Smashing Social @ Smashburger

So I get there at 6:01 pm, then more Unilocalers started to trickle in after a bit.
I’ve eaten at Smashburger at a couple of locations.
Sampled the burgers, sides, and the shakes. All were delicious and oh so good.
I was talking with one of the managers and learned a little about Smashburger.
Just to let you know, each regional Smashburger has it’s own burger. Houston has the «TEXAS» burger. Which I did not know. Isn’t it fun to learn a little something? :)
I asked him how the veggie black bean burger tasted, because I have yet to try it.
He had a whole burger sent to our table, and I got to try it.
This was my first time to try the Spicy Baja Black Bean Burger! How that tasty «veggie» burger just makes your taste buds go WOW! :) I’ll go back and try it again for sure.
Unilocal events are fun to attend. If you missed this one, try for the next one.

This is not a review – it’s a Thank You Note…
Thanks for:
Making your tasty burgers into handy finger food.
Serving your fries (both standard and sweet) and onions in a cup.
The chicken both grilled and fried.
Shots of delicious shakes.
Putting up with all my requests for things I’ve never had a chance to try.
Believing in a black bean burger.
Sauces that aren’t afraid of salt or spices.
Your hot dogs (when a hamburger is not «enuf»).
The great personal service.
The Smashburger Schwag.
Having a quality product that you stand behind.
And finally, thanks for putting it all together, Unilocal Manager.

When I arrived at this event, my taste buds weren’t adequately prepared for all that this new Smashburger had to offer, and in all fairness… I got a bit ambitious. When the first server came around and asked if we wanted to try smash fries, sweet potato fries, or the onion strings, my immediate and almost too-​eager-​of-​a-​response was «YES!» Before long, I realized that I really needed to pace myself so I could really try all the tasty samples. There was so much variety with the sample of burgers that were available for guests to try — from spinach and goat cheese, to baja chicken, to bacon cheeseburger. Thankfully Smashburger had enough foresight to make the servings just big enough for us to get a few bites of everything. I never knew that Smashburger was really known for their shakes, but after having some of their Oreo, and more importantly SALTED CARAMEL shake, I may never go anywhere else. What can I say? The Oreo one was the perfect consistency, with sizable chunks of Oreo still in the mix. Nom nom nom And I’d never even dreamed that someone would take the magical taste of salted caramel and make it into a shake, but if you’ve dreamed it up, I promise you, Smashburger’s won’t disappoint. Just make sure you don’t fill up completely on the shakes.
I loved the set up of this event as well. Normally, we’ll stand in buffet lines to get our plates of food, but this time, we had friendly and attentive wait staff that made sure our bellies were never growling. This location is great because, as I understand, there’s a huge Walmart being built up in this area, so props to them for scoping out this spot. There’s plenty of indoor booth style seating, as well as ample space outside under umbrella-​ed tables.
With a wide variety of menu items to offer and ample seating, I would highly recommend coming here once this location officially opens.

I really enjoyed this event! My husband and I actually got there when it started, so we were able to try a lot of things at first. In terms of food, we had the smash fries, onion strings (love them), fried pickles, classic burger and spinach and goat cheese burger (winner!). I tried the vanilla, oreo and salted caramel milkshakes. All of it was delicious!
It did slow down… a lot… once more people packed in. And there are a few things I wanted to try, but didn’t get to. Come to find out afterwards, they did have the stuff, they just didn’t make the rounds to our table. But hey, I still got to try a good sampling of the menu, and few things taste better than free food. Thanks Farrah and Smashburger! :)

A big WhaWhaaa goes out to Farrah and Smashburger for this super fun event. This was my first visit to Smashburger, not for any reason in particular, just cause.
Walking in I got really confused because there was a weird J shaped line inside the door but once my disorientation went away I was good to go. The +1 and I grabbed a booth by the window and got our drinks (peach mango tea was awesome btw) and waited for the fun to arrive.
The food came out so fast I couldn’t believe it. I hadn’t begun to finish the first little cup of food before the server was around to bring us more to try. The little cups made dipping really fun and I ate most of my meal dipping food robot dance style. Fried stuff: pickles, onion rings, and fries (both sweet and reg) were all really good, though the onion rings seemed to be really REALLY thin. Whats up with that Smashburger? Burgers: Black Bean, Buffalo Chicken and reg were great but my favorite was the avocado club. It was perfect and I contemplated sneaking underneath tables to jack someone elses when they weren’t looking. Shakes: Who knew a salted caramel shake would be so dang good? Oreo and plain jane were good as well.
The gift bags were AWESOME! They didn’t have my size in shirt :(but who can complain? I am rocking the sweet keychain right now on my keys and the sunglasses are in my car for my morning drive. How cute is the little phrase on the inside of those things? Really cute to answer my own question. The coupons were also rad. In fact, my +1 made a really weird joke to one of the staff members (the one with the beard) and he thought it was so funny that he brought us 2 extra coupons. HAHA! Knew he was good for something.
Great fun and its always good to see a room of foodies enjoying food.

Slow clap. Great event. Well done. Never seen anyone BEGGING to go to a Unilocal event but I see why now. I think people were sensing a great one and it was.
Everything went smoothly. You came in, name tage ready, sit and be served. It was kind of like dim sum. People walking around with trays of food and you could even make a request for anything basically on the menu. They had plenty of friendly staff on hand and were very helpful.
Shakes, burgers, fries. I even saw someone who got a hot dog! Not every Unilocal event I walk out stuffed but this one I sure did. Great event, hope more like these are to come.

For such a small space, this event was very well coordinated by our Unilocal team and the Smashburger team as well!
We arrived right after 6pm, and were lucky to find an open table. Immediately after we were seated, food magically appeared! (As well as our very cool tote bags!)
The staff at Smashburger did a great job with rotating food/​shakes around and even asked if we had any special requests. I asked if I could try just their regular chicken and after awhile, no chicken =(However, the team member (possibly manager?) came back around to check on us, and immediately went to check on my request. Shortly after, chicken burger arrived!
All in all, this was a very successful event. I never would have been able to try such a huge array of burgers, fries and shakes otherwise. We all left well fed and happy. What more can you ask for?

What a great event! Hadn’t been to a Unilocal event in a while. The food was delicious and shakes and fountain drinks a nice bonus. The employees there were really friendly and would try to accommodate all of our requests.
I don’t know if they were ready to handle that many people all at once. Overall handled well but did have some times when no food was coming out. But then again, that’s the nature of an event with free food so not complaining at all!
Will be frequenting this location!

Free burgers and shakes? Thank you, Smashburger!
I tried everything that came my way including the black bean burger, salty caramel milkshake, and fried pickles. The black bean burger was really spicy, but full of flavor. My favorite is still the classic. You can’t go wrong with that.
I left knowing that I need to revisit their location in my neighborhood and order the Buffalo Chicken burger. I didn’t get to try it, but heard awesome things about it.
This location itself is nice and spacious. I like the mix of tables, booths, and bar-​type tables. It’s on the corner of the strip center with enough parking in front, to the left, and even behind. No fighting for parking spaces here.
I do wish I had more time to mingle with those who are new to the Elite scene… where is Mike W. with the plans on the after-​party when ya need him???
Thank you, Smashburger (and Farrah!), for hooking us up with a sneak peak to your new location. AND for the Smashin’ Smashburger tote full of Unilocal goodies.

First off, great job keeping up with the gigantic crowd before you’ve got all the kinks worked out in a brand new restaurant. Sure, there were some positives and negatives for the event itself, but well… this was a free event to let some fortunate people get a few samples, not some dinner where I paid to get in and/​or paid for entrees. Remember, fellow elites, we’re not entitled to some outrageous red-​carpet treatment, we’re just people that like writing about food and who have been given an opportunity to preview a restaurant before they open their doors. Its a privilege, really!
Whew, maybe i’m getting too old and cranky for this type of thing too. But really, to the people of Smashburger (assuming you’re reading this), I would like to apologize for some embarrassing gimme gimme behavior I saw amongst my own that night. You guys did a great job of providing us with some really great food, really friendly wait staff, and a fun evening.
LETS GET TO THE FOOD!
We’ve been casual fans of SB for a couple of years but admittedly only order the same 2 things off the menu literally every time we go. We finally had an excuse to try all the things on the menu we’d never had and were really impressed with some of them. Not only did we get to try some of the more exotic items (read: not just cheese burgers and fries), our wait staff made a couple of things special for us and split them up so a couple of tables could all try things we were curious about. Given the crowd and number of people near the kitchen who got hands-​y with the sample trays, it is a wonder they were able to get stuff out to everyone. Slow sometimes, but still… no complaints here. I was raised to be thankful for anything that’s free, and if that means I have to wait a little, well… I’ll surely survive.
Notably, I really liked the mushroom swiss burger, the fried pickles, the salted caramel shake, and the baja hot dog (I never would have thought a hot dog would be so good). Really, the only thing I WASN’T in love with were the chicken samples, but that’s sort of unfair because I never order chicken sandwiches at restaurants… its just not my thing.
Bravo guys! Thanks so much for allowing us to come in and sample your food and get to know your staff. I’m sure its intimidating to have this many opinionated near-​anonymous people come in for an event like this, but know that many of us appreciate it and those of us that loved the food will surely be back for more. Keep it up!

Wow! How did I forget how good Smashburger tasted! It has been a little bit since I’ve had one of their wonderful burgers. I used to attend the Smashburger right down on Main when it first opened up but have neglected smashburger, but did this event kick start my addiction!
So this event was great, after checking in you grabbed a seat, and just let the food come to you!
The burgers were cut into small quarters, so this way I as able to sample all of the burgers without feeling like a total pig! My favorite was one with bacon and bbq sauce?
The sides were also placed in small portions, I got to sample the shoestring onions which are almost as good as the smashfries!
But the best part and the part I never tried before were the shakes! Salted caramel?! DAMN that was delicious, I also loved the oreo shake.
What could make FREE FOOD and FREE SHAKES? A FREE T-​shirt!!! AND bag. Even a coupon to come back for another FREE burger!!!

NOM NOM NOM Was all I heard among the chatter, as my hubby and I walked in around 6:45. We were greeted with name tags, and seated immediately. Pretty packed, but people were squeezing in all over the place.
As this was a tasting, servers were roaming around with trays of cheeseburgers, fries, sweet potato fries, fried pickels, onion rings, and oh the milk shakes!
Let’s just say we flagged them down around 5 times to get a good taste of everything. We even were greeted by the manager, who got us an ‘inside taste’ on the texas dog (wasn’t really being served, but we’re special =) Best, dog, ever!
The classic cheeseburger was amzing, cheesy and delicious. I even got a ‘california club burger’, which is usually made with grilled chicken, but the Manager said he could do the same with a patty… oh the bacon and avocado… I just wanna go back for more.
Vanilla shake was great, salted caramel shake was even better (tasted like butter pecan ice cream). Everyone was friendly, the mango tea was delish, and even the bathrooms were clean. We will be back… it’s the closest Smashburger to us too!

We got there around 7 PM and the place was packed. Finding a table was a bit of a challenge. There were a couple of attempts on our behalf to share a table that were shot down. In one instance somebody placed their bag on the seat next to them and shook their head ‘no’ without us even saying anything. Haven’t seen that move since I was on the bus going to middle school.
We finally were lucky enough to find people willing to share their table (Lindsay J I believe… thanks!) We were in a corner right next to the kitchen but we were kind of hidden by a wall so it took a little while for the grub to get to us. Fortunately the Smashburger staff was very attentive and they made sure that we got some samples. One suggestion for the next time would be a printed menu of all the things they were offering. As I’m reading other reviews I realized there were items that we didn’t get to try because we didn’t know about them (or maybe some of the other tables got to them first and didn’t leave some for the rest of us!)
As for the food we tried, the black bean burger, the onion strings, and the buffalo chicken with blue cheese were our favorites. The salted caramel shake was very good as well. The regular fries were the most disappointing item (bland and too oily) and the fried pickles were too salty.
Sadly we got there too late for the goodie bags. Our table mates walked us through all the freebies though; the sunglasses in particular looked pretty cool.
We had a very good time overall and the food was all quite good. As always thank you Farrah and Unilocal for organizing and thank you Smashburger for hosting!

So, this was my first Elite event and I’d have to give the event a 3 star and Smashburger a 3.5 star.
I’m not an extremely social person but it reminded me a bit of high school lunch. It seemed like there were cliques and maybe I’m a little bit shy but I wanted to leave as soon as we sat down.
Smashburger — I’ve never had their food but what we were able to try was good. I think sitting in a corner and next to a group of what appeared to be extremely hungry people didn’t help. We were there for well over 20 minutes before anyone stopped and actually offered us anything to eat. A few of the waitstaff would stop and ask us something and then we’d never see them again. Maybe we weren’t aggressive enough but since it was my first event, I wasn’t sure what the proper etiquette was. The few items I did taste were good so I’ll probably try them out. I did like the Oreo shake but then again I kinda like anything with the word shake in it :)
Needless to say, for me personally the event was ok. We only stayed about an hour and left hungrier than when we first got there lol.
I apologize if anyone finds this offensive but I wanted to be honest.
Maybe the next one will really WOW me.

A huge thank you to Smashburger for having us Unilocalers out! It was my first Elite event and I really didn’t know what to expect. There was a delay in service as my guest and I were on the patio, but we’ll chock that up to the huge crowd inside. Once the inside started to clear out, the patio guests received much better service (plus, running around serving 100 people at the same time won’t ever be something they have to do again).
The food was great! I’m not a fan of caramel at all, but the salted caramel shake was delicious. The oreo shake tasted just like every other oreo shake I’ve ever had, but that’s ok. It still hit the spot.
I loved the Spicy Baja Black Bean Burger — it really had some kick. I’ve gotta eat more vegetarian food. The Spinach and Goat Cheese was off the chain, but I really love goat cheese. And spinach… and chicken.
The Smashfries were ridic! I make my potatoes with rosemary and garlic anyways… like every time I make potatoes. But, mine are always oven roasted and nothing like fries. Thanks for the idea!!!
I know that I tried other things, but my mind is a blank. I’ll definitely be back!!! Woohoo!!!

Farrah did an excellent job planning and hosting this Elite Unilocal Event!
The Secret of their delicious burgers are in the «SMASH» creating a sear that locks in the juices as no other cooking method can leaving it tender and flavorful… YUMMY! We had a chance to sample a selection of burgers and sides. Our favorites, the truffle mushroom burger, spinach and goat cheese burger and the Colorado hot dog. The toppings were fresh and really enhanced the flavor of the burger itself which we really enjoyed. Oh and the milkshakes… the caramel one… fantastic! Not a fan of the fried pickle and sweet potato fries.
The staff was very friendly, especially the general manager. I wish there was more socializing between Elite members though. However, Farrah and Dave always knows how to make us feel welcomed!!! Great work guys!!!
Thank you Smashburger for having us Elite Members! Best of luck!

Yum! I really do love Unilocal Elite Events… especially when I’m too cheap to try out every burger that Smasburger makes. Tee hee.
So I started out with their Salted Caramel Milkshake (yup… dessert first!) and that was a tasty treat! I bit rich for me, but still super yummy (so yummy, I had to get seconds!).
I tried their «Avocado Club» burger, which was good. What really got me say «oohhh» and «ahhh» was their «Spicy Baja Black Bean Burger» — yup… their vegetarian burger was AMAZING! It was a bit too salty for my taste, but I would definitely order it again.
I also tried their «Buffalo Chicken» sandwich and that was also super yummy. If you’re not a blue cheese fan, I would stay away from this sandwich (or just ask for no blue cheese sauce). The chicken was super juicy and fried just right.
I also hunted down their sweet potato fries, fried pickles, and their french fries. Umm… I’m not a fan of their french fries because of the herb seasoning they use. I did enjoy their fried pickles and sweet potato fries.
ALSO! Another milkshake I tried… OREO! OMG… DELISH!!! I was so sad that I had two Salted Caramel milkshake after I saw that Oreo pass by.
I heard their Truffle Mushroom Swiss burger was good… unfortunately, I wasn’t able to try it… but who knows… maybe now that I’ve had a nice sample of their burgers they’ll see my smiley face a lot more!
THANK YOU FARRAH! I had a blast!

My first time at a Unilocal Elite Event. It was a nice outing and it was cool to see so many Unilocalers in one spot. Fridays are always reserved as a «Date Night» for my wife and I and we enjoyed ourselves.
I thought initially that it would be the type of event where we get some sort of food coupon and use that in order to get one Free meal. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was a completely exclusive «closed door» event and they were actually passing samples of different menu items around the whole night. It gave the event a very «Black Tie Affair» type of vibe although it was casual which was cool.
Upon entering my wife and I got to meet the Houston Unilocal Community Manager «Farrah» for the first time and she seemed very cool and pleasant. Although it was very crowded it wasn’t too much socializing going on as far as mingling with other Unilocalers. You can tell that Unilocalers of old were not really chatting with the newer elite Unilocalers (like myself) which was kind of sad. I didn’t care anyway as it was a great time for my wife and I because we got to eat good food for «Free.99»
I want to take a moment to commend the smash burger staff they did a great job handling the room full of piranhas a.k.a Unilocal reviewers. I think the management staff knew it was very important to give a great experience to the Unilocalers and they delivered. They were very attentive and kept the food going around in a pretty frequent fashion. The Avocado Burger and Fried Pickles were my favorites.
My only suggestion as far as the next elite event, being that this is my first one, is that it would be really great to have it set up where you have to interact with other Unilocalers other than your «circle of Unilocal friends»…I was in a roomful of people that I shared a common bond with (Being a Unilocaler&Elite) and only 2 people introduced themselves, Farrah and the guy Taking Pictures… That was no bueno :(.if I wasn’t with my wife it would’ve made for a pretty awkward evening.
But I think that Farrah and the other Unilocal event staff did a great job putting this event together all in all and I can’t wait for the next one. A+
P. S. I loved the Goodie bags. I’ll be using the smash burger shirt and Unilocal wristband at the gym and the Unilocal shades whenever I wanna look like a Mystery Shopper/​Secret Agent lol

As it’s an election year, here is my five point plan for why this was an awesome event.
1. What a lovely Smashburger — high ceilings, lots of windows, comfortable seating — the other locations are nice but this place is special.
2. Sitting with Fujio and Shannon.
3. The Smashburger folks were wonderful.
4. Seriously good food. We love Smashburger but it was nice to try different things. Fried pickles and buffalo chicken — I would definitely get. Salted caramel shake, not so much but it was nice to try.
5. Farrah. Not only did Farrah remember me, she correctly remembered the last elite event I attended, which was at the arcade near Minute Maid Park, and what month that was, which was like 3 years ago. Now that is amazing. Thanks so much for putting together a wonderful event and inviting us, Farrah.

This event had me shaking my buns with delight! (Get it? SHAKE… BUNS? No? Ok.)
I’ve always liked SmashBurger, but I always get the same thing, so I really enjoyed getting to try samples of other menu items. The salted caramel shake was AMAZING and I loved the little shot glass portions, because I can never finish a whole shake, but I just might order a full sized salted caramel shake. I also really enjoyed the chicken avocado club sandwich. I always order a burger, but I might start ordering this sandwich. I think this event has just made me change my regular SmashBurger order.
The staff was very friendly and brought a variety of food around with good timing while I was there. They asked what we would like to taste, and made sure to send a tray our way. And specific to this location were the tea tube things? Super cool and unique. I have never seen these elsewhere, but the presentation made me want to taste the tea.
And GOODIE BAGS?! Ch’yeahhhh! They are NICE bags too. I mean, good quality canvas with a snap and a zipper pouch. Inside were awesome Unilocal sunglasses which I will proudly rock everywhere (omg the little Unilocal logo on the corner in silver is adorbs) along with my comfy new (if oversized) SmashBurger shirt. I’m a baggy-​shirt-​wearer for working out, and I love the irony of working out while wearing a SmashBurger shirt. It could serve as motivation to work harder and eat more burgers (which I can get 1 free thanks to the coupon in the goodie bag, and yeah, I’m a coupon whore).
And a shout out to my girl Lindsey J. who I hadn’t seen for a while, and I was lucky enough to snag a table near her and her fabulous hair.