Guest #18, your order is ready.

Overall rating: 7.1/10

Another new number so soon. We're coming up on 50, otherwise known as the halfway point.

Burger - The burger was pretty good this time around, but nothing about it really shouted out "hey this is delicious". It was technically sound with minor faults. All the ingredients were placed on the burger properly but I did end up with one bite of just bun left. Again, taste wise nothing popped and I would say the biggest negative would be the the effect that a slightly over toasted bun has (I call that the grilled cheese effect). That slightly over toasted bun comes into play with the texture as well as it makes the edges of the bun pretty stiff. A lot of less-green lettuce as well, causing a slight dip in taste.

Taste - 1.6 (out of 2)

Texture - 1.5 (out of 2)

Presentation - .9 (out of 1)

Fries - I have to say these might have been the worst french fries I've had at In-N-Out Burger. But this is why this new scoring systems exist, because the worst In-N-Out fries are still better than most other fast food fries. Taste wise they were actually pretty good. I added pepper but no salt. However, they had some atrocious texture. They are even more limp and "soggy" than the last visit. The only thing that could have been worse would have been completely under-cooked fries that were still frozen or cold. Somehow these weren't under-cooked, just had a really bad texture. The good taste really saved this part of the meal.

Taste - 1.6 (out of 2)

Texture - .5 (out of 2)

Diet Coke - 1 (out of 1)

As far as interesting goes there wasn't much as we sat outside. Thought this was a dinner visit. And on the Fourth of July, which I found it odd that In-N-Out was open on as they are closed most holidays.

Guest #90, your order is ready.

Overall Rating: 7.4/10
Welcome to the new ratings system. The overall rating is the ratings in each category put together totaling a score out of 10. Keep in mind this means the "average" score will be lower than it has been, as I believe I haven't rated a meal lower than 7.8 previously. I'll continue to put the overall at the top as I'm sure some people just want to see that and not the details. Onto the review...

Burger - I actually tried something new this time, extra spread. Was it worth it? Not really. It made the burger an awful lot more soggy than usual. On the upside the bun had a great texture, it was nice and soft without feeling like it wasn't toasted. The extra spread gave a couple bites a bit of an extra sour taste which I wasn't sure if I liked or not. On the presentation side everything looked fine and was centered properly, but I think the extra spread hurt it a bit.

Taste - 1.5 (out of 2)
Texture - 1.5 (out of 2)
Presentation - .9 (out of 1)

Fries - Taste wise the fries were OK and as is the norm I had to add some salt and pepper. Texture wise they were really flimsy and mostly mushy. I usually don't eat the super skinny crispy bits but I ate a few this time just to give myself some crunch.

Taste - 1.5 (out of 2)
Texture - 1 (out of 2)

Diet Coke - 1 (out of 1)

Was there anything interesting? Not really, but it was the busiest I've seen this In-N-Out in a few weeks. The most interesting thing was coming up with the new ratings system.

Guest #47, your order is ready.

Rating: 9.15/10

Not quite a 9.25 for only a few reasons. First, the fries were pretty good, but still needed plenty of S&P applied. Also, while they were some of the better cooked fries they still weren't perfect. But taste is the predominant factor here so I couldn't mark off too much cause they still tasted good.

The burger was mostly just right. Good amount of lettuce, the tomato was ripe, everything was centered properly and I only ended up with maybe one bite of just bun leftover. Though for some reason it did seem a bit messy. Maybe if I had an easier time eating it I would have rated it higher. Then again the messiness and/or difficulty in eating properly could have been because of my mutilated finger.

On that note the burger did have something interest. For once I tasted the mustard part of the mustard fried. I have to say I liked tasting just a hint of mustard underneath the meat and sauce flavors. I hope it comes through in future orders.

I'm wondering if I should implement something new in these reviews to give them more meat. Before when there was at least one new number a week it was ok to be brief. But now getting a new number every two weeks at best they just feel lacking. Especially when nothing of interest actually happens during the visit.

Guest #65, your order is ready.

Rating: 8.75/10

Sadly I can't remember too many details about this meal, despite it being just two days ago. What I do remember is it tasted pretty good. You'll notice I went with a regular burger instead of protein style or no/light toast. The burger was nicely cooked with a good mix of everything, except maybe a bit too much secret sauce. The fries were pretty good and I don't think I had to put any salt or pepper on them. Though they did have a slightly off texture to them.

This was actually my 2nd trip since getting back from UK and it was almost as good as the first one. It also means it's my first original number in like a month. The interesting thing about this visit is something that I don't recall every happening to me before. When I went and got my burger then sat down I realized there were a ton of griller onions on it. I definitely do not order onions, ever, so for what I believe is the first time In-N-Out mixed up my order with somebody else's. I know they didn't mess up the order itself, as the receipt definitely shows WO, meaning without onions.

So yeah.

Guest #36, your order is ready.

Rating: 7.8/10

Hey look at that, a bun! Giving this meal a fairly low score mostly because it just didn't "stand out". There wasn't much memorable about it. The lettuce wasn't very green. The secret sauce was actually kind of sour tasting, like maybe too much pickle? Also, I tried the bun with "light toast" this time, but it was barely more toast than "no toast". As a matter of fact I wouldn't be surprised if they misread it to be "no toast".

The fries were actually pretty good despite looking like they were undercooked. I didn't end up using the salt packet, though I did put some pepper on them. And the soda was as it should be.

Here's an interest note somewhat related to this visit. It's likely my last In-N-Out trip for 3 weeks as I'll be in Scotland. That also means the 1 year anniversary of starting the In-N-Out thing will pass us by on May 10th. We're at 44 original numbers. That gives an original number about every 8 days. Of course the next year probably won't be as giving.

Guest #87, your order is ready.

Rating: 7.9/10

Wow, one day short of a month since the last new number (which of course was the glorious #1). I've definitely been during that time though, just have gotten a few duplicates.

So let's start with the fries. They were pretty good, didn't need much additional S&P and cooked nicely. But the burger is where the lower score comes from. This was my first "lop-sided" protein style burger. If you look at the picture you will notice you can barely see what's inside. The burger/cheese/tomato basically slid all the way down, so my first few bites were of just lettuce. Also the tomato was not completely rip and so it was a bit hard for a few bites towards the center.

All in all though I still enjoyed the meal. The best thing of interest I have for this one is that it was the first picture taken w/ my new phone. Other than that the trip was pretty normal.

Duplicates and Five Guys

So two quick notes prior to posting the next original #. First, I had a duplicate or two recently that I unfortunately forgot the numbers to. I'll have to find out what dates they were on so I can at least keep track of the number of visits.

Second, I tried Five Guys. It's a burger place that started on the east coast and has made its way west. People rave about it and for some reason compare to In-N-Out, despite the burgers and fries being drastically different. I'll keep my review of them quick. I liked the burger, had a different taste than In-N-Out and one I would eat again. Main differences being bacon and mayonnaise. The fries though were bottom of the barrel. They are much thicker than In-N-Out, already a minus for me. Plus they were just really bland and I had to use heavy amounts of ketchup to make them taste ok, even the "cajun" spiced ones.

So yeah, that's my quick update.