

Conclusion

Good burgers, great rosemary fries and good sized salads. Just stay away from the "Miami" specialty sandwiches and you'll be good.

The fancy burger places are looking more and more like each other as they copy what everyone else is doing. Better than McDonalds, at least for now.

Review 3/25/14

I didn't go to the Smashburger media event; I prefer to experience the place as anyone else using the information that they put out for the public. That's the way most people experience restaurants; and perspective is everything.

The layout here is different from the other 2 smashburgers I'd been to; they don't have the red fabric seating or carpeting that made you feel like you were eating in a movie theatre restaurant. The bar in the corner of CG is now the order counter.

Smashburger Fort Lauderdale Inside

They still have the big SMASH logo on the wall. Still very fast-foodish.

Smashburger Fort Lauderdale Inside

The problems with the menu started by my not being able to find anything I wanted. I'd had The Classic so there was no reason to do that again; then I spotted the "Miami"; the menu item representing what they call local flavors. The menu says its "Grilled SPANISH CHORIZO", and it's in the Burger and Chicken section. I didn't put together that the description on the left was just for the toppings.

Unknowingly, I ordered "A big Miami and Fries". Nobody said a word about it to me (even though it was 3:30, dead empty and the entire staff was behind the counter. At the time I was also unaware that they had "regular" fries and Smashfries; I wanted the Smashfries, which are tossed in olive oil, garlic and rosemary.

Music sucks; "Recover" was playing while I waited; why anyone would want to listen to Anthems while eating a burger is beyond me. Are they only trying to appeal to dopey 25yos? While I was waiting, another take out order came out and someone said "You wanted the Smash Fries, right", which made me think. I'd just ordered "fries", so maybe they gave me the regular. I went to the counter and clarified. The order came out with regular fries, but they swapped them out for the Smash Fries without a struggle.

On the way home, the fries smelled so good I grabbed a few. Whoa, they were the best fries I'd had in a long while. I'd forgotten that I'd gotten these in Coral Springs; these were MUCH better. The fries were thinner, and the flavors were bold.

When I got home I opened it up; It looked like a pretty regular burger with some orange sauce.

Smashburger miami fries

You'd think that with all of the "spicy" ingredients that this would be just bursting with flavor; but all I could think of after taking a couple of bites was "This needs Salt". The burger was too well done to be good.

I searched for chorizo, and I found this.

Chorizo slice on Smashburger Miami

A salami-like slice. Not exactly what I had hoped for. Swiss cheese was a bad choice for this; is Switzerland local? The "Cuban" bun wasn't much different than a regular egg bun. The burger was a loser.

I decided that the bun wasn't worth the calories, so I tried to eat it low-carb style.

Smashburger

But the burger and the chorizo was no good, and the swiss had hardened to the point where I couldn't eat this further. I did, however polish off the fries. I didn't plan on doing more than tasting the fries; but they turned out to be the star of the show

The "Miami" is a fraud; if they wanted to create "local" flavors, why did they choose "Spanish" chorizo or even Chorizo at all? Because there are a lot of hispanics in South Florida? I get the Cuban roll, but chipotle is a southwestern spice. Bogus, contrived marketing. But worst of all, the result wasn't any good.

They also should have asked which fries I wanted; don't assume that customers know all of the choices. Getting the regular fries would have made this a complete disaster.

I'd suggest eating in. Well done burgers and swiss cheese aren't the same when they're not eaten hot off the grill.

Update

I saw a promo on TV where they were making the "Twin Cities"; the special burger that they serve in Minnesota. Here's the description:

Garlic grilled onions, melted cheddar, aged Swiss, lettuce, tomato & mayo on an onion bun.

Sounds a lot better than the "Miami".