Shake Shack’s Australian Debut: A Disappointing Experience
MELBOURNE, Australia — The first time I traveled to New York City, in the summer of 2014, I became enamored by a true American classic: the humble cheeseburger. Of course, it was hardly my first exposure to the delectable combination of a perfectly grilled beef patty fused with melted cheese and sandwiched between two warm, buttered buns, but in burger heartland of the United States, every bite enlivened my tastebuds in a way I had simply never experienced back in my home country of Australia.
Frequenting one particular hotspot, a chain, of all places, became dangerously close to a daily ritual during that two-week trip. Ladies and gentlemen, Shake Shack. This East Coast-founded behemoth is so much more than fast food. It’s an institution. A national icon. A rite of passage. Have you really visited the city if you didn’t partake in a Shake Shack burger and fries? You’ll find these stores dotted all over the Big Apple, routinely packed full of ravenous locals and tourists eager for a glorious, and let’s face it, totally worth it, calorie fix.
A Global Phenomenon
Its immense popularity over the past decade has led to rapid global expansion. These days, Shake Shack can be found in 20 countries, including China, Japan, Mexico, and England, but sadly, despite my stomach’s desperate, ongoing pleas, Australia never graduated to this exclusive list. Until now. In 2026, those prayers were finally answered with Shake Shack landing as a much publicized, much hyped pop-up at the Australian Open, tennis’ first Grand Slam of the year.
It’s the latest culinary craze sweeping Melbourne Park, with hordes of hungry punters flocking to the two on-site locations from the moment those first patties are slapped on the grill at 11am until the fryers are finally relieved of their duties at the end of the evening. Move over, Entrecôte and your $27.50 steak sandwich. You’re so 2025.
A Disappointing Experience
There was absolutely no chance I’d miss out on devouring the burger that may have been single-handedly responsible for me joining a gym within 36 hours of returning to Australia following that trip to the United States in 2014. You may as well add fries to that, too! So, the question on everyone’s mind: was Shake Shack in Australia worth the hype?
Wait time: As mentioned, there are two Shake Shack stalls servicing Melbourne Park, one at John Cain Arena and the other at TopCourt, the next generation tennis playground stationed at Birrarung Marr. I opted to head for the John Cain Arena outpost at 1:30pm on the first Tuesday of the tournament. Silly? Well, yes, but I wanted to get a sense of just how long fans would be waiting for their feed at lunch time proper. When I arrived, the queue to be served snaked its way outside the stadium, but to my surprise it took ‘just’ 20 minutes to have food in hand. That’s far from disgraceful at a peak eating time at a major sporting event. 7.5/10
Quality: This is where things took a disappointing downward turn. While there was a very real sense of nostalgia as I took that first, long awaited bite, that feeling was quickly replaced by the disappointment of a rather tasteless, meaty mouthful. It wasn’t cheesy. It wasn’t saucy. And there was not a hint of any pickle sweetness. It was, well, dry. Dry and undeniably bland. The kicker was the stone cold serve of accompanying fries that were saltier than movie popcorn. 4/10
Value: Considering the classic ‘Shack Burger’ and a side of fries will set you back AU$31.40 (US$21.30), the value is nonexistent. Add in a shake and you’re barely getting change from a $50 note. Of course, you expect to pay a premium for food and beverage at a major sporting event, and that has been factored into the overall rating, but you certainly want something in return that will satisfy. Not only would I not rush back, I’d encourage those coming to Melbourne Park to skip the queues and look elsewhere for their fuel. 4/10
A Changing Landscape
So is the quality lacking, given the kitchen’s non-stop production line pumping out thousands of burgers and truckloads of fries each day? Or is it that the burger landscape has changed so drastically over the past 12 years that Shake Shack is no longer the holy grail of fast food I once convinced myself it was? After all, these days Melbourne is littered with cheaper and, quite frankly, superior cheeseburgers. Think the 14th-best burger in the world, Charrd, College Dropout, institution Easey’s, or even Aussie chain Betty’s Burgers. Pick any random street off a map and you’ll likely find a spot that will satisfy your burger cravings far more than either of these Shake Shack venues.
In recent years the Australian Open has very much morphed into a what’s-hot-right-now type of event. Food. Drink. Apparel. Even the most fashionable sunscreen. Yes, really! Organisers cram it all into the precinct and let eager fans zig-zag around the grounds, ticking the items off their social media bucket lists one by one.
Perhaps one day Australia will boast a permanent Shake Shack location and perhaps then it will be worth visiting, because its Melbourne Park pop up, much to my dismay, fails to deliver on the immense hype.
