It’s the battle of the coasts! Coming from California that is home of the infamous In-N-Out, I’ve decided to settle the debate once and for all. What’s better: In-N-Out or Shake Shack?
In order to keep a standard, I will be judging both restaurants on their version of a classic cheeseburger, vanilla shake, and fries. Secret menu items were not considered as part of the restaurants’ critiques.
BURGERS
Shake Shack
In-N-Out
One of the most famous features of In-N-Out’s burgers is their “secret” sauce. It adds the right amount of flavor to the burger. The hamburger buns are toasted on the inside. The lettuce is crisp, and all the ingredients taste fresh. My only complaint is that without the sauce, the burger would otherwise be nothing special. The patty is quite firm, and for me it could be a little more tender.
The Shake Shack hamburger buns were also lightly toasted on the inside, but the lettuce was a little soft and soggy from the mayo. However, the burger patty was very tender and juicy. It didn’t need any sort of sauce to add to the burger. The patty was the star of the show. Overall, it seems Shack Shack won this round.
In-N-Out: 0
Shake Shack: 1
FRIES
Shake Shack
In-N-Out
It’s easy to say that the In-N-Out fries are fresh. Customers are able to see workers put potatoes into a slicer and watch the thinly cut potatoes drop into a bath of hot oil. The fries are crisp and not too greasy, yet they always seem to be missing a little salt.
The Shake Shack fries are crinkle cut, so I assume they’re trying to be ‘special.’ With the crinkles aside, they’re not greasy and have some give to them. However, they can be overly salty in comparison to In-N-Out’s. I’d much rather prefer less salty fries than ones that cover my salt intake for the day. This round goes to In-N-Out.
In-N-Out: 1
Shake Shack: 1
SHAKES
Both vanilla shakes were pretty good in terms of taste. Neither of them were too sweet and were very creamy. The only factor separating the two was thickness. In-N-Out’s shake was definitely a lot thicker, whereas Shake Shack’s was more watered down and thinner. It almost seemed like I was drinking melted vanilla ice cream (which isn’t actually too bad). But I personally prefer thicker shakes, so In-N-Out won this round.
Final:
In-N-Out: 2
Shake Shack: 1
In-N-Out is the winner! In my opinion, the restaurant chain has better fries and shakes (which is ironic). But if you’re looking for a juicy and tender burger, I would recommend Shake Shack. But then again, this final conclusion is just my opinion. What do you prefer: In-N-Out or Shake Shack?