Over here at Uproxx, we spend a lot of time eating and comparing the finer points of the best fast-food burgers. Whether we’re talking about big juicy doubles, flavor-packed and mouth-watering decadent burgers, or even a classic and simple single cheeseburger, if it’s built from ground beef, buns, and cheese, we’ve eaten it, ranked it, and found ways to elevate it and make it better. But there is some burger ground that we haven’t explored as of yet — the restaurant burger.
Full disclosure, I’m not a restaurant burger guy. I’ve never looked at a restaurant menu and thought “I’ll just have a burger.” If I ever have, it’s because the rest of the menu failed to catch my attention. So rather than order completely off the appetizer menu (which is a totally valid move), I’ll just grab a burger because, well, how bad can it be right?
So while I consider myself an expert on all things fast-food cheeseburgers, restaurants are a bit of a blind spot for me. So to better familiarize myself with the world of restaurant cheeseburgers, I put the names of a bunch of random restaurant chains in a hat and pulled a single one out to see how their most popular burger compares to our personal fast-food favorite.
The lotto this time came up Chilis. So today, I’ll be tasting Chili’s Double Oldtimer with Cheese against Shake Shack’s Double Shack Burger.
Cheeseburger Methodology
In order for this taste test to be as fair as possible, I decided to order each burger as-is with no alterations. Despite my love for a good burger hack, I think it’s important to experience each burger as both chain restaurants intended.
I also decided to rate each component of the burger — the bun, the meat, the cheese, the sauce, and the veggie toppings on a scale of one to five. Then, I added up the scores and crowned a winner. Let’s start with the challenger.
Chili’s — Double Oldtimer With Cheese
Price: $15.19
Tasting Notes:
Right off the bat, the size of this burger took me aback. It’s f*cking huge. This double cheeseburger is enough to share between two people, and if you’re really into small portions, four. That’s just not found in the fast-food space. The fast-food burgers are, for the most part, relatively small. This thing feels like a statement.
The full build consists of two thick beef patties, two layers of cheddar cheese, pickles, lettuce, tomato, shredded lettuce, and mustard.
Biting into it and dislocating my jaw in the process, I’m greeted by the layers of sumptuous beefy flavors that are further elevated courtesy of sharp slightly nutty cheese, the snap of some crisp tomatoes, and a nice balance of sweet and brine-y flavors from the red onions and pickles. The beef is a real standout, although it’s thick and overwhelming. Every bite melts in your mouth and overpowers the rest of the ingredients. It lacks balance, but it’s hard to care with beef this juicy and delicious.
The Score:
The Bun: 4. It’s a basic brioche bun that’s buttery, airy, and most importantly makes way for you to taste the star of the show, the beef.
The Meat: 5. It exceeded all expectations. It’s juicy, thick, and dunks on anything you can get from a fast-food restaurant.
The Cheese: 4. It’s good, but I’m of the thought that the best burger cheese is American. Cheddar is a close second though and helps to add a lot of complexity to this burger so that the only note isn’t just BEEF.
The Sauce: 3. Mustard? Really? Just mustard? I find it a little boring and with meat this thick and two layers of cheese, it’s hard for the mustard to stand out.
The Veggies: 4. It would’ve been a perfect five but that terrible watery shredded lettuce brought it down a point. I love the use of red onion for some delicate sweetness, and the pickles add a nice tang to the aftertaste. Tomatoes are nice and ripe.
Final Score: 20
It’s not a perfect 25, but it’s a pretty great cheeseburger experience, making it hard to be disappointed. Personalizing it a bit will make it a better experience (add bacon, ditch that sauce for BBQ, maybe lose the iceberg, and now we’re talking).
Shake Shack — Double ShackBurger
Price: $9.79
Tasting Notes:
Like the Chili’s burger, the beef is the star of the show. It’s savory, salty, and sports an incredible depth of flavor. Since this is a smash burger, you’ve got an audible textural crunch in every bite thanks to that perfect Maillard crust. Helping to accentuate the beefy qualities of the meat, the tomatoes come in with a burst of umami flavor while the onions offer a kick of sharpness. The sauce is tangy and sweet, but not well spread, and a single leaf of green lettuce adds a bit more texture to the whole thing. Lastly, the bun is denser.
Overall, this burger comes across as incredibly small in comparison. That’s not necessarily a bad thing and I think a Double ShackBurger with a side of fries is enough of a meal for anyone. But I do think it’s worth noting that this burger is about 1/4 the size of what Chili’s is working with.
The Score:
The Bun: 4. It’s a potato roll which feels a bit more novel than a brioche. It’s soft, sweet, and spongey. But it’s a bit too small for this burger. Too much of the burger lives outside of the bun.
The Meat: 3. Look, normally, I’d rank Shake Shack’s beef patties as the best of the best, but this just can’t compare with the melt-in-your-mouth quality of what Chili’s is doing. The flavor is outstanding, but it comes across as a bit too condensed and slightly dry in comparison.
The Cheese: 5. Delicious, salty, and simple — a perfect slice of American Cheese.
The Sauce: 4. Shake Sauce is a mix of ingredients and features both garlic and a touch of paprika. It’s nice and complex with a bit of spice. Chili’s never had a chance with just mustard. I’m docking a point because ShakeShack tends to glob this sauce in one spot rather than spread it evenly across the meat.
The Veggies: 3. Love the juicy tomatoes, the green leaf lettuce has a great snap to it, and the onions are sharp and present, but it all comes across as a bit unimaginative. Luckily, Shake Shack has all sorts of veggies to help you elevate the burger further (mushrooms, cherry peppers, pickles, fried shallots). Unfortunately, none of those come as part of the stock build.
Final Score: 19
Shake Shack loses by just one point. I thought many times about tipping the scale in the Shack’s favor. In the end, even though I think the burger is more consistently delicious across the board, Chili’s highs are just too high!
Closing Thoughts on the Cheeseburgers
Chili’s wins this round! The Double OldTimer with Cheese is a jaw-dropping drool-inducing cheeseburger that makes its inflated price tag feel totally justified. Having said that, for under $10 you can get a burger from Shake Shack that doesn’t disappoint, and for a few dollars more you can add bacon, avocado, fried shallots, and so many other ingredients that can easily bring the burger to Chili’s level.
But if your favorite aspect of a burger is beef, Chili’s is where it’s at, hands down. No contest. Also a major plus on Chili’s side — a full bar. Nothing pairs with a burger like a good margarita.