Smashburger, 4601 Devine Street: Late December 2022 5 comments
When Smashburger first opened here, I liked it quite a bit. The burger was really good, and there were lots of bun options, including a chipolte bun that was quite tasty. The booths were much more comfortable than 5 Guys steel chairs, and the ice-tea, which was also quite good, was attractively dispensed from clear plastic tubes which mimicked old-style hand-pump gas dispensers. The only fly in the ointment, and one that kept me from being a regular is that I didn't like the fries. They were well executed for what they were trying to do, but I didn't care for the idea they were executing.
So, I would go every now and then, but probably not more than three or so times a year. All that was before the pandemic. When I went back after the pandemic, everything had changed. All of the bun options were gone, and there were no ice-tea dispensers at all in the dining room. In fact when I asked about tea, the staffer looked at me like I was crazy, and apparently went off to brew one cup. There didn't seem to be much traffic there, and a couple of times when I came to eat at the adjacent Moe's, I thought the place had already closed.
In fact, that didn't happen until late december of 2022 as reported in The Post & Courier. The reason given there was that the rent was due to triple, but I think the business they were doing had to be a factor as well, or I would have expected Moe's to jump ship as well.
Commenter Larry reports that this spot is to become a Dave's Hot Chicken.
(Hat tip to commenter Trevin Montgomery)
UPDATE 27 June 2023 -- Now Dave's Hot Chicken:
5 Responses to 'Smashburger, 4601 Devine Street: Late December 2022'
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Mr BO
18 Jan 23 at 10:48 am
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Smashburger restaurants just dont seem to last long in this state. The quailty of food is great but the quantity too little for the price you pay imo. Looking forward to Dave's hot chicken shack though.
Matthew
19 Jan 23 at 5:42 pm
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I've never understood the draw of Smashburger. I don't find their burgers to be all that great, they are definitely more expensive than I think they are worth, and their fries - while tasty - get cold entirely too fast because they are so thin. I detest cold fries with every fiber of my being. I'd rather eat a piece of carpet.
Gypsie
19 Jan 23 at 10:46 pm
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There was a class-action lawsuit against Smashburger, claiming that they misrepresent how much meat is in the Triple Double burgers:
https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/less-than-a-week-to-claim-money-smashburger-5-5-million-settlement/From the article:
"According to a class-action lawsuit filed in 2019, Smashburger CEO Tom Ryan promoted the sandwiches in a 2017 marketing campaign as having 'three times the cheese and double the beef in every bite'."But, the plaintiffs allege, each of the two patties in the Triple Double was half the size of a normal burger's patty -- 2.5 ounces versus 5 ounces -- meaning a normal burger and a Triple Double had the same amount of beef overall."
Robin
20 Jan 23 at 6:24 am
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When my wife and I moved to Colorado years ago, having never seen a Smashburger before, we tried it out. The fries with the rosemary seasoning were neat in a different way, but other than that, I would rather have a burger at Five Guys.
That said, the Five Guys burger hasn't been as good as I remember it the last few times I've had one.
Looks like Dave's Hot Chicken will be moving into that space.
https://www.postandcourier.com/columbia/business/hot-chicken-taking-over-columbia-restaurant-spot-new-coffee-place-gets-ready-to-brew/article_c9ebf9fc-9385-11ed-97d0-ab758ed74c1e.html
Can't wait!