Smashburger Opens Wednesday In St. Davids

Smashburger will open in the St. Davids Square shopping center on Wednesday.

The “fast casual better burger restaurant” boasts never-frozen, Certified Angus Beef that starts as a meatball and is smashed on a grill at 400 degrees, sides that are flash fried, and a number of interesting combinations, buns and sauces.

Smashburger is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

On Monday, Radnor Patch attended a media preview event that allowed attendees to taste seven types of burgers, fries and their Haagen-Dazs milkshakes. There, founder Tom Ryan said their “tasty, juicy” burgers “allow people to put burgers back into their lives.”

The burgers, and chicken sandwiches, salads and even black bean burgers are served restaurant-style at the table. The average check at Smashburger is $9 per person, Ryan said. There are both corporate and franchise locations around the country and in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Costa Rica and Canada.

Radnor Patch asked Ryan who Smashburger’s biggest competition is, as the eatery is entering a market full of hamburger joints. He said exit interviews with customers show that had they not gone to Smashburger most said they would have eaten at a non-burger restaurant—anyplace from Red Lobster to Chili’s to a local bar. So other burgers are not necessarily Smashburger’s biggest competitor, he said.

Ryan said quick cooking of everything on the menu from chicken patties to green beans, is the secret to keeping flavor and moisture in the food.

At the media event, we tasted the Classic Smash, BBQ, Bacon & Cheddar burger (BBQ sauce, applewood-smoked bacon, cheddar and haystack onions on an egg bun), the Truffle Mushroom Swiss (Truffle mayo, sautéed baby portabella mushrooms and aged Swiss on an egg bun), the Philly burger (Cheese Whiz, Gulden’s mustard, grilled onions on a pretzel roll), the Spicy Baja with a black bean burger (Fresh jalapenos, guacamole, pepper jack, lettuce, tomato, onion and chipotle mayo on a spicy chipotle bun), and the Classic and Avocado Club chicken sandwiches.

I’m no food critic, so I’ll just say this—it was good. And the burgers are light and easy to handle. The sweet potato fries and their spicy dip outshone the Smashfries that evening. Fried pickles and Flash-fried carrot sticks and green beans were also enjoyed. 

Ryan said that customers can customize their food from the bun to the meat to the additions. Check out the Montclair, NJ menu here, which will be similar to the menu in Radnor’s Smashburger.