Shake Shack

A few months ago, I walked by a Shake Shack in suburban LA that was a completely empty at prime dinner time.

I've still only been to the OG like 15 years ago when it was at MSP/Flatiron and you had to wait in line for way too long. Can't even remember if it was any good or not.

man alive OTM
The longer each location is open, the more oily and greasy and disgusting the interior becomes, the effect of which is just compounded by the hoi pilloi clamoring for napkins and soda cups and annoyed at the wait for their food

I was a skeptic from the beginning as this thread shows, but always basically liked this place -- I'm with man alive, though, the last couple of times I've had their burger, it was just... not that great. Not bad! But not great. In particular, this from man alive

it was the kind of business that needed excitement and scarcity to thrive, like it was this "special treat" thing that people would go out of their way to stand in line for. Once it's everywhere, it loses that excitement

feels right to me, I enjoyed it more when they didn't have it in my local mall and it was an "I can have this because I'm traveling" treat.

Or maybe the food has actually gotten worse, which is not an unreasonable thing to expect for a rapidly expanding chain.

The shakes are still good.

I love Shake Shack and In'n'Out, but can't even imagine going to mobbed hamburger restaurants at this moment

I mean, you order on the app, you pay on advance with your credit card, you're in there picking up the stuff for like 2 minutes, there's an indoor mask mandate where I live. If it were actually mobbed I might feel different but there were like four people in there.